Step into the Garden at the turning of the season and mark the Autumn Equinox, a moment of balance between light and dark, when the year begins to turn inward.

This has long been a time of gathering and keeping. Seed heads, grasses, and late flowers were collected not only for their beauty, but for what they carried with them: protection, remembrance, the promise of return. As colour softens and structures are revealed, the Garden offers a different kind of richness: texture, silhouette, and form.

In this full-day workshop, we’ll take inspiration from these seasonal shifts to create a layered botanical print that reflects the mood of early autumn.

We’ll begin outdoors with observational drawing, focusing on seed heads, dried stems, and late-season plants. You’ll explore line, shape, and composition, gathering visual material to develop into your own design.

Back in the studio, you’ll translate your drawings into a tetrapak printing plate, learning how to etch your design and build an image through mark-making. We’ll then look at colour mixing, ink application, and composition in greater depth, before printing your work using a press onto beautiful, textured papers.

Guided by Emma Bond, botanical illustrator and printmaker, this workshop is an in-depth, process-led experience, with time to refine your ideas and experiment with colour and layering.

Working slowly and intuitively, you’ll create a finished, hand-printed artwork that captures the essence of the season, something to take home as a record of both place and time.

No prior experience is needed, just curiosity, a willingness to experiment, and a love of working with your hands.

About Emma Bond:

Emma Bond is a London-based illustrator and botanical printmaker whose practice centres on observation of the natural world, with a focus on pattern, texture, and colour.

Working primarily with recycled Tetrapak, she creates hand-built collagraph plates through cutting, scoring, and layering, producing richly textured surfaces that hold and release ink in subtle and often unpredictable ways.

Through close attention to natural forms, her work draws out quiet details and repeating patterns, reflecting an ongoing interest in process, material, and the understated rhythms found in nature.