Botanical Collage Retreat

Two years ago we signed up for a Red Thread Retreat with Lesley Riley - master of cyanotype printing, modern botanicals, inventor of TAP (Transfer Artist Paper).   We were really excited to learn from her and create a botanical collage.  Then COVID hit, and the May 2020 retreat had to be cancelled.  After several attempts at rescheduling through 2020 and 2021, it was finally scheduled for the end of September.  So last week we spent 4 days immersed in art at the Rhodes Grove Retreat Center in Chambersburg, PA.  

Full disclosure: being fiber artists, we both thought we would be working with fabric in this workshop, and didn't realize till a few weeks before that it would be mostly paper, so what ensued was both of us making some last minute cyanotype prints on paper that we could take with us to the workshop.  Most were done on watercolor paper, some on coffee filters which were ironed flat.

We spent the first 2 days making cyanotype prints and learning to create background papers - "rusted" papers by toning, mineral papers by adding assorted chemicals, and lightening prints in a washing soda solution. Fortunately, the weather cooperated and it was warm and sunny - perfect conditions for cyanotype printing.

These are some of the cyanotypes we both did at the retreat.

Above, Lesley demonstrates how to use the toning solutions which included black tea, an iron solution, and a caustic soda solution.  The papers dipped in these solutions were plain papers, not coated with the cyanotype solution.  Below. are some of Elizabeth's prints "cooking" out in the sun.

Speaking of cooking, the food at the retreat center was delicious!  And abundant!  We ate more than we needed to, but it was all so good!  Kudos to the kitchen staff, they excelled at their job.  All our time was spent in the main building, where we had class in a very large conference room, meals in the basement dining room, and sleeping rooms in the adjacent wing.  It was the perfect set-up.  If your group is ever looking for a location for a retreat, be sure to check out Rhodes Grove.

Stay tuned for more posts sharing our retreat adventures.