Ffern

Searching for Stones with Jackie Morris

How do you ground yourself in the landscape you live in?

Jackie Morris, our Ffern Artist for Autumn 26, paints labyrinths, feathers and hares onto stones, and leaves them to be found…

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The night sky • Autumn 26

Unfolding over the moorlands is a blanket of twinkling stars. Amid silvered moonlight, constellations unveil themselves as the night grows cool.

Inspired by this mysterious expanse unfurling across the heavens, we created the purple, moonlit notes of Autumn 26 °.☾.࿔*:⋆

Catching Souls with Jackie Morris

Celebrated illustrator Jackie Morris is our Ffern Artist for Autumn 26. Here she introduces her beautiful painting, Shape Shifter - a printed poster of which will arrive with each bottle of this season’s fragrance 🌙

We visited Jackie at home on the wild Pembrokeshire coast, to be entranced by her studio and wise reflections on art and life, revealing an artistic practice rooted in her deep belief that we are not separate from nature, but part of it.

You can hear more from Jackie on August’s Found Sound podcast episode, with - available to listen wherever you find your podcasts.

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°.☾.࿔*:⋆

Jackie uses taxidermy as part of her artistic process - all of her taxidermy is antique or made by craftspeople from animals who have passed on naturally.

Among the blooming heather • Autumn 26

At the end of summer, the heather blooms…

On the moors of Northumberland, sculpted by smooth knowes and rocky crags, the heather rolls away to the horizon in a quilt of grape, burgundy, mauve, softest lilac - its honey-herbaceous scent called into life by the late summer sun, harvested by hot sleepy bees.

Autumn 26 bottles those scents and colours - shading them towards dusk, to be illumined again by the rise of the harvest moon.

°.☾.࿔*:⋆

How to make an anthotype

Anthotype prints were first developed in the 19th century. They are created using light sensitive plant pigments to create images through sun exposure. They’re sustainable but ephemeral, so photos or scans are the best way to record the results - you can then admire how the print continues to change 🌞

Here is our guide to creating one - a good activity for these endless sunny days.

1. First collect plants or objects you’d like to print with.
2. Gather fresh heavily pigmented ingredients - we have used beetroot, turmeric, spinach and blackberries - and blend.
3. Measure out ¼ ingredient purée to ¾ rubbing alcohol and combine.
4. Paint around four layers of your solution onto sheets of card.
5. Dry flat in a dark or shadowed space such as in a cupboard.
6. Once dry, lay your gathered objects or plants flat on top of the sheets.
7. Cover with weighted perspex or a thin sheet of glass and expose to direct sunlight.
8. Prepare 1 litre of water in a mixing bowl and add 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Stir well.
9. Remove your objects from the paper to reveal darker printed areas, then rinse in your solution to help fix the print.
10. Hang or lie flat to dry, and watch the colour change.