A new direction
I am winding down from my full time academic research position at Cambridge University and on my 60th birthday in October 2023, a brand new phase of my life will begin. Since January of this year I have been investing my time in writing a guide on eco-printing, or otherwise known as botanical printing. I have called it, ‘The Beautiful Leaf Guide’. This has become a huge commitment, as I only meant to write a few methods, but it kept evolving and it became a guide of 120 pages. I decided to title this first version as ‘The Beautiful Leaf Part 1’. It has been a journey of discovery that has involved a large amount of research over the last year. It has also involved testing my methods to ensure their reproducibility.
You may ask, so why did you feel the need to write the guide?
Many eco-printers exclaim that botanical printing is an unpredictable craft, suggesting that random and mystical events are at work and beyond our control. The reason for the uncertainly or variety of methods is that eco-printing has many variables that contribute towards the success or failure of the botanical print. I wanted to work out how to get consistent results and I felt that there was a need for a guide that provided clear guidance and practical approaches that took the guess work out of botanical printing.
Every time I hold an eco-printing workshop, I learn something about myself and my participants. I also have some lovely people that have become my beta testers for my methods, who also bring me their queries and eco-printing problems that need addressing. From this experience, I think I have figured out where the majority of the problems with eco-printing on fabric occurs. With each workshop I hold, I learn what aspects can be improved and what teaching approach works and what doesn’t. This has strongly influenced the information I have included in the guide.
I look forward to meeting all of you that have invested in ‘The Beautiful Leaf Guide’ in the Facebook group ‘ The Beautiful Leaf’.