In my happy zone with Hapa Zome

Spring and autumn are my absolute favourite times to create Hapa Zome prints. In autumn you get the rich earthy hues but in spring it’s those zesty greens and fresh yellows that shine through. Hapa Zome involves hammering leaves and petals to extract their pigments so makes it an ideal end-of-the-week-stress-busting-technique! Carry on reading to find out how to make Hapa Zome prints and click here for more details about the technique and how to join a free online class.

You will need:

Fresh leaves and flowers

Plain, light coloured fabric with a natural fibre content eg. cotton or linen

A solid, unbreakable surface. We used a wooden chopping board.

A hammer

1. Collect together your fabric, flowers and leaves. For rules about what you can and can't pick outside of your own garden here is a handy guide.

2. ​Arrange the flowers facing up on a single piece of fabric

3. Lay a spare piece of fabric about the same size over the top making sure not to move your flowers and leaves then using the flat end of the hammer head start hitting the the fabric to release the natural dyes from the flowers. You'll see the colours coming through the fabric straightaway. WARNING: Keep fingers clear of the fabric whilst you are using the hammer - trust me, hammers hurt!

4. Continue until you're happy that you have flattened all of the flowers and then carefully peel the top sheet of fabric away revealing your hapa zome print

5. Using your finger-tip rub away any flower parts that have stuck to the fabric during printing, leave to dry and then iron to heat set the colours.