This summer, the porch is open.

Folk Indigo Porching Around is a free, pay-what-you-can community craft series happening every other Saturday in Cincinnati, June through August 2026. Six sessions bring neighbors together around visible mending, natural indigo dyeing, Japanese boro textile repair, kintsugi, garment rescue, and a closing block party and textile exhibition celebrating Indonesian Independence Day.

No skills required. All materials provided. Everyone welcome regardless of income, background, or experience.

Common interests in a common place that create community.

THE SESSIONS

Each gathering connects participants to a craft tradition with deep cultural roots and sends them home with something made by their own hands. REGISTRATIONS WILL BE OPEN ON JUNE 1.

🪡 June 13 — Visible Mending 101 Make the repair the feature, not the fix. Patches, embroidery floss, and running stitch for anyone who has a garment worth keeping.

🌿 June 27 — Indigo Day Natural indigo dye grown right here in Cincinnati — persicaria tinctoria, subtropical indigo, all from the Folk Indigo garden — connecting Ohio soil to centuries of Javanese, Japanese, and West African textile tradition.

🧵 July 11 — Boro Basics Japanese layered textile repair using sashiko thread and fabric scraps. Slow, meditative, and deeply satisfying.

✂️ July 29 — Porch and Patch Bring something you were going to throw away. Cut, stitch, and turn it into something worth keeping.

✨ August 15 — Kintsugi and Party The Japanese art of golden repair. Bring a broken ceramic and leave with it mended in gold. The cracks are the whole point.

🇮🇩 August 22 — Exhibit and Block Party The porch becomes a gallery. Every piece made this summer on display. Indonesian food, music, and the whole street invited. A celebration of Indonesian Independence Day and a summer of making together.

WHY PORCHING AROUND

These sessions are designed to bring together people who might not otherwise meet. Neighbors who live on the same street but have never spoken. People from different backgrounds who share a love of making. Anyone who has ever wanted to learn a craft but did not know where to start.

Shared hands-on work has a way of dissolving barriers that conversation alone cannot. When everyone is stitching or dyeing or mending something together, commonalities surface naturally. Community builds from the inside out.

Porching Around is also the foundation for a replicable workshop guide documenting every session, so that anyone anywhere can bring this model to their own porch, neighborhood, and community.

SUPPORT THE SERIES

Folk Indigo Porching Around runs on a pay-what-you-can model. Keeping every session free and accessible requires community support. Your contribution covers materials and take-home kits, food and hospitality, facilitation, and promotion across all six sessions. Remaining funds seed the replicable workshop guide.

Donate or sponsor to make this event free for the community, while respecting my time and expertise as an artist. If you’re interested to become a sponsor, please contact me directly at dyah@dyahmiller.net. Sponsors will be recognized in marketing colaterals across prints and social media. All donations are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, The Field.

Dyah Miller is a sponsored artist with The Performance Zone Inc (dba The Field), a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization serving the performing arts community. Contributions to The Field earmarked for Dyah Miller are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. For more information about The Field, or for our national charities registration, contact: The Field, 228 Park Ave S, Suite 97217, New York, NY 10003-1502, phone: 212-691-6969. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained from The Field or from the Office of Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.