PLANT PRINTS AND COLLAGES

Rarely do we see a crafts book whose conception and design so elegantly represent the potential of the medium. Ida Geary apparently stumbled onto a 500-year-old European tradition which resembles Japanese fish prints both in technique and the often unplanned felicities of its finished pieces. The materials couldn't be simpler--ink, paper, boar-bristle brush, odds and ends--and the procedure is easy and obvious: just ink the leaf and print. Sturdy conifers and broadleaf evergreens are good starters but most leaves can make at least one firm impression and many flowers will print also. Geary explains certain refinements (proof press, cloth prints, mounting with vegetable glue) and confidently moves on to equally attractive varioations, conferring respectability on the schoolroom favorites (fruits and vegetables), experimenting with marine plants (seaweed is a wonder), and finding surprise vitality in and original uses for pressed and dried plants. The casual text conveys the freshness of her own experiences, and the book itself is beautifully arranged: crisp illustrations on nearly every page, sequenced photographs for the unfamiliar techniques, dramatically placed examples throughout--even different end papers in front and back. A natural selection for print makers, plant collectors, and botany students.