During my time on a short residency with The Slow Camera Exchange (2023, 2024) and at the Lord Mayor's Pavillion on a Sample-Studio residency (2024) I made exciting new discoveries combining cyanotype printing and natural dyes which expand what is possible for natural colours and layering in analogue photography. This residency jumpstarted a new body of work now in progress involving a series of portraits which combine imagery of people and a chosen plant and plant dye.
From Left to Right: Thinking with Maple: I See You See Me, cyanotype print, 2024. Starstuff, cyanotype print and botanical ink made in collaboration with a Hosta leaf and slugs, 2024. Oak Feelings, cyanotype print, 2024.
These portraits are as much a portrait of the plant as of the human sitter and they attempt to reveal their relationship. The sitters are people living in Ireland who may inspire and model a harmonious way of relating to plants, who share their knowledge of plants, or who have personal and tender stories of plants.
Portrait of Gingko, naturally dyed cyanotype print on paper, 2024.
Samples exploring wet cyanotype process, textures and adding natural dyes.
Portrait of Nettle, naturally dyed cyanotype print on paper, 2024.
From Left to right: Portrait of Borage, naturally dyed cyanotpye print on paper, 2024. Third Eye Girl with Leaves, cyanotype print dyed with Fenugreek, Ashleigh Ellis 2024, Altered positive film from Hermann Marbe’s collection, The Slow Camera Exchange. Model: Patricia Pena Mazo. Detail of Portrait of Nettle.
Triptych of naturally dyed cyanotype prints on paper.
From left to right: Cyanotype and natural dye prints on cotton fabric, wet cyanotype print, cyanotype print on stone.
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The Magic of Natural Dyes and Cyanotype Printing
~ an Online Course
Welcome to the beautiful world of Cyanotype printmaking on paper and fabric combined with plant pigments. This course will share the steps, recipes, and techniques you need to confidently create unique and colourful works of art in an environmentally conscious way. You will learn how to combine foraged and found plants and pigments with the simple and low impact photographic process of cyanotype and come away bursting with ideas for your creative practice.
There is a world of natural colour at your fingertips waiting to be discovered!
Upcoming Course starting May 2026 and September 2026!
What Is Cyanotype Printing?
- Cyanotype is an elemental process of printing an image on paper and fabric. It works with the energy of the sun, water, an object or photographic negative, and UV sensitive iron salts to create stunning blue prints.
- Cyanotype printing is the most environmentally friendly way of creating a long lasting analogue photographic image, and no camera or darkroom is needed.
- Photographic negatives, natural forms, objects and textures can be printed onto a huge range of surfaces, making it a highly versatile and creative medium.
Because of the nature of its chemistry, cyanotype combines beautifully with natural dyes - as if they were made for each other! The colours available from adding plant pigments are almost limitless. Not every plant has been worked with to date, so it is really exciting to see what we will discover in this emerging medium.
A love affair has begun...
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This course on cyanotype photography and plant pigments will give you the skills, resources, and support, to enhance the quality and authenticity of your environmentally conscious arts practice.
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As artists, when we start to really look at our art materials ~ at what they are made of and how they negatively affect our health and the environment ~ it can feel like going down a murky rabbit hole with no end in sight.
Like many artists, for a long time I was completely unaware that most of our synthetic pigments are fossil fuel based and really not great for the environment or our health. Once I found out, it was completely overwhelming and difficult to know where to start.
For the past 11 years I have taught fine art, sustainable textiles, nature connection and eco art, all intertwined with a focus on wellbeing. And for the last 6 years I have been teaching skills to empower artists and creatives to create freely with environmentally conscious processes, such as natural dyeing and botanical inks.
Like many artists, for a long time I was completely unaware that most of our synthetic pigments are fossil fuel based and really not great for the environment or our health. Once I found out, it was completely overwhelming and difficult to know where to start.
For the past 11 years I have taught fine art, sustainable textiles, nature connection and eco art, all intertwined with a focus on wellbeing. And for the last 6 years I have been teaching skills to empower artists and creatives to create freely with environmentally conscious processes, such as natural dyeing and botanical inks.
It is with great excitement that I invite You to join me for the online course The Magic of Natural Dyes and Cyanotype Printing where I will share with you all I know about plant pigments and cyanotype printing on paper and fabric!
The Magic of Natural Dyes & Cyanotype Printing
~ an Online Course
This course is hosted by The Natural Dyers and Growers Academy and will run in September 2026.
Included are 5x Live Zoom support sessions. All Live Zooms are recorded and sent to students.
Modules are opened a week before the live sessions.
Students have access to digital materials for a month after, and all materials can be downloaded for life long learning.
Included are 5x Live Zoom support sessions. All Live Zooms are recorded and sent to students.
Modules are opened a week before the live sessions.
Students have access to digital materials for a month after, and all materials can be downloaded for life long learning.
👉 If you love to play with plants, colours and textures, and are interested in combining photographic imagery with natural dyes on paper and fabric, this course is made for you!
🌞Included in the course will be 5x Live Zoom Sessions with me to support you each step of the way, and a group of fellow creatives to share ideas and learn with.
🧩The platform also hosts a number of extra bonuses to make sure you get as much out of the course as possible.
This course is for you if you:
- want to avoid toxic art materials and pigments that harm the earth and health through their use and/or disposal.
- want to know how to create a long lasting photographic images on paper and fabric without costing the earth with harmful chemicals
- want to bring natural pigments into your arts practice but feel overwhelmed and dont know where to start
- want to bring your photography into the world of textiles but don’t know where to start
- want to develop your own photographic prints in an environmentally conscious way
- want to bring photographic imagery into your textile practice in an environmentally conscious way
FAQ
- Do I need access to a printing studio, professional textile equipment, or a dark room? - No. There will be a list of easily accessible materials and equipment you will receive when you join the course. The other essentials are: access to direct sunlight, and a room with curtains to block direct sunlight.
- Do I have to be a photographer already to take this course? - No! You will need to be able to take photos on your phone, to download an app, and have access to a inkjet printer.
- Do I have to know textiles or natural dye already to take this course? - No! If you do, then it will add an element to your learning and enrich your current practice. But if you are new to this that is a.ok.! This course will introduce you to the basics of making plant inks, and dyeing paper and fabric with the combination of cyanotype and natural dyes.