Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Discover the art and science of making inks from plants in this hands-on, experimental workshop with textile artist Fiona Eastwood.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Discover the craft of letterpress printing in this full-day workshop with Type Tom.

This sector-focused seminar offers museum professionals a space to reflect, learn and share strategies for curating ethically complex collections.

Join us for an afternoon in the company of calligrapher Ewan Clayton and weaver Jenny KilBride, who will share memories of their time at the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Discover more about village life with the Ditchling History Project during this afternoon talk.

Discover the gentle rhythm of weaving in this hands-on day workshop inspired by the colours and textures of the South Downs.

Join wood engraver Keith Pettit at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft for an inspiring two-day course exploring the art of wood engraving. 

Join textile artist Fiona Eastwood for a practical introduction to natural indigo and woad dyeing.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

A two-day workshop designed for beginners who want to develop their skills in stone carving.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Anthony Burrill will share the story of his early fascination with visual design, his education, and a craft-based career focused on meaningful, typographic messaging.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Discover the bold, tactile world of linocut in this hands-on workshop with London based printmaker Cally Conway.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

A one day masterclass in the age-old craft of letterpress.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Learn how to make a Pajaki (pah-yonk-ee), a traditional Polish chandelier made from rye straw and paper.  

Join leading textile conservator Zenzie Tinker as she shares the fascinating process of restoring Dream Revealed to its former glory.

In this hands-on workshop you’ll explore the potential of dye plants grown in the museum’s Dye Garden and foraged locally. 

Join us for an afternoon celebrating the launch of Wild Basketry, the beautiful new book from local artist and weaver Ruby Taylor (Native Hands.) ⁠ Ruby will be at the museum sharing insights into her practice and signing copies of Wild Basketry, which explores ancient techniques, wild materials and the joy of making by hand.⁠

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Explore the art of screen printing with Brighton-based studio The Private Press.

Tadek Beutlich was a true innovator, pushing the boundaries of textile art and printmaking with his experimental techniques. On and Off the Loom brings together three experts to explore his remarkable career and affirm his place as one of the world’s leading textile artists.

In this 'Off-Loom' weaving workshop, you'll explore the art of weaving without a loom—using only a needle, thread, and found objects as your base. 

Tim Johnson will present his research and related creative work exploring Tadek Beutlich's unpublished manuscript, detailing his innovative 'Free Warp Tapestry' techniques.  

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

This four-day course will offer an in-depth exploration of the 'free warp tapestry' techniques developed by Tadek Beutlich after he relocated from Ditchling to Spain in the 1970s.  

This tapestry frame weaving workshop will give each participant a fundamental grounding in tapestry weaving techniques.   

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

A four-day intensive natural dyeing course that will introduce students to using natural dyes on fabrics, yarns and other fibres, how to get good results and all the techniques needed for dyeing with plants and plant-based colour.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

In this experimental workshop, you’ll learn to create botanical inks using plants from the museum’s Dye Garden and locally foraged materials. 

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Join artist and basketmaker Tim Johnson in a one-day workshop exploring the 'free warp tapestry' techniques that Tadek Beutlich innovated after his move to Spain in the 1970s.  

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Create a set of Christmas cards at the home of letterpress.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

After gathering inspiration from the museum’s collection and surrounding beauty, Alice will teach the basic techniques of using a punch needle. 

This day long workshop will focus on lino printing papers and binding a leporello book, inspired by ‘Bloomin’ Brilliant: The Life and Work of Raymond Briggs.’

Join our BSL tour for a special insight into ‘Bloomin’ Brilliant: The Life and Work of Raymond Briggs.’ 

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Enjoy an afternoon at the museum with legendary illustrator John Vernon Lord as he signs his new book Random Notes about Doodling, Sketching, Drawing, and Illustrating.

In this workshop you will use madder root grown in the museum Dye Garden to dye fabric and yarn.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Join this 2 mile walk led by Ditchling History Project to include the church and churchyard, the village centre and a short stretch of the Nye, an ancient trackway. 

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

In this workshop participants will be use leaves and natural indigo pigment to make a vat to produce beautiful blues on fabric and yarn.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Create a poster to say what you care about in the world - something to hang on your wall, a positive message to look at every day.

Join renowned author John Vernon Lord for this special evening talk celebrating Raymond Briggs. 

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

In this hands-on workshop you’ll explore the potential of dye plants grown in the museum’s Dye Garden and foraged locally.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Spend a day quietly learning how to be an effective gentle craftivist using your head, heart, and hands together in a calming multi-sensory environment to craft small, kind, and attractive handmade objects as catalysts for positive social change.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Inspired by Raymond Briggs’ illustrations for The Mother Goose Treasury, you will learn how to carve and print a linocut based on your favourite nursery rhyme.

Crafternoon is a free monthly drop-in session for people who like to make things in a friendly social space.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Join this 2 mile walk led by Ditchling History Project to include the church and churchyard, the village centre and a short stretch of the Nye, an ancient trackway. 

In this illuminating talk, renowned illustrator Chris Riddell OBE will share his memories of being taught by Raymond Briggs in the 1980s.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

This intensive four-day course concentrates on the fundamentals of natural dyeing, showing you how and where to get started, which plants make good dyes and how to create a range of tones using colour modifiers to get great results.

Alyosha Stone leads this 2-day workshop, offering a comprehensive introduction to the ancient skill of stone carving.

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

This day long workshop will focus on the use of patterns and colours in lino printing.

In this workshop, you will explore wet felting methods, including resist techniques, to create a sample and then a larger wall hanging.

About the Workshop Hilary Bourne was inspired to learn weaving after seeing indigo dyeing and cotton weaving in Palestine and first set up a studio in Jerusalem. This workshop offers the opportunity to learn this traditional skill under the expert tutelage of Poppy Fuller Abbott, a contemporary weaver and TOAST New Maker whose work appears […]

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Try something new in 2024 with an inspiring half day workshop for beginners on the art of lino printing.

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

Create beautifully, reusable wrapping for gifts using natural dyes to shibori dye recycled cotton fabric in an indigo vat.

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

An experimental, slow stitch workshop using the natural forms within the museum's Dye Garden, the South Downs National Park and textiles in Double Weave as inspiration.  

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

As part of the museums 10th birthday celebrations, you are invited on a walk around the village to explore the fascinating life of Hilary Bourne, the co-founder of Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. 

About the Workshop During this fast-paced, half-day workshop participants will get hands-on and inky with the age-old craft of letterpress. What better place to learn this exciting skill than in the village of Ditchling – a place with a rich history of typographical design and letterpress printing, from the work of the Guild of St […]

Back by popular demand, Romor Designs returns to Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft for a day long workshop on Shibori and Hishaki-nui.

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

During this fast-paced, one-day workshop participants will be getting hands-on and inky with the age-old craft of letterpress.  

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

This two-day workshop will provide participants with an introduction to traditional signwriting, led by Dr Amy Goodwin whose work features in Signs of the Seaside.

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

A free and friendly get-together for adults in an inspiring environment!

In this one-day workshop, participants will design and create moulds using natural materials and ancient techniques with clay, sand and cuttlefish bone, and then use molten pewter to create a unique, wearable piece. 

Join this tour of the museum’s dye garden and learn about this unique place where we grow plants that can be harvested for natural dyes. 

Mark the beginning of the UK Cherry Blossom Season with this very special event celebrating Japanese culture, food and drink. Enjoy a live koto performance from esteemed player Keiko Kitamura, a dance performance of Butoh, an avant-garde modern Japanese dance style by Yumino Seki and live performative giant calligraphy from Takako Higgs. Your ticket includes […]

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The Workshop On Shoji Hamada’s return to Japan, he developed a practice based on using only local resources - from the clay he used to the glazes he created and even his own homemade brushes. During Hamada’s 3 years in St Ives, he became good friends with Ethel Mairet, who even wove his wedding suit. […]

Romor Designs welcomes you to a creative day exploring some of the most well-known practises in Japanese haberdashery. Morning (3 hours) - Beginner's stitching and binding class with indigo dyeing In this class, suitable for complete beginners, you will learn basic shibori stitching and binding techniques before dyeing your work in the indigo vat. You’ll […]

In this class, Ewan introduces us to one of Hamada Shoji’s key principals - other power - allowing nature to add something to the work. Ewan shows how this has influenced his own western calligraphy from the way he approaches the process to the materials that he uses.   

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We are excited to welcome potter, Channel 4's The Great Pottery Throwdown Judge and Boy in a China Shop: Life, Clay and Everything author Keith Brymer-Jones to Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft! 

Free afternoon talk, entry included in museum admission ticket The Talk Join us for an entertaining, illustrated talk by Anton Pruden, Grandson of Dunstan Pruden and Director of Ditchling jewellers Pruden & Smith. The talk will explore the place goldsmiths have taken in history before focusing on Dunstan Pruden’s life and work, his students and the […]

Our 'Try Something New' workshops are half-day sessions designed for beginners, offering you the perfect chance to give a new skill a go. The Workshop Butoh (舞踏) is a form of Japanese avant-garde dance, which emerged from the post-war chaos in Japan in the late 50s when the country grappled with the clash between new […]

In this very special afternoon tea ceremony and workshop run by tea master Keiko Uchida, you will take a traditional Japanese tea ceremony with high-grade matcha tea especially imported from Kyoto’s very best teashop.

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During this fast-paced, one-day workshop you will be getting hands-on and inky with the age-old craft of letterpress.

Free, but ticketed Join us for a free event marking the launch of The Women Weavers of Ditchling: Making the Ancient Modern, a new audio play by Natasha Sutton Williams. Inspired by the life and work of Hilary Bourne, Barbara Allen and Amy Sawyer, The Women Weavers of Ditchling imagines a conversation between the three […]

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In this very special 2-part workshop you will have the opportunity to make beautiful handmade ceramic raku-fired tea bowls using a traditional Japanese method. On the second day of the workshop, you will experience the exciting and very specialised process of raku firing your tea bowls in an outdoor kiln under Ember’s expert tuition.  

*SOLD OUT*
Learn formal pattern sashiko and boro-inspired mending in this day-long workshop on traditional Japanese craft skills.

Together with Louisa Loakes you will explore each stage of the block printing process onto fabric. You will have a chance to design and carve your own linoleum block and to develop your own block printed pattern repeat.

An introduction to screenprinting onto fabric using natural dyes, this one-day course will show participants how to use plant-based colour to create simple yet beautiful screenprinted textiles.

The Workshop Spend a day learning how to produce beautiful and original prints directly from nature. This simple yet incredibly beautiful and effective technique uses plants, flowers and leaves to create your artwork, resulting in lifelike and incredibly detailed prints. This practical workshop will introduce you to the technique by experimenting with a variety of […]

Pay What You Can Tickets from £8 We’re delighted to be teaming up with Brighton LGBTIQ+ History Club to host a queer Sussex day trip! We’ll be taking a journey into the lives of the museum’s co-founder, Hilary Bourne (1909 – 2004) and her partner, Barbara Allen (1903-1972) for this special event marking Brighton Pride. Hilary […]

Inspired by the figures from the Brangwyn murals, you will work under Amy’s expert tuition with a model in our studio.

Join renowned printermaker Wuon-Gean Ho for this weekend masterclass on Japanese woodblock printing, a beautiful, non-toxic art-form, which relies on using watercolour, glue and hand burnishing to transfer an image to specially dampened paper.

The Project Walking in Air is an interdisciplinary project that is designed to regenerate the encounter between poetry and music through walking and the text score and to give critical and creative attention to the element of air. The project is led by Will Montgomery (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Emmanuelle Waeckerlé (University of […]

This class will use Dame Vera's wardrobe to explore the way the fashionable silhouette changed through the decades of the 20th Century. From the classic feathery 'flapper dress' from when she was 11years old, through the boxy tailored war time styles, the quintessentially glamorous fitted designs of the 1950s, to the relaxed floaty style of […]

Tickets inc. materials, lunch and refreshments  This one-day silk flower making course has been inspired by, and designed to complement, the current exhibition Dame Vera Lynn: An Extraordinary Life. Using traditional flower making techniques and tools you will be introduced to the skills needed to stiffen and shape silk to make realistic looking petals, buds […]

Tickets include materials and lunch This full day course will offer an introduction to hand weaving using simple looms. Kendall will teach you some of the principal weave structures and you will explore pattern possibilities using them. You will learn how to combine yarns and colours to create different effects, producing samplers to take home […]

Tickets include materials and lunch In this workshop you will look at examples of different approaches to wood engraving and learn some background to the development of the process. There will be an introduction to the basic tools and techniques, exploring the variety of marks that can be produced, transferring an image to the block […]

Tickets inc. material swatches, hot drink and biscuits Broaden your fabric knowledge to make more informed choices to create more desirable clothes. The class will start with the basic theory of fibre and fabric construction, followed by a practical session on how to sew with different qualities of fabric from classic knit and woven constructions […]

Tickets inc. materials, lunch and refreshments  Under Amy’s expert tuition you will be working from your own old family photographs or found imagery provided. You will explore colour and composition through fun, experimental exercises, and go onto to create your own painting on canvas based on these to take home. The process will cover: Sketching […]

Tickets include materials, lunch and refreshments. This workshop is for adults. Design and print your very own letterpress Christmas cards using an Adana press. As well as lots of lovely type to choose from there will also be festive printing blocks to use. You will learn the basics of composing type and creating a design […]

Tickets include materials and lunch In this workshop you will build a festive house out of clay with windows for candlelight to glow through. No experience in ceramics is required and we will cover different hand-building techniques to create your house. You can personalise your tealight holder by experimenting with different forms, texture and carved […]

Come and surprise yourself with the characters and storylines that flow out of your imagination prompted by old, familiar myths, legends and fairy tales.

£150 inc. all materials & lunch 10.30am - 4.30pm both days Join David for this two-day masterclass in which you will produce your own book covers, from initial roughs through to finished 3D mockups (and everything in-between). Materials will be supplied but attendees are encouraged to bring along their own art materials and/or a laptop […]

Learn how to create and maintain a non toxic indigo recipe, ideal for achieving medium to dark indigo blues with plant fibres.

New music for solo cello by Sally Beamish and Lisa Heute links letters from John Newling appealing for a closer relationship with nature John Newling Dear Nature Sally Beamish composer Lisa Heute composer Reece Straw film maker Eighty-one letters written over 81 consecutive days. Letters that confront our ongoing relationship with Nature; letters that question, confess and address. Socially […]

This online creative writing workshop is inspired by local nature and explores the connections between writing, storytelling and the natural world.

Join us as we open the museum for free in celebration of Heritage Open Days and our 7th birthday since reopening!

Due to the Covid-19 situation, we are reluctantly postponing Alan Kitching’s residency, talk and masterclass in the interests of the artist’s safety. We will be in contact with all customers with more information.

Gary Stranger has been producing large scale typographic artwork across the globe for nearly 20 years, using only spraypaint.

A day of practical, old-school exercises to illuminate the three key aspects of typography