Earth Pigment Making Workshop

Join us in Roundwood to celebrate Imbolc with a full-day workshop led by Elida Maiques and Malú Colorín.

This is the fourth and final session of the 4-part Roundwood Series: a celebration of the seasons.

Workshop #1: Bealtaine (10 May 2025) - Printing with Botanical Ink
Workshop #2: Lughnasadh (16 August 2025) - Berry Harvesting and Chalk Stick Making Workshop
Workshop #3: Samhain (11 October 2025) - Eco-Printed Card Making Workshop
Workshop #4: Imbolc (21 March 2026) - Earth Pigment Making Workshop

Click here for more information on the other three workshops

The Roundwood Series #4 - Imbolc

Earth Pigment Making Workshop

Breaking dormancy, sap rising. Young leaves, colour from pressed leaves. Synthetic pigments versus earth & organic pigments.

Workshop Schedule:

11am-12pm: Walk to observe and gather soft, colourful rocks and soil. Observe & draw the
structure of trees.

12pm-12.30pm: Conversation & object exhibition. Coming back, assembling objects on a table with a scroll of paper underneath.

12.30pm-1pm: Lunch break: Participants feel free bring packed sandwich, we provide tea, coffee and treats.

1pm-2pm: Making watercolour pigments (earth) with (previously) crushed rocks, cherry tree resin, honey and water. Using mussel shells, lego pieces upside down, bottle tops to hold the pigments.

2pm-3pm: Using watercolours to paint the objects
we found and more.

Elida Maiques

Elida Maiques is a Wicklow-based artist with roots in Ixmulew/Guatemala and Spain. Her work, often collaborative, has been exhibited internationally. The triangle where people, art-making and wildlife meet are her focus.Wicklow Artist Award in 2025, her long term project I Am a Forest, on interdependence, includes a 9-min film has featured in multiple film festivals and was exhibited in 2024 in Canem Galeria (Spain).Between 20022 and 2024 she was Bray Library’s Seed Librarian (Ireland) and Mermaid Arts Centre (Ireland) Transform Associate Artist. In 2022 she brought her project The Sally Garden to IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) (Ireland).She loves drawing and runs the Fridayfest drawing workshop in Mermaid.

Malú Colorín

Malú Colorín is a Mexican natural dyer and designer living in West Wicklow, Ireland. She is the founder of Talú, a natural dye house and educational hub helping slow fashion lovers reconnect to colour and the Land through workshops, events & dye services. She is also the co-founder of Fibreshed Ireland, a community-supported social enterprise building networks to craft a regenerative Irish textile system based on local fibre, local dyes & local labour. Her work draws inspiration from the traditional garments of her native Mexico, while embracing the rich heritage of Irish textiles. By working slowly and mindfully, she aims to build an intimate connection with each of her dye sources, as well as the Land where they grow. Thanks to her background in graphic design, she's an avid systems thinker, constantly dreaming up ways to dismantle the interconnected systems of oppression behind climate change and social injustice.