This course is for you if...
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You've wanted to try printmaking for a while...
but never quite knew where to start.
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You already carve and print
And you want to get real tessellation, edge to edge, actually right.
♥︎
You love bugs, botanicals and small wild things
and you want to turn that into beautiful colorful patterns
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You'd rather learn at your own pace
At your own kitchen table, with no mess and no rush, and keep the materials for good.
✦ GETTING STARTED
"I'm not an artist" isn't a real reason to give up.
Getting a tessellation to actually lock together is a puzzle, and puzzles take a few wrong turns before they click.I've made a lot of messy prints on the way to the good ones. That's honestly where most of the learning happens, not in the finished piece, in the ones that didn't quite work. A decade of carving beetles, blossoms and moths has taught me most of what tends to go sideways, and why. This course is me handing you that shortcut, so you're not learning it the slow way I did.
✦ MEET YOUR TEACHER
Hey there, I'm Jen.
It's great to meet you!
I'm a printmaker, clay artist, and science illustrator. Nature is where all of my work starts. I'm especially drawn to the small, the strange, and the overlooked: the beetle nobody looks at twice, the weed growing through a sidewalk crack. Printmaking, to me, is a way of paying tribute to those species.
My background is actually in ecology research. Art came second, but it's become the thing I care about most, and I'm at my happiest when the two overlap. I've taught art to students of every age, often weaving in biology along the way, and nothing beats watching someone realize, mid-lesson, that they're an artist after all.
I live in California, surrounded by coastline, mountain meadow, and desert all within a few hours' drive. Inspiration is genuinely everywhere here, every hike hands me another shape worth carving.
Sign up, and I'll be with you at every stage of the process, sketch, carve, ink, print.
✦ IN THIS COURSE
You will learn how to:
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See a pattern before you carve it
Break any insect or botanical form down into simple shapes, so you always know where to start on the block.
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Control your carving line and your ink
Clean, confident cuts, and the kind of pressure and depth control that gives you real texture and contrast from just one block.
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Make your tessellation actually lock together
Use repetition, rotation and edge matching to turn one carved motif into a pattern that tiles cleanly, no gaps, no awkward seams.
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Carve and print a finished piece, start to finish
Take something from a first pencil sketch all the way to a finished, printed tessellation, the same process I use every time.
✦ INSIDE THE COURSE
9 modules · 7+ hours · 50+ lessons
Go through it in order, since each module builds on the last, or skip straight to whatever you need a refresher on. Everything's filmed close-up in HD, you can slow playback down or speed it up, and you keep access for good. I'm in the student community too, so if you ask something, you're getting an answer from an actual person, me, not a bot.
Module 1:
Welcome to Printmaking
An introduction to printmaking and what makes it such an enjoyable medium to work with. I'll share how I came to printmaking through my backgrounds in science and art, why I love working with natural forms, and what you'll learn throughout the course.
Module 2:
Tools and Materials
Before we start carving, we'll get to know the materials and tools used in block printing. You'll learn about carving blocks, gouges, inks, paper, barens, and the other essentials you'll need, along with tips on choosing supplies that work well for beginners.
Module 3:
Finding Inspiration in Nature
In this module, we'll look at plants, insects, gardens, books, and museum collections as sources of inspiration. Through a series of sketching exercises, you'll practice observing natural forms and turning them into designs that are suitable for printmaking.
Module 4:
Carving Your First Block
This is where the carving begins. You'll learn how to transfer a design onto a block, handle carving tools safely, and experiment with different cuts, lines, and shapes. We'll finish by printing your first carved block so you can see the process from start to finish.
Module 5:
Designing a Tessellating Block
Repeating patterns can seem complicated at first, but they're surprisingly approachable once you understand the process. Using isometric paper, you'll design a tessellating block inspired by botanical or insect subjects while learning how positive and negative space work in printmaking.
Module 6:
Carving a Tessellating Block
With your design complete, it's time to transfer and carve it. We'll work through the process step by step, from tracing and cutting the block to making test prints and refining the carving to achieve cleaner results.
Module 7:
Printing a Tessellation
Now comes the satisfying part: building a repeating pattern through printing. You'll learn how to prepare your workspace, align your block, and print a tessellation by repeating the design across the page.
Module 8:
Design, Carve and Print an Additional Block
For the final project, you'll put everything you've learned into practice by creating another tessellating design from scratch. This is a chance to experiment with a new shape, explore your own ideas, and develop confidence in the full printmaking process.
Module 9:
Final Words and Bonus Materials
We'll wrap up the course with some final encouragement and creative inspiration to keep you printing. You'll also access extra resources, downloadable templates, and tips on caring for your tools and continuing your printmaking journey.
✦THE BIGGER PICTURE
Look closely at nature, and it hands you the pattern
This course is as much about training your eye as your hand. You'll start noticing the geometry that's already sitting inside a fern frond, or a beetle's shell, and you'll build the confidence to carve it, ink it, and watch it repeat across the page.
By the end, you'll be able to sketch a subject, turn it into a tessellating block, carve it cleanly, and pull prints that actually tile. And if something goes wrong along the way, which it probably will at some point, I'll help you figure out why. You’ll have 5 final art + many blockes carved for your future practice.
✦ the complete package
Included you will get:
⏱︎
Learn at your own pace
Learn whenever it suits you. Pause, rewind, and draw at your own pace, no schedule, no pressure.
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Access for life
Come back to any lesson, any time, at no extra cost.
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A community of fellow printers
a private space to share your bugs and botanicals, ask questions, and swap troubleshooting tips.
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My direct support
I'm active in that same community, and I answer messages myself.
✦ INSIDE THE PLATFORM
One place for the whole experience
Every lesson is filmed close-up, so you can actually see what the tool, the ink, or the paper is doing at each step. Pause when you need to, rewatch the parts that trip you up, and move at whatever pace works for you. The comments under each lesson turn into a small community of their own, people posting their progress, asking questions, helping each other troubleshoot. At its core, this is a learn-by-doing course. Your skills, and your own little library of tessellating blocks, build up one module at a time.
A few extras, for free
I'm adding a free bonus video / PDF guide on…
BONUS 01
Bonus name - ($19) FREE
BONUS 01
Bonus name - ($19) FREE
Registrations close soon!
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✦ GET IMMIDIATE ACCESS TO BUGS & BOTANICALS - Tessellation Block Printing
Two options to pay
Same content, same community, same support from me. Whether you pay in full or split it across three months. Because you were on the waiting list, you get a $100 discount as a thank-you.
✦ my guarantee to you
If it's not right for you, say so.
Within your first 14 days, if this course isn't working for you, I'll refund it in full. No explanation required. I'd much rather you get your money back than sit through a course that isn't landing.
✦ FAQ
