Synopses & Reviews
Discover how to use found natural materials — such as leaves, feathers, vegetables, fruit, shells, weeds, and wood — to print on any surface, from paper and fabric to ceramics, wood, stone, and more. Simple step-by-step instructions coupled with beautiful photos make it easy and fun to learn the basic techniques. In no time at all, crafters of any experience level will be creating original nature prints on everything from furniture to stationery to jewelry. Imagine shower invitations featuring delicate herbal prints — or a huge room divider printed with big, spiny zucchini leaves, tendrils, and flowers. Try making one-of-a-kind home dec items, such as curtains printed with scallop shells, flower pots printed with parsley and sage, or a lampshade printed with tree bark. Or make one-of-a-kind wearables, such as a scarf printed with a cross-sectioned apple or a shirt with striking leaf-vein images. Accessories include tote bags printed with peach stones and asparagus, picnic baskets printed with peppers and walnuts, and much more. There’s something here for every inventive crafter.
Synopsis
Discover how to use natural materials to print on any surface, from paper and fabric to ceramics, wood, and walls. With simple step-by-step instructions and clear photographs, Laura Bethmann encourages crafters of all levels to create original nature prints with leaves, flowers, fruits, shells, stones, and more. Her unique project ideas include stationery printed with maple leaves, a clothes hamper printed with scallop shells, and a pillow printed with cabbage. Before you know it, you ll be designing one-of-a-kind nature prints to reflect your unique personality and style.
"
Synopsis
Discover how to use found natural materials - such as leaves, flowers, feathers, vegetables, fruits, shells, weeds, and wood grain - to print on any surface, from paper and fabric to ceramics, wood, and walls. Simple step-by-step instructions coupled with beautiful photos make it easy and fun to learn the basic techniques.
Imagine shower invitations featuring delicate herbal prints - or a huge room divider screen printed with tall, billowy marsh grasses, flowing water patterns, and fish. Try making one-of-a-kind home furnishings, such as a clothes hamper printed with scallop shells, a footstool printed with cinnamon sticks, or a lampshade printed with willow leaves on bark paper. Or make one-of-a-kind wearables, like an apron printed with sage or a shirt printed with striking geometric shapes cut from maple leaves. Theres something here for every inventive crafter.
Synopsis
Decorate Your Life with Nature's Patterns
Transfer the beauty of freshly gathered natural treasures onto paper, pillows, chairs, draperies, clothing, and even ceramics. It's easy and inexpensive to begin. With a few basic supplies, you can apply green ink to blades of grass and plant a meadow on a fresh, white pillow. And that's just one of 50 gorgeous projects featured in Hand Printing from Nature. Author Laura Bethmann introduces her simple techniques and offers step-by-step instructions to get you started, but there's no limit to what you can create with nature as your inspiration.
About the Author
Laura Bethmann is an artist who exhibits her nature prints and watercolor paintings in galleries, museums, and alternative spaces. She has demonstrated her nature printing techniques in many venues, including Home and Garden Television, Lifetime Television, The Discovery Channel, and Good Housekeeping magazine. Bethmann teaches workshops for a variety of organizations, including art and craft centers, colleges, museums, botanical gardens, and garden clubs. She lives and works in her home studio in New Jersey. Visit her at laurabethmann.com.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Acknowledgements
1 Direct Impressions of Life
2 Collecting Natural Objects
3 Pigments & Supplies
4 Printing Methods
5 Print Projects with Single & Repeated Motifs
6 Creating Hand-Printed Patterns
7 Printing Scenes & Flowers
Resources
Index