This five-day immersive workshop explores the deconstruction and rewilding of fabric as a way to reimagine what

textiles—and art—can become when guided by nature and natural processes. Participants will take cloth apart

through distressing, unraveling, burning, and staining, allowing materials to shift away from their original function and

toward something more organic, intuitive, and alive. The focus is on material-led exploration, encouraging

experimentation and a rethinking of the boundaries between textile art and painting.

Working with paper, textiles, and plant materials, encaustic wax will be used to seal, paint, etch, imprint, and suspend

elements, echoing cycles of erosion, growth, decay, and regeneration. Demonstrations will cover foundational

encaustic techniques and safe studio practices, and ample studio time will allow for sampling, experimentation, and

personal exploration. This workshop is open to beginners and experienced artists alike.

5-Day Workshop

Day 1 — Gathering & Palette Building

● Creating a material palette with cyanotypes, collographs, frottages, plant matter, and simple stitched fabrics

● Building a personal archive of textures, patterns, and forms

Day 2 — Mark Making & Surface Exploration

● Experimenting with mark making, color, and surface interaction

● Coloring, distressing and manipulating fabrics

● Making encaustic leaf imprints

Day 3 — Material Transformation & Encaustic Monotypes

● Creating translucent wax resist encaustic monotypes

● Embedding and fusing plant matter, paper, and fibers with encaustic wax

● Experimenting with layering, sculptural surfaces, and textural depth

Day 4 — Assembly & Integration

● Combining samples and fragments into more resolved compositions

● Exploring layering, juxtaposition, and sculptural possibilities of wax and fabric

● Continuing to push boundaries between textile, painting, and object

Day 5 — Editing, Reflection & Resolution

● Refining, editing, and finalizing pieces

● Considering scale, form, and cohesion across materials

● Group discussion and reflection on work moving forward

Fiber & Wax: Weaving Textiles, Plants, and Encaustics with Alainia Enslen