Printing landscapes with natural dyes 2026

Testing print pastes with screen printed photographs on immersion dyed Ahimsa silks with various dye plants; hawthorn, black walnut, comfrey, rosemary, rosehip. Black walnut and some hawthorn dyed pieces are too close in tone to the avocado paste. Lighter backgrounds are better.  Additional flowers and seeds are added to change the tone of avocado towards darker brown.  Where prints are feint, another screen is hand drawn for emphasis.

• Printed waterlily theme. 
• Printed lake and trees. Marwood House, Devon.
• Printed trees and wooden bridge, Springhead, Dorset.

Prints will have applique and embroidery for enhancement.  They will be sewn into quilts with other prints and coloured patchwork frameworks around the sepia prints: a contrast of 'antique' look with brighter borders.