This is the support page of The True Colour of the Cotinus Project. If you scroll below you can register yourself on one of the online methods to learn to print blue on fabric or paper, but also order a beautiful set of Greeting cards with my unique Botanical prints of Cotinus leaves and/or a 2022 calendar (12 images) featuring the Cotinus prints.

The True Colour of the Cotinus project was born in 2020 as an online community Eco-Printing project out of the Covid Pandemic and in 2021. In 2021 over 600 participants have joined the group by taking part in an online workshop or working with the PDF methods to obtain blue prints out the the Cotinus (Smoke bush) tree leaves. It is a really buzzing project created by Artist Elisabeth Viguie Culshaw.

So What is coming next?

The last online live workshop for the year was in Septembre 2021 but many are working with online self paced methods (see below how to access them) and sharing their prints, interacting in the Private Facebook group. I want more out of it… to give more, to educate via the method about mordants and results, about seasonality of the vegetation and how the botanical elements act at different times of the year. More of working together wherever we are… but for this I need your support.

As a self employed artist I have to fund my projects and all my work is self funded. I have made available some beautiful items available for you to purchase and some methods and courses for you to join… All are linked with the project and are available to purchase here.

This is an opened letter to all of you who have showed or are interested in The True Colour of the Cotinus project… (in other countries than the UK Smoke bush is the name used for the Cotinus plant). One single mass workshop experimentally launched in July 2020 as a quick online workshop live on zoom to help “stuck at home” “wanabee Eco-printers” has become such a great project. Since then dozens of eco-printers around the world have used this technique to not only create blue prints but connect with like minded creative minds around the world.

Eco-printers talk to each other from across time zones… collect Cotinus plants, share leaves… exchange home baking for leaves… some have produce beautiful work they have sold. So generating some income for themselves. That is such a great result for such a small leaf…

From any prints to blue prints it was only a quick jump… to print on paper to print on fabric… to liaising with over 500 now eco-printers, plant lovers, Cotinus collectors it has been so far a wonderful journey…

Now I want to go further… my plan for 2022 is to :

• There will be an exhibition on the 10/11 Septembre 2022 in the Glasgow Botanical garden and a Masterclass in Cotinus printing on the 9th of Septembre.
• To start working with Cotinus pigment to create pigment lakes, Cotinus watercolour and Cotinus printing paste.
• Geo-localise the participants and establish a time line to show how the Cotinus can be printed blue the whole 365 days of a calendar year… preferably on a phone app.
• Learn to extract pigment from the Cotinus leaves… blue pigment … I have seen it done it is feasible…
• Educate many about the action of mordants in creating prints out of pigment/tannin and understand the chemical process.
• May be write a manual of simple eco-printing.

And I need to raise funds… please see below my offer, and scroll further down to read why and how…

THESE METHODS ARE RESULTS OF ONLINE PROJECT WORKSHOPS SINCE 2021 WITH THE TRUE COLOUR OF THE COTINUS PROJECT.

PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM NOT ABLE TO OPERATE REFUNDS ON ONLINE METHODS, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE RIGHT METHOD FOR YOU, please email me if in doubt bettysbeautifullife@gmail.com

THE FOCUS OF THE METHOD IS TO ENCOURAGE TO TEST WITH A RANGE OF MORDANTS AND SUPPORTS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR LOCAL COTINUS LEAVES WILL GIVE YOU AND TO ADAPT YOUR PRINTING TO IT.

Please note the video replays are of the original online live workshops and they are fixed in time. The most recent workshop is the updated 2025 May workshop which addresses background colours.

IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEM USING THE PAYPAL OPTION PLEASE EMAIL ME ON bettysbeautifullife@gmail.com I will send you a separate payment link

The True Colour of the Cotinus is a Global Online Eco-Printing project I have launched in 2020 just after the Covid crisis kicked in. With the aim of bringing together Eco-printers from various time zones to test together the colour we could obtain from Eco-printing with the Cotinus leaves (Smoke bush). One live workshop bringing together 100 live participants to print on paper (some on video replay if the time zone they were in made it too difficult…) A Facebook group supporting the posting of results…. We generated a lot of work… a real buzz and the Cotinus plant became the “to print” plant.

A few of us printed blue… A further summer workshop again with 100 participants tested a refined method and a lot more of us got blue… again a real buzz in the FB group due to participants sharing tips… what plant, how long, what paper… some starting growing, some starting testing at different time of the year. And a LOT of blue prints appeared on social media… I was asked if we would test on fabric.

And COVID was still there…

In 2021 we started working on fabric… cellulose with linen and protein with silk… gradually I realised the pigment of the leaves was of the essence to bring success and off course the type of plant, and most days in 2021 since plants have grown leaves I have been printing. We ran two workshops to keep the original pattern of elimination of methods which only brought low results… and the final one on 26 August tested a method I have put together after studying all results posted.

In November 2021 I exhibited pieces printed this year using a paper and tannin method at the yearly AMELAND Art Festival in the Netherland. I have decided to share this method with participants who would like to try it. You can order here a copy of the online method together with the replay video of my latest online live workshop.

I have now a high percentage of success and I want to share this with you via those PDF methods… If you click the link below and purchase those methods you have in your hands a good tool to select your cloth, and plant, process your cloth and run through your process and achieve a blue print. Or prepare your paper, mordant it and print great blue prints.

Different blues because different plants, different water, different time of the year… I learned so much through this process on what to look for…

But it is not just about getting blue prints… You will also learn about mordants, why does one leaf print blue on one and not the other… why do you have to use a certain plant… this project has brought me a chance to connect with 100’s ecoprinters over the past two years and make them think about their process… With this process hopefully you get a good blue print… but certainly you will get a good print as this is a good method for printing your leaves… you will get good tips on mordanting, scouring, selecting your leaves and finishing your fabric.

Hope to see you in the group soon.

Love… Betty xx