Cyanotype printing

 I have been busy collecting the last of the summer blooms and foliage from the garden, and preserving them for cyanotype printing by pressing them.  In contrast to my husband who is head vegetable gardener I am particularly thrilled with the leaves that have been half eaten by pests or struck with disease - the little holes and nibbled and curled bits add so much more to the print in my opinion!

These prints show Brambles, Raspberry leaves, weeds and Tamarisk, and the last two photos show the Tamarisk print before and after rinsing out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flower Casting

After a couple of not so good weeks I'm on the up 
and have been doing a little more flower casting to try and lift the spirits 

and improve my techniques!  

You can see my first attempts here.

 Brambles, Angelica, Chives and Heuchera.

   

Freesias and Heuchera  

A little Welsh Poppy.

  

A coat of grey paint, but I think I preferred it white!

The dining room table has been my desk during lock down, and here are some more castings waiting to be sanded, sealed and in some cases have a little colour added if they need a little more definition.  

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Plaster Cast Flowers and WOYWW

In between all the usual lock down stuff like gardening, housework and competitive backgammon with the hubs I have discovered a new obsession - casting plants in plaster!

Sitting here on my desk are my first attempts - it's been a steep learning curve but hopefully I've learned from most of the numerous mistakes I made!

  I'll start with my favourite (and most successful so far!) The brambles are from my front garden and I think they look quite beautiful here although in the garden they promote swearing and frustration on a regular basis.

Chives on the left - dropped on the floor and smashed.
Baby ferns on the right - had to be chiselled out of the mould as I forgot to use mould release!

Pyracanthus buds

A rose with Lavender and dried grasses - I enthusiastically sanded off some of the stalks!

It's quite a long process, letting the plaster set then letting it dry out for days on end, but I did remember to take a desk shot earlier in the proceedings!

I'm linking up Julia over at WOYWW this week.