Introduction to Natural Inks & Paints Workshop, Mere, Wiltshire

Very well prepared and structured. I came away enthused to do more in my own

The recent workshop I attended—making inks & pigments—was amazing! I signed up as I thought it sounded interesting. Wow! It was FAR more than that! Claudia is a fantastic teacher and the day was nothing short of magical. My background is in horticulture and science. The course tapped into all my interests and then some! Either just a small number of participants, you get a chance to ask as many questions as you want and Claudia’s knowledge is brilliant. We made inks in the morning and pigments for oil & watercolour paints in the afternoon. We left enthused and enlightened and with little pots of handmade paints! We have just moved into our new house in Wales and now have plans to start foraging for and growing plants to make pigments. We can't wait! I can’t recommend the course enough. It will show you the wonder of plants & minerals and just what incredible uses they can have

I attended this day course in September and it was an absolute joy.

The host was so friendly, professional and what she doesn't know about making inks and dyes from botanicals isn't worth knowing.

It was actually really relaxing too, nothing was rushed, which was great, and the class size is small and intimate so you can ask as many questions as you like without feeling you're holding things up.

The colours were magnificent, making oil and watercolour paint, although the process from start to finish would have taken over 24hrs, there was lots of stuff already prepared, yet we were still shown each step and talked it over.

We were supplied with a booklet full of all the step by step notes which was perfect so I feel comfortable doing it at home. Although I was reassured I could email questions at any time.

Equipment was a very professional quality and clean too.

It was fun, we had some laughs, it was just magical. I can not recommend highly enough. Well worth the long drive!

I loved the introduction to natural inks and paints course. Firstly the setting was perfect and Claudia is a very welcoming and knowledgable host and teacher. The course numbers are limited so you get very personal tuition. We made ink, oil paint and watercolour and we took samples away with us. I feel so inspired to equally grow plants and forage in our new home. I want to have jars of pigment on my shelf which represent my local area. I was the only one on the course that currently paints, so this course is not just for artists, it really is for anyone who is interested in their surroundings and how to naturally create inks, paints and pigments. Congratulations on such a wonderful course.

In recent years I've become increasingly aware of the chemicals in my conventional paints, and have been curious about learning how to make my own natural inks and paints.
This workshop covered everything I wanted to learn and much more, from the equipment needed and sourcing the plants and minerals, through to the various different processes for creating inks, water colour and oil paints.
I have to say that making oil paints from pigments was my favourite process, deeply satisfying! I'm amazed at the vibrancy and range of colours we produced in one day and would highly recommend this workshop to anyone with an interest in painting, colour or natural art materials.
It is clear that Claudia has a background in teaching, the day was meticulously planned yet relaxed and friendly and we had a very useful handout of information to take home with us, along with all our colour experiments.
I can't wait to start foraging for colour and can feel my artwork heading in a new direction.
Thank you Claudia for a wonderful day!