THE LANSDOWNE HOUSE

The self paced workshop will teach you about The True Colour of the Cotinus technique to Botanical print blue monoprints with Cotinus leaves on Cellulose and protein material (including paper) You will learn how to select, prepare fabric and dyes and print them. This method was finalised in May 2025 in a online live workshop on zoom and you will get the replay video of the live session as well as the instructions related to the method. With this tuition you get access to the FB group “The True Colour of the Cotinus” where you can find results for hundreds of participants since the beginning of the project. This method is perfect for the new printers but offers a lot of insight to experienced printers

From 5th October 4pm UK (London time) for 4 weeks, on live on zoom online sessions once a week a 3 hours session recorded for replay and delivered with instructions for you to keep. In this workshop part of a long term project about Tannins and ink, We will study tannins and how we can use them to make ink, dye, discharge and print. We will make an manipulate the colour of inks, We will botanical print on fabric and paper creating tannin backgrounds. We will discharge the tannin in a mark making attempt to create patterns on paper or cellulose fabric. We will look at bought tannins and those you can forage in the outdoors as well as in your kitchen to create a colour pallet. Tannins are substantive dyes which means they are colour fast and don’t require a mordant so they are the perfect dyes to use for art project and for work due to stand the test of time. We will create a number of samples small scale (20 x 30 cms max) but I will address upscaling but not demonstrate it. You will leave with a number of new skills and some great samples. In this workshop I do not teach creativity, I teach dyes and you will be able to use your own creativity for designs. I do not provide any kits but I will provide you with some basic suppliers lists and off course a list of ingredients you need. This is suitable for beginners.

This is a workshop for 6 participants maximum. I only run this once a year at harvest time. If you want to understand how plant to colour works in a truly sustainable way this is the workshop for you. If you are an Art student and are thinking about creating sustainable dyed work this will give you an insight into true sustainability. It will give you back a sense of the seasons and the sense of the real labour involved in sustainability. I will share with you the time line about my plant production used for the workshop. If you are studying for a degree and need to study the behind you will access a lot of information during the week end. We will spend a week end in my studio creating natural colours grown in the Indigo Plot, my dye garden at the Glasgow Botanical garden. We will collect dye plants at the plot (weather depending) and use them to create, blue, yellow and green shades on yarn and cloth (silk, linen, cotton). I will address alternative option to home grown dyes but using my home grown will root you in the true relationship between plant and colour in a sustainable way. We will look at how a variety of yellow yielding plants affect the green and how the blue pigment extraction can also motivate the density of the blue/green. We may if lucky achieve a purple with Indirubin, The great majority of blues will be dyed from my fresh leaves Japanese Indigo and Woad from that season. We will be learning about mordants and dyes and how to secure dye on fibre. This is suitable for beginners or more advance participants. You will have access to my small shop of home grown dyes for participants if you want to take home a small amount of dyes to test further. I will also share with you the basic dye instructions on the basis of a blog post online.

This workshop is about creating marks or patterns on cellulose material using a resist paste from China based on soya flour and a Ferrous Indigo vat. It is perfect for beginners if you are ready to allocate some time to your work. We will create a sampler of multi shades of blue to allow to print multi blue shades. I will not teach the creativity here but the methodology and your input will be to create the designs and apply them. With a first session on the 4th October 2025 at 4pm for 4 weeks London time this is a 4 weeks online live workshop about setting up a Ferrous Indigo vat and maintaining it. We will then print with Indigo using resist techniques. Each week will see us going deeper in the process and it will be an advantage if you can follow me along during the same week. You will receive a list of ingredients about one month before the workshop to allow you to gather all you need. The minimum size of vat to use is 25 L but you could upscale to 100 L if you want to work in a good scale (a large bin). It is an advantage to have a space to work in but you can practise the technique small scale in a kitchen or cellar, you need access to water and electricity near by. During the 4 weeks we will set up the vat and learn to keep it alive but also to revive it if you loose the reduction. The pieces produces should be around 20 x 30 cm wide for samples but I will discuss (but not practise) upscaling. This is suitable for cloth not garments at a beginner’s level. Sessions are online live, recorded and shared for 2 years with instructions

The True Colour of the Cotinus is a global online project I launched in 2020, it is about Ecoprinting the Cotinus leaves to obtain blue. The PAPER method was finalised in 2020 after two global online testing with 100 participants each. We use facebook to share results. This method gives you the final result and how to get Blue out of your own leaves/paper. It is suitable for beginners … by buying this method you are in the project and will be able to access the Private Facebook group of over 500 participants to post your results and interact.

The True Colour of the Cotinus is a global online project I launched in 2020, it is about Eco-printing the Cotinus leaves to obtain blue. The FABRIC METHOD was finalised in 2021 after two global online testing with 100 participants each. We use facebook to share results. This method gives you the final result and how to get Blue out of your own leaves/fabric. It is best for silk and linen but will work for cotton and other material. It is suitable for beginners … by buying this method you are in the project and will be able to access the Private Facebook group of over 500 participants to post your results and interact.

This is an online course in Botanical Contact Printing on paper. It is perfect for beginners as it teaches step by step. It is based on written instructions, photos and video material, a FB for support and from time to time a live session. 12 lessons, 2 printing ways, several mordanted ways, one bookbinding make. Once the course is online it is yours to keep for two years.

THIS WORKSHOP IS BEING REVIEWED AND WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM THE MIDDLE OF APRIL 2025 Print and Weave is an online workshop self paced with no live sessions but video content. It runs in collaboration with Katherine Cowtan, Scottish weaver. It was launched in conjonction with my “Printing in Woodlands” exhibition. Together we will botanical print some paper with two of my techniques and your local leaves and Katherine will guide us in the weaving of it to make paper Art.

THIS WORKSHOP IS BEING REVIEWED AND WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM THE MIDDLE OF APRIL 2025 In collaboration with Cassandra Barron this workshop will take place on my Teachable platform. It is completely self paced. With me you will learn two techniques of Botanical printing on paper, Cassandra will then guide you in making 3 different hand stitched books using your prints. This workshop is launched in conjonction with “Printing in Woodlands” the exhibition in Kirkintilloch in the Spring of 2023

In this PDF instruction I will share with you my technique developed over several years of Ecoprinting on paper to get clear and colourful prints using Botanical material and Natural dyes. We will explore via the PDF text and a number of videos 3 methods (simmering in dyes, dyes and tannin blankets, Iron blanket, steaming with blankets, texture blankets) on a variety of paper using several natural dyes or tannins. You will learn to: – Select paper – Understand your leaves fresh and dried. – Understand mordants and dyes and extract your dyes from nature – Put together your equipment – Print your paper – Learning to discharge text or designs from your prints – Finish and seal your paper so you can use it for making books, putting on a frame, using for greeting cards… Will be delivered by email link in 24 hours of purchasing