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NEW RETREAT - just launched!
with
30 May-7 June 2023
Get Your Early Bird Discount!
$200 - ends 28 February
If you love the idea of an entire week dedicated to creating striking eco leaf-printed textiles, time out for daily yoga, healthy fresh food prepared by our own chef, delicious sea swimming and restorative Balinese massages in a tropical island paradise, then Bali Ecologia is probably just for you!
Helen Biles joins us from the UK where she is well-known as a painter and eco print-making specialist creating and selling her textiles with superb one-off eco prints created entirely by hand using the age-old techniques of Japanese shibori, rust printing, indigo and experimental dyeing using the natural forms and pigments of leaves.
She regularly presents one-day-one-technique workshops in the UK. Now with this week-long retreat you'll have the opportunity to not only learn all of her workshop techniques and have your printed fabrics made up into beautiful take-home objects by our seamstresses.
Creative Living Retreats specialises in presenting expert tuition from gifted teachers alongside the creativity-nurturing benefits of yoga in simply beautiful surroundings.
Anna has been curating retreats here at Villa Nilaya by the sea in Beautiful East Bali since 2011.
THE BALI ECOLOGIA ECO LEAF-PRINTMAKING + YOGA RETREAT in BALI
Many thanks for a magnificent experience!
Glenda W. Melbourne Australia, Florabunda 2022
This 8-day/7-night retreat offers you an expansive and experimental week to focus on making your own eco leaf printed textiles inspired and using the plants, flowers and leaves you find here in the gorgeous gardens of Bali.
This is a really fun week with your own leaf printing and textile outcomes that you can take home and use straight away! (no stitching required ... our stitching-angels will do that for you).
Along with 36-hours of tuition in Helen's detailed techniques for eco leaf printing, this unique retreat includes:
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All your art materials (fabric, dyes, adornments, mulberry paper) AND all of your yoga equipment
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A full day tour into the spectacular East Bali region of Abang for observation and collection of botanicals, a swim in the royal bathing ponds fed by natural spring waters, before a hidden gem lunch treat of gourmet Balinese delicacies as you view the majestic Mt Agung, Bali's famous, most revered volcano (yes, we have three here!), where you'll spend the afternoon working with Helen.
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Cooking'n'Cocktails with our executive chef - cook your own 7-dish megibung with tips and recipes to be able to make it at home - plus our Signature Nilaya cocktails and snacks as you stir the sauce!
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A stylish night out on the town with fine dining, cocktails and live jazz
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Daily yoga (including 'proper' chair yoga so everyone is included!), starting with a 30-minute breathwork session when you arrive, and a full yoga session after days at the villa working, with alternative days for extra-long shavasana (deep rest) and a guided deep rest yoga nidra session (no matter what level your experience with yoga, you will feel comfortable with these classes).
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A 60-minute deliciously restorative Balinese massage or reflexology treat with our expert masseuses using Sensatia's pure sweet almond oil infused with restorative essential oils where you choose your favourite scent - Meditation or Relaxation - and you'll receive a souvenir bottle to take some home too
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A 90-minute heavenly, live sound-bathing experience (some call it 'sound therapy' or 'healing' - we just call it divine) that will have your senses and imagination floating ...
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plus your choice of accommodation and breakfast for 7 nights + airport collection + most meals
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and time to yourself with the last afternoon free for shopping or more pampering
A luxurious week where all you need do is turn up each day after breakfast (and perhaps an early-morning dip?
... the snorkeling is fabulous), having taken the short walk in our pretty village to Villa Nilaya, where our first 30 minutes of the day are dedicated to mindfulness meditation with some calm and focusing breathwork - pranayama - and then to art ...
Bali maybe known as The Island of the Gods, but for botanists, it is a treasure trove of flora.
What a joy to incorporate the leaves you find in the gardens here to print your own unique eco leaf printed textiles!
And at the end of each day? A deeply restorative, full, luxuriant yoga class on our beautiful sea-facing, teak-floored yoga space.
Stretch, breathe and relax deeply ... drift off to sleep, perhaps, to the sound of the lapping sea at the end of the garden .... before padding downstairs as evening gathers, for a healthy, delicious buffet dinner prepared by our own Villa Nilaya chefs, with alternate evenings all yours to spend discovering the seaside dining venues in our village of Mendira near Candi Dasa.
Choose from one of three accommodations
From cute Balinese bungalows to luxe-plus resort suites, all venues have dining facilities if you fancy a night at home.
Your 7-nights' accommodation with breakfast is included in the retreat price. There is nothing else to pay. See the Accommodation
Helen and I warmly invite you to join our group for this exceptional art experience by the sea in beautiful East Bali.
WHO WILL THIS RETREAT SUIT?
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You can join this retreat as a complete 'textiles' beginner and achieve fabulous reults!
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The YOGA is suitable for ALL LEVELS of experience, including novices and for those with restricted movement we'll have a 'chair yoga' alternative for you.
ART RETREAT DATES & extra nights
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STARTS on ARRIVAL DAY (DAY 1) You will be collected from the airport, The drive to our village is about 90-minutes.
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The Retreat STARTS after lunch on DAY 1.
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ENDS after breakfast on DEPARTURE DAY (DAY 7), There is no program today and checkout time is 12 from your hotel.
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Arriving early or staying longer is highly recommended!
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Anna has secured special hotel rates for a limited period if you wish to arrive early/stay longer. Please enquire.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
With 36 hours and 12 art sessions of dedicated tuition time with Helen you'll learn these Techniques and Processes:
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How to identify leaves and flowers in the local area which will make beautiful eco leaf prints
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How to use these leaves to make strong, beautiful and stunning leaf prints printing onto a variety of cellulose and protein fabrics, of different weights and weaves, silk, cottons and linens (cloth will be used to make the eye mask)
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How to bring colour into your eco prints using dye blankets - cutch, pomegranate, henna, oakgall, logwood, madder, marigold, brazilwood, indigo
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How to dye with indigo
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How to make and maintain an indigo Vat
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Learn the art of shabiro and resist printing techniques (folding, stitching, blocks of wood) (cloth will be used to make the cushion)
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How to use different mordents to create a variety of tones and shift colours from dark blue to a teal, a pink to an orange
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How to combine eco leaf printing, natural dyeing and shabiro techniques to create layers and textures into your prints
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Scale up your prints from sample size to print large pieces of cloth - (cloth will be used to make the sarong)
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How to create a clean, crisp and strong print
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You will dye fabrics which will be sewn during the retreat for you into:
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- a luxuriously padded silk eye mask, printed with leaf techniques (make a bandana instead if you wish)
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- a large cushion cover in premium handwoven linen printed using leaf techniques
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- learn the art of Japanese gift-wrapping, using your own hand-printed lustrous silk 'wrapping paper'
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you can further adorn your items with tassels brought by Anna from Morocco
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