{"id":9511,"date":"2015-04-27T01:00:53","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T05:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=9511"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:47:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T19:47:49","slug":"book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/27\/book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BotanicalPrintBook-NatalieStopka\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In this final post with Natalie Stopka<\/a>, we continue the\u00a0discussion\u00a0on her\u00a0techniques that employ\u00a0natural pigments for dying and image making by looking at\u00a0her 2012 artist book Botanica<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This binding consists of a series of eco-prints that are brilliant in both color and detail. Can you discuss the process behind eco-printing?
\n<\/strong>Eco printing is the process of making a plant print using only the natural colorants contained within the plant. As opposed to nature printing in which pigment is applied to the surface of natural objects, in eco printing the plants can be smashed, pressed, bundled, soaked, steamed, or even frozen to coax the dye colorants out. There are a variety of techniques and terms to describe them. Hapa zome<\/em> is the pounding of fresh plants directly onto a fiber substrate, and bundle dyeing involves tightly wrapping plant or other dye materials in fabric before burying or steaming them.<\/p>\n

\"Botanica2-NatalieStopka\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To create Botanica<\/em>, I gathered a dozen different dye plants one August day. These included mint, yarrow, dahlia, coreopsis, and goldenrod. Each specimen was folded within alum-mordanted paper, guarded with additional paper, and vigorously smashed with a mallet to break down the plant fibers and transfer the colorants within. I lowered this sandwich, with the plant still inside, briefly into a pot of simmering water. The hot water further drew out the dyes, creating an aura of color around the plant image, and made the print as permanent as possible. I was left with two mirrored images of each plant to create an edition of two books.<\/p>\n

\"Botanica4-NatalieStopka\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In binding the books I adopted a flat back variation of Richard W. Horton\u2019s light album structure<\/a>, with each print mounted inside an accordion fold of naturally dyed paper. The paper as well as the silk book cloth and thread on the cover were dyed with a mix of wildflowers.<\/p>\n

\"Botanica5-NatalieStopka\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this final post with Natalie Stopka, we continue the\u00a0discussion\u00a0on her\u00a0techniques that employ\u00a0natural pigments for dying and image making by looking at\u00a0her 2012 artist book Botanica. This binding consists of a series of eco-prints that are brilliant in both color and detail. Can you discuss the process behind eco-printing? Eco printing is the process of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[677,68,681],"tags":[680,678,1763,1762,1742],"class_list":["post-9511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-artist-of-the-month","category-bookbinding","category-feature-artist-book-of-the-week","tag-artist-book","tag-book-art","tag-botanica","tag-eco-print","tag-natalie-stopka"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-2tp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9497,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/20\/book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":9511,"position":0},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Up until this post, Natalie Stopka has shared her techniques for natural dyeing, as well as her methods for marbling and suminagashi. In the last two posts for the month, we'll look at two artist book projects starting with her 2011 book Specimens. Can you talk about the concept behind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Specimens4-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Specimens4-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Specimens4-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Specimens4-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9463,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/06\/book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka\/","url_meta":{"origin":9511,"position":1},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"As a continuation from last week's post, I extended the conversation on natural dyes with book artist, Natalie Stopka.\u00a0During her time at the Center for Book Arts\u00a0as a\u00a0Van Lier\/Stein Scholar, Natalie also completed a collection of case bindings, where each component beautifully represents the subtleties of natural dyes. The variation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"CompleteDye-NatalieStopka","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/CompleteDye-NatalieStopka-1024x636.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/CompleteDye-NatalieStopka-1024x636.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/CompleteDye-NatalieStopka-1024x636.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9472,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/13\/book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":9511,"position":2},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Then & Now: Ten Years of Residencies at the Center for Book Arts is an upcoming exhibition celebrating two of the Center's core programs. Among the 50 exhibiting artists who participated in these programs over the last ten years is Natalie Stopka. Some of her recent suminagashi work, like those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Sumi2-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Sumi2-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Sumi2-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Sumi2-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9435,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/01\/april-book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka\/","url_meta":{"origin":9511,"position":3},"title":"April \/\/ Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Natalie Stopka has conducted\u00a0extensive research and experimentation with natural dyes, which is partly what drew me to interview her on the blog. I've long been interested in incorporating natural dyes into my own work. So it's fair to say that I'm quite inspired by Natalie's work. At the end of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ACuoreAperto3-JaniceGordonNatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ACuoreAperto3-JaniceGordonNatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ACuoreAperto3-JaniceGordonNatalieStopka.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ACuoreAperto3-JaniceGordonNatalieStopka.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8905,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/08\/book-artist-of-the-month-sarah-bryant\/","url_meta":{"origin":9511,"position":4},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Sarah Bryant","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"December 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2010, Sarah Bryant completed Biography, which\u00a0explores of the alternative roles played by the chemical elements found in the human body.\u00a0Each element is represented as a specific colored rectangle, which are used in various diagrams throughout the book. As you progress through the book the diagrams become less clear and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Biography5-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Biography5-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Biography5-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Biography5-SarahBryant.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6094,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/02\/july-book-artist-of-the-month-ellen-knudson\/","url_meta":{"origin":9511,"position":5},"title":"July \/\/ Book Artist of the Month: Ellen Knudson","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"July 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"American Breeding Standards\u00a0is the most recent work from\u00a0Crooked Letter Press run by book artist and graphic designer Ellen Knudson\u00a0and was\u00a0produced in an edition of 60 in 2012-2013 in Gainesville, Florida.\u00a0This artist book explores the systemized rules about what comprises a good or bad horse, a good or bad woman \u2014\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/ellenknudsontools.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/ellenknudsontools.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/ellenknudsontools.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/ellenknudsontools.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9511"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9518,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9511\/revisions\/9518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}