Joyful Abundance

This blog is about joy....and today there was joyful abundance!

I met Sarae a few weeks ago when I was admiring her garden while on a walk with Marita. And today....Sarae and her mom Claire came over for a quick cyanotype tutorial. I absolutely love sharing this process with people...and they were both pretty excited about learning. Joy!

When I teach a class....we're always so busy that I forget to take photos....and the ones I did take aren't very good. But I'm going to share them anyway.

This is my table all set up with inspiration examples and plenty of pressed plants to work with.

This is the two of them laying out their first print. We can work quickly at the dining room table with the blinds pulled so there is very little natural light. 

The second the prepared paper comes into contact with sunlight it starts to process. So I had them plan their project on a piece of white paper...then transfer the plants when they were ready.

I should never take photos in my kitchen!

Their prints were pretty Prussian blue and this photo doesn't do them justice at all.

Claire's wabi-sabi leaf with vinegar and soap had so much interesting texture....and this meadow rue Sarae printed on fabric was quite pretty. One of her motivations for learning was to make fabric print blocks for the back of a quilt.

When Sarae got home...she played around with paint on her paper pieces.

I think she's going to have fun with the sun printing process...then go crazy with taking them to the next level with paint and doodling. I can't wait to see more of what she does!  

I know her pieces were bright blue....but again...lighting is making them look very gray. These leaves came from her garden.

While everything was out....I did some more printing myself taking advantage of the mostly sunny day.  (You can see the difference when the photos are taken in natural light.)

I focused on a few baby ferns I found in the woods...and although I do love the layers...but after a conversation with Patty.....ended up printing more with just a single fern. These baby ferns are pretty special.

Here's my table after my own printing. 

I'll clean it up tomorrow. For now...I'm pretty tired from all this joyful abundance!