Learn how to transform foraged wild plants, plants, garden produce and recycled food into dyes and inks with Botanical Inks. The book shows you how to extract environmentally sustainable colour from the landscape and use it to create natural dyes for textiles, clothing, paper and other materials. Botanical Inks covers dyeing and surface application techniques, including bundle dyeing, Shibori tie-dyeing, hapazome, indigo sugar vat dyeing, wood-block printing, screen printing and more. And it also shows you how to turn your new inks, dyes and technique knowledge into wonderful projects, from a simple bundle-dyed a scarf to a block-printed tote bag. The process of turning plants into print can help you reconnect with nature, find a creative outlet and develop a mindful sense of presence. It also promotes an awareness of sustainable practices and how to reduce our impact on the planet.

A practical and inspirational guide to choosing, blending and spinning richly textured artisan yarn for weaving, knitting and other textile art applications. Imogen Bright Moon is a British Romani textile artist who creates richly textured, highly tactile woven textile works from yarn that she spins and blends herself. In this elegantly designed book Imogen reveals the secrets of her practice. In evocative, engagingly written text accompanied by sumptuous images of her work in her studio throughout the year, she explains: • How to choose raw fibres for use in your work: the author's are ethically sourced from various ecologically responsible sources, including a rescue flock of sheep on the South Downs. • How to put together different types of fibres – raw sheep's wool, plant fibres such as hemp, soya and wild silk, alpaca hair and much more – to create richly textured yarn. • The delicate art of blending naturally occurring pigments, working with shade and tone to create subtle and nuanced colours, a process that Imogen likens to a painter mixing paints on a palette. • The principles of hand-spinning, from a simple single spun thread to more complicated yarns such as triple-chain ply yarn, using a traditional floor spindle. • How to skein, soak and wet-finish your yarn, and how to store your yarn stash. • Ideas for taking your yarn into finished craft and art projects, with details of the author's own work. With an emphasis on engagement with nature, the rhythms of the seasonal craft cycle, ethical making, sustainability and mindfulness, this book is ideal for weavers, textile artists and anyone seduced by the joys of yarn.

From the Golden Book archives comes a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, gloriously illustrated by Gordon Laite in the late 1960s but never published until now! Gordon Laite’s breathtaking artwork for a Little Golden Book edition of the Andersen fairy tale was found recently in the Golden Books archive. Planned for a 1970 release but never published, this Little Golden Book is finally making its debut for today’s fairy tale fans! And it couldn’t be a lovelier retelling of the story of a determined princess whose loyalty saves her brothers from being turned into swans by an evil queen.

Stinging nettles are, for many of us, nothing more than persistent weeds with a painful sting. But apart from having an important role in the web of life, nettles are an incredibly useful plant to mankind. They have been put to myriad uses by our ancestors, and many of these are still valid today. Already stinging nettle products are growing in popularity in the field of alternative medicine, as their wide range of health benefits becomes better known. This unique book explores the diverse uses of this fascinating plant - in the garden and the kitchen, for their medical and fibrous properties and so on. It is packed with practical suggestions, as well as a guide to the botany of stinging nettles, and how to collect and store them. For example, you will discover how to use nettles to: make a liquid plant fertiliser brew an unusual beer make a dandruff treatment protect beehives flavour an omelette make friendship bracelets repel flies naturally make green or yellow fabric dyes keep yourself warm in the winter and much more ... The many health benefits of taking nettles in various forms include relief from: hay fever and other allergies; acne and other skin conditions; arthritis and rheumatism; asthma; stress; high blood pressure; depression; enlarged prostate gland. The book also features Digital Nettle Art!

Fabrics colored with natural dyes have a beauty and subtlety all of their own. Onion and avocado skins, chamomile and birch bark, and nettles and acorns can produce lovely, ethereal colors and effects. The Wild Dyer demystifies this ecoconscious art, focusing on foraging and growing dying materials; repurposing kitchen trimmings; making and using long-lasting dyes; and creating stitched projects. Workspace setup, equipment, and fabric choices and care are all discussed. Beautiful photographs and easy-to-follow instructions illustrate how to make fifteen exquisite household items, from a drawstring bag to a gardener's smock and a reversible patchwork blanket. The Wild Dyer is a complete guide for both beginners and experienced artists seeking to expand their knowledge of this increasingly popular craft.

A guide to harnessing the world of nature to create sustainable textile art. Textile artist Alice Fox shows how to work with found, foraged, gathered and grown materials to create fabulous textile pieces that are inspired by, and made from, nature. She encourages crafters to be open minded and experimental, using local (and sometimes) unconventional materials, working with the seasons and learning what materials are available at different times of year to ground artists in natural cycles and integrate creative activity with a strong sense of place and character. Alongside advice on growing your own plants (such as flax or nettles) for creative work, the book is packed with practical ideas for foraging – from weeds, dandelions and other plants useful for making cordage, or leaves that can be stitched, quilted and shaped into vessels, to grass, wool, plastics and mud that can be gathered and delightfully repurposed by the textile artist. Other ideas for found materials include stones, shells and wood that can be wrapped or woven into, as well as a multitude of urban treasures that find a new life in creative hands.