Forest Forays
Forest Forays are relaxed & fun experiences in the woods. They differ from standard workshops in that the emphasis is on the being, not just the doing, the doing is the focus for being in the woods. The fire will be lit, the kettle will be on it & we will gather to enjoy the magical space & each other, whilst having the buzz of learning & playing.
Botanical Printing – Ecologically
Botanical printing is the printing of plants, using a method to extract their colours & patterns onto paper. Prints can also be achieved on fabric but we will be using paper for this session. Most often, botanical printing uses chemical mordants & often plastic in the process; we will be using only natural ingredients & materials to produce our prints. There are a limited number of plants that work well with this method but they are plenty enough to create beautiful & interesting art work. We will use the super exciting ‘wood fired’ method of printing & cook our prints outdoors over the fire. Identifying & collecting plants is all part of the fun, so if you have access to your own foraging see the list of plants in the ‘what to bring’ section. The ‘cooking’ part of the printing process takes a couple of hours, so will give us time for lunch & a wander in the woods.
What to bring
Yourself
A packed lunch (tea & biscuits provided)
Comfy clothes & shoes suited to the woods & weather. I’d recommend boots/trainers & scruffs.
Plants to share: if you have any of the following, please bring a small selection to use in your own prints & ideally share with others, cut them on the morning or the night before to keep them fresh: Cotinus/smokebush, Geranium leaves, Rose leaves, Herb Robert/wild Geranium, blackberry leaves, Sycamore/Acer
Scissors or secateurs (we have a few pairs but bringing your own means you don’t have to wait)
Other info
When you have booked your place I will email you with directions & instructions for parking.
The workshop site is within a beautiful ancient 33 acre woodland where we live, we have basic off grid facilities including a compost loo.