Slow Lane Studio

One of my aprons, dyed in a varying combination of weak left-over dye baths, on which I then screenprinted my logo using a discharge paste of citric acid. This is a very effective method of creating a darker background with a lighter design...

Colours of Nature poster reformatted and made into a z-fold book using khadi paper and naturally-dyed hardback covers. The book shows watercolours handmade from plant-based pigments and the wording was screenprinted using willow charcoal.

Screenprint on paper using natural dyes - madder, marigold, weld and indigo. On Sunday, I will be at @mcrartfair with @hotbedpress demonstrating screenprinting with natural dyes, plastic-free medium and paper stencils. Come and say hello!

Mordant printed Slow Lane Studio t-shirt dyed with Madder. This feels like a bit of a milestone after two years in the planning and testing stage. Still a few tweaks & improvements to be made but I’m hoping to produce some naturally-dyed acrylic-free t-shirts for sale soon.

Some of the lovely work produced on my ‘Screenprinting with Natural Dyes’ course at Hot Bed Press over the weekend.

Always been a bit ‘meh’ about Dahlias as a flower. However I got some deadheaded ones recently and used them to dye some fabric samples and this strip of mordant printed fabric (shown on left). Might have to revise my thinking... Shown with madder (centre) and hawthorn (right).

Mordant printing some t-shirts and an apron with my branding ready for an upcoming event. These have been printed with a ferrous acetate paste and an alum acetate paste. They haven’t been dyed yet - I’ll let the prints cure before dunging and then dyeing.

More screenprinted natural dye samples on fabric. Got sixty in the bag with another 30 or so to get printed before each one gets cut into five pieces for different set and wash tests... #naturaldyescreenprinting #screenprinting #screenprintingwithnaturaldyes #textiles

Making Hawthorn Watercolour - once mixed, it’s a lot more browny orange than I was expecting from both the dried lake pigment and the dyed fabric samples... #hawthorn #crateagusmonogyna #lakepigment #plantbased #plantbasedwatercolour #handmadewatercolour #plantbasedpigments

This little collection of Madder Lake Pigments is going in the post today for an exhibition of natural colour. Of course the display box had to be covered in madder-dyed paper too... #madder #madderlake #lakepigment #lakepigments #rubiatinctorum #slowlanestudio #jacquisymons

I’ve been embarrassingly bad at posting on twitter for ages but here’s some images of latest work... all printed/made with plant-based pigments and colour.

‘Yr Wyddfa’ (Snowdon) - a woodblock print using handmade plant-based watercolours and turned into a little concertina book with hardbacked washi paper covers. #mokuhanga #japanesewoodblock #yrwyddfa #snowdon #snowdonia #handmadebook #concertinabook

Just some of the prints of ‘Yr Wyddfa’ (Snowdon) - a woodblock print using handmade plant-based watercolours. I made over forty and still didn’t get any I was completely happy with... steep learning curve and all that. #mokuhanga #japanesewoodblock #yrwyddfa #eryri #snowdon

Second block of ‘Yr Wyddfa’ (Snowdon) - part of a woodblock print using handmade plant-based watercolours. #mokuhanga #japanesewoodblock #yrwyddfa #eryri #parccenedlaetholeryri #snowdon #snowdonia #print #printmaking #earlylearner #plantbased #plantcolour #planttoprint #indigo

The sky above ‘Yr Wyddfa’ (Snowdon) - part of a woodblock print using handmade plant-based watercolours. The paper above the woodcut is a blind emboss just to see how it looks... #mokuhanga #japanesewoodblock #yrwyddfa #eryri #parccenedlaetholeryri #snowdon #snowdonia #print

Coreopsis on cotton yarn. L-R no modifier, alkaline modifier, iron modifier. #coreopsis #coreopsistinctoria #cottonyarn #naturaldyes #naturaldyeing #naturalcolour #plantcolour #slowlanestudio #stiwdiolonaraf #jacquisymons

Getting there with the micro-skeins of naturally-dyed wool for sample boxes. Inner ring: Blue-faced Leicester wool. Outer ring: Kent Romney wool. Jacob wool and cotton yarn next on the list... #naturaldyes #naturallydyed #naturallydyedyarn #colourgradient #colourwheel

Plant-dyed wool. If somebody had shown me this picture five years ago and said the colours had all come from plant sources, I’d have laughed in their face... #plantdyes #naturaldyes #naturaldyeing #naturallydyedyarn #kentromney #sustainablecolour #slowlanestudio