Mixing it up in a school Eco Project

Rachel Addy, an AO, teaching at GMS Marlow, also a Textile Skills Centre associate member, has passed on her newly found creative skills, gained at a recent eco-printing workshop with Fiona Balding, to a group of prospective year 6 students in a ‘eco-friendly Food & Textile summer workshop’.

The aim of the workshop was to educate the students about the harmful effects of chemical & plastic waste on the environment whilst also encouraging them to think about ways they can use natural resources to create a reusable eco-product.

Textiles teamed up with the food department where the students baked a loaf of bread. This is where we opened a conversation about plastics that are used in bread packaging. The students then came over to the textiles department to make an eco-printed piece of fabric that could then be used as an alternative way to store bread (classic Dick Whittington). We embarked on conversations regarding single and multiple-use textiles and continued to develop this into textiles lead debate regarding plastics used in fashion manufacturing.

The students really enjoyed their day, especially foraging for leaves and creating beautiful and unique fabric pieces from their finds.

Each student took home a loaf of bread, a fabric wrap, and a story to tell their parents and carers as to why we should reduce the amount of plastic we use.