Learn
Video
LEAP – Learning from Experience As Printmakers
CLICK HERE to watch over 20 free nature printing videos and four longer workshops. Learn for free as our members demonstrate
• tampo making and gyotaku
• leaf printing, botanical casting, eco dyeing
• printing with gelli plates and printing with a flatbed press
Ideas for more? Email our president, Lori Loftus, at president@natureprintingsociety.org.
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WORKSHOP CLASS 1
Botanical Bas Relief Tiles Workshop with Sue Fierston
This 2.5 hour workshop is the first in our series of live and recorded workshops taught by NPS members.
Cast leaves, branches, seashells and flowers in dental plaster or Hydrocal concrete. Learn how to finish your tiles using metallic powders and watercolor. Contact Sue at pastpresident@natureprintingsociety.org to receive a supply list and start casting your own tiles. Link here.
WORKSHOP CLASSES 2 & 3
Gelli Plate Workshop with Bee Shay
In Part 1, Bee Shay demonstrates Gelli plate printing using dried or fresh leaves, a Gelli brand gel plate and acrylic paints. Link here.
In Part II, Bee demonstrates how to use and combine prints including how to make books, collages and cards. You’ll learn how to crop prints and make a custom envelope template, too. Link here.
As part of the class you will receive a list of suppliers, and remember the Avery brand glue stick is the best! Contact Bee at treasurer@natureprintingsociety.org to receive your supply list.
WORKSHOP CLASS 4
Pretend You Are the Wind: Printmaking with a press, Lynda Goldberg
In this awesome 90 minute demo, Lynda Goldberg creates several prints using her professional press and passes along her printmaking tips and tricks. Her advice applies to the making of any print, including gelli plates or a hand press, because she describes her creative thought process and design choices.
Lynda’s basic materials include: plexiglas plates approximately 8 x 12 inches, Caligo water soluble inks, Arnhem paper, dried or fresh flat plants and…eggshells! As she says in the video, gelli plates are an easy substitute for her plexiglas plate and press set up. Link here.
Watch LEAP LIVE, our Zoom interviews with NPS members.
Here are the first five with more to come.
Click on the video number to watch.
VIDEO ONE: Chris Dewees and Sue Fierston speak for an hour as Chris describes the early days of NPS, his gyotaku process, the Smithsonian SITES traveling show, NPS friends and the publication of his two books. Filmed live over Zoom.
VIDEO TWO: Dwight Hwang and Sue talk about his classic gyotaku printing process using sumi ink and his background as an animator in Japan. 60 minutes, filmed live.
VIDEO THREE: Arlene Bandes. Wow! Arlene takes us through her three main methods of printing without a press: reduction printing with styrofoam plates, gel plates, and Xerox transfer of photographs. Over 35 members attended this 90 minute talk with Sue in January 2022.
VIDEO FOUR: Elena Court describes her Asian methods of printing glacially polished boulders in Yosemite National Park in the 1970s and 1980s. Her abstract prints measure up to 3′ by 6′ and are unique for both their size and artistic method, based on Asian landscape art and calligraphy. Filmed September 2021 with Sue, 50 minutes.
VIDEO FIVE: Speaking from Mexico, Heather Fortner describes her methods of printing leaves and gyotaku aboard ship during her career in the merchant marine during the 1970s. She takes us from Florida to Oregon to Mexico on her travels, setting up a distinctive art studio in each location, teaching classes, always staying in touch with NPS friends. Filmed live in June 2021 with Sue, 60 minutes.
VIDEO INTERVIEW: Sonja Larsen takes us back to the beginnings of NPS and her study of fish and plant printing. Images from Nature 2022 was filmed by the Crossing Arts Alliance in Brainerd, Minnesota, 10 minutes.
VIDEO INTERVIEW: Hebe Bartz spoke to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in 2019. Wearing one of her trademark solar printed vests, Hebe talks about early days at the museum as well as her love for the natural world and NPS. 5 minutes.
Book
The Art Of Printing From Nature: A Guidebook, 40th Anniversary Edition
Our printing guide, “The Art Of Printing From Nature: A Guidebook, 40th Anniversary Edition” is the most comprehensive book on nature printing methods available: 132 pages of techniques, instruction, artwork, and inspiration, including over 400 color photographs.
20+ NPS members, all experts in their technique, have written 35 chapters that cover beginning and advanced gyotaku (fish printing), botanical printing, printing on cloth and fabric, eco-dyeing, color theory, cyanotype, card making, printing with sumi ink, mushroom spore prints — even printing spider webs!
- Membership in NPS includes our beautiful quarterly newsletter as well as the opportunity to attend our annual week-long conference held each year in a different location. A sample copy of our newsletter is available here.
- Browse our website to learn more about the history of nature printing, the work of our members, and upcoming nature printing events.
To purchase “THE ART OF PRINTING FROM NATURE”, click here.