Arts and Crafts or a Sales Meeting? Hmmm . . .

These varied items are the results of nature printing.

Only at Storey could a nature-printing demonstration and then a hands-on craft session replace our weekly sales update meeting. I would take that any week!

Last Thursday a long-time Storey author, Laura Donnelly Bethmann, author of Nature Printing, took over leadership of our Homeroom Meeting. Rather than talking book sales, publicity, and to-dos in Homeroom, Laura discussed making prints, decorating fabrics, modifying home furnishings, and more by using natural found items and a little ink.

Author Laura Donnelly Bethmann holding a piece of fabric that she printed using grass.

The simplified version of nature printing goes like this:

1. Find a natural object (could be a leaf, a shell, a feather, bark, and so on).

2. Dab it with an ink color of your choice.

Author Laura Donnelly Bethmann is dabbing ink
onto a leaf with a makeup applicator.

3. Press the inked side onto the surface you intend to decorate.

Laura places the inked leaf ink side down on the print paper.
She covers the leaf with scrap paper and presses and rubs the entire leaf
with her thumb to be sure the ink is transferred to the print paper.

These are the results of Laura's demonstration.

It's as simple as that!

Once Laura finished her demonstration, she let us give it a try.

Our Homeroom Meeting turned into a craft session.

Laura's book Nature Printing was first published by Storey in 1996. Since its release it has sold over 54,000 copies! Look for the sequel in 2011.

— Kristy L. Rustay, Marketing Manager