Fiber & Wax:
Weaving Textiles, Plants, and Encaustics
A 5-Day Immersive Retreat Experience with Alaina Enslen
February 22–26, 2027
Aya Fiber Studio | Stuart, Florida
Monday–Friday • 9 AM – 4 PM
Step into five days of immersive exploration where cloth, wax, plants, paper, and mark-making merge into richly layered mixed-media surfaces.
In this retreat-style workshop, artist and educator Alaina Enslen guides participants through an intuitive process of deconstructing and transforming textiles using encaustic wax, botanical materials, cyanotypes, distressed fabrics, stitching, frottage, monotypes, and layered surface techniques. Through experimentation and material-led discovery, participants will explore how textiles can evolve beyond function into expressive, sculptural works that echo cycles of erosion, growth, decay, and regeneration.
Working slowly and deeply over five days allows time for sampling, reflection, risk-taking, and the development of a personal visual language. Rather than focusing on rigid outcomes, this workshop encourages curiosity, tactile exploration, and organic process.
This immersive experience is ideal for fiber artists, mixed-media artists, encaustic artists, surface designers, and creatives seeking new approaches to texture, layering, and material transformation. Beginners and experienced artists are both welcome.
What Makes This Retreat Different
Unlike fast-paced technique workshops, this retreat-style format creates space for sustained exploration, experimentation, and creative immersion. Participants work within Aya Fiber Studio’s intimate, small-group environment designed for meaningful one-on-one guidance, conversation, and artistic growth.
Whether your work leans toward textiles, mixed media, encaustics, book arts, or surface design, this workshop offers an opportunity to reconnect with process, texture, and material intuition.
-
This five-day immersive retreat experience explores the transformation of cloth through encaustic wax, plants, paper, stitching, distressing, and layered mixed-media processes. Guided by Alaina Enslen, participants will experiment with material-led exploration while developing richly textured contemporary works inspired by cycles of erosion, growth, decay, and regeneration.
Designed for both beginners and experienced artists, the workshop encourages curiosity, experimentation, and the blending of textile art, painting, and sculptural surface design.
-
Cyanotypes & image transfer
Encaustic monotypes
Fabric distressing & manipulation
Plant materials & botanical embedding
Wax resist & encaustic layering
Stitching, texture & surface building
Sculptural textile compositions
Mixed-media integration techniques
Mark making & intuitive process
-
Day 1 — Gathering & Palette Building
Creating a material palette using cyanotypes, collographs, frottages, plant matter, and stitched fabrics
Building a personal archive of textures, forms, and surfaces
Exploring observation and collection as artistic practice
Day 2 — Mark Making & Surface Exploration
Experimenting with mark making, color, distressing, and fabric manipulation
Creating encaustic leaf imprints
Developing layered surfaces through texture and transparency
Day 3 — Material Transformation & Encaustic Monotypes
Creating translucent wax resist encaustic monotypes
Embedding plant matter, paper, and fibers within encaustic wax
Exploring sculptural layering, fusion, and textural depth
Day 4 — Assembly & Integration
Combining fragments and samples into more resolved compositions
Investigating juxtaposition, layering, and dimensional surfaces
Pushing the boundaries between textile, painting, and object
Day 5 — Editing, Reflection & Resolution
Refining and editing work
Considering scale, cohesion, and visual rhythm
Group reflection and discussion on future directions
-
Open to all experience levels.
-
A detailed supply list will be provided prior to class. Participants should expect to work with wax, textiles, paper, plant materials, and mixed-media surfaces throughout the week.
Aya Fiber Studio provides an intimate, fully equipped fiber arts environment designed for immersive small-group learning and creative exploration.