Looking like fossilised remains of some ancient creature, this is an eco collograph of St John’s Wort, including stems, leaves and luscious red berries. I made a couple of little chemical changes to the process to ‘see what would happen’. I’ve decided to explain the process in a tutorial which I’ll post at some time on my cobwebby web site www.annisikartworks.com, rather than trying to describe it here. For health and safety reasons, basically. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy this addition to my herbiarum vocabularum.
I will be writing in greater depth about St John’s Wort, named for St John the Baptist. For now, this intriguing morsel: know that its Greek botanical name – Hypericum – means “… to hold over in such a way as to protect from anything”, indicating how the plant was once held in high regard as “… possessing magic properties over evil spirits.” Flowers & Flower Lore, (Revd Hilderic Friend) his chapter entitled The Magic Wand.
My collograph does seem to be taking the stance of protector, an erstwhile knight in shining armour, don’t you think?
