Introduction to Eco-printing on paper

Eco-printing otherwise called Botanical contact printing is the Art of creating prints on fabric or paper using essentially natural materials and botanical resources. We use heat, humidity and mordants to secure the pigments/dyes given out by leaves and other botanical materials.

Elisabeth is a Botanical artist and a Natural dyer and she runs a sustainable studio in Glasgow. There she researches and teaches in person and online Natural dyeing and Botanical printing to a global classroom. She is responsible for the Global project "The true colour of the Cotinus" initiated during the first Covid lockdown, it brough together over 600 participants located in all time zones, and she cultivates a natural dye garden in the Glasgow Botanical garden called "The Indigo plot".

She will open her studio for the first time since Covid to welcome a small group of aspiring Botanical Printers. In those 4 sessions she will teaches you how to create wonderful prints on paper using the local Botanics.

The sessions are definitively suited for beginners who aim at creating sustainable art, Art students in need for a more eco process, Artists looking to go the natural way.

We will only use "safe" and non polluting ingredients in the process and during the 4 sessions you will :

- learn about mordants, dyes and pigments, we will talk about tannins.

- create some wonderful art work and leave the class with a good portfolio of prints

- get a better understanding of the local botanical resources available in Urban cities to create Art with a low carbon footprint.

I am afraid all bookings are final but if you find you cant join after having booked you are welcome to pass on your space to a friend, and I can't accommodate any pupil with mobility problems as you have to navigate stairs to enter my studio.

In the sessions we will be spending a lot of time standing up make sure you are up for it. The "cooking time" is key in success of the bundles and my finishing time might have to be a little elastic some days.

I will supply all material but you will get a chance to bring in some small sections of paper you want to test.

The True Colour of the Cotinus technique will not be included in these sessions as it is only delivered in specific online sessions but I will make pdf methods for it available to any takers.

Host or Publisher Elisabeth Viguie Culshaw @ The Lansdowne House