Last Monday, January 25th , the Manitoba Craft Council announced its 2021 Bursary Fund Recipients and yours truly was one of the awardees. From their website: "The Manitoba Craft Council Bursary Fund was created to encourage the artistic development of Manitoba craft artists across the spectrum of craft media. Proposed projects should be targeted towards professional development activities that may include taking a course or workshop, upgrading or expanding technical and design skills, attending a conference, and/or assisting in other areas of personal craft study." My bursary award will go towards furthering my study of Natural Dye processes through an online course at Maiwa School of Textiles. In this article, I want to share with you what this means for Masagana Flower Farm.

When I first planted flowers with the intention to sell in 2018, I was blown away with how much my small garden had produced. A lot of stems were sold and so are the ones that didn't make the quality check and stayed behind. My house was filled with fresh flowers and so did my compost bins. Even though I know that once the flowers have completely broken down and go back to my soil as an amendment, it was still unsettling for me that the flowers I produced only had one use, as fresh flower bouquet. Later that Fall, I discovered fibre farmers in East Manitoba who cultivated dye gardens. These mindful farmers and fibre artists grow indigo and flowers that became botanical dye sources for their wool yarns. It took an eco-printing workshop at one of these farms in January 2019 to awaken my curiosity to this alchemy, an experience of the magic of plants. The rest as they say is history and the unfolding story of my journey has grown into a web of interconnected relationships between plants, natural dyes and fibers, soil health, slow made crafts and community building.

Manitoba has an average for only 120 frost free days, a flower farming operation alone is hard to make a year-round viable business in the prairies, and that's the reason why I have silk scarves or pillowcases on my website shop. I use only non-synthetic dyes to tint/color textile goods, most of which I grew at the farm in the summer, while the rest I sourced from Maiwa, a family-owned business based in Vancouver, B.C. They have several store fronts, a School of Textiles (where I am taking my natural dye courses) and a Foundation. I am self-taught until now.

What does a provincial craft council got to do with a flower farm?

Receiving this bursary award not only means that I don’t have to re-allocate my limited resources away from buying this year’s plant seeds but also, and more importantly, it’s a recognition of the craft itself. It’s elevating the Modern Art of Natural Dyeing. It’s an opportunity to bring this ancient craft back to our modern lives today.

Participating in Maiwa’s Online Workshop on Indigo and other Natural Dyes will deepen my knowledge on how to create more plant-based color palettes by building different dye pots. The two workshops will fortify my craftmanship and further my goal to master basic shape resist and other surface design techniques. This work would take me years to discover on my own and will be the highlight of the upcoming Spring and Summer collection of naturally tinted/dyed wearable art.

Flowers x Tinta

Tinta Studio was born out of this new found passion. My seasonal, prairie-grown flowers preserved on handmade textiles that one can accessorize with, adorn an empty wall or kept in a cedar chest with the rest of one’s heirloom pieces, a unique way of preserving each summer season. The flower and other naturally occurring dyes react and bind differently on different (even same) types natural fibers when applied. For this reason, results always vary. The uneven color transfer, patchy and unique markings on every single piece amplifies the beauty of imperfections in each collection I finished. Every single piece is one of a kind.

Masagana Flower Farm is expanding to give space for my increasing curiosity on the magical nature of plants through Tinta Studio. What other hues will I discover in the leaves, stems, roots and flowers of the plants I’m growing this summer? This kind of wonderment is not farfetched and it can be experienced no matter where or who you are. Flowers are a source of my joy so I grow it, and so can you if it does the same thing to you.

If you want to be up to date on how this project is coming along and to learn how you can grow your own joy, you are in the right place! This blog will be updated at least once a month. For your regular, colorful and “scrollable” posts, follow me on Facebook and Instagram by searching masaganaflowerfarm.

- xo, Lourdes