Colour is Alive – Botanical Ink Making for Screen Printing

Artist Publication.

Updated & Expanded Edition, 2025
By Greta Desirèe Facchinato

About the book

Colour is Alive documents my artistic research into natural ink-making for screen printing — a study of colour as a living material. The book gathers years of experiments, writings, and recipes, exploring how creative gestures can reflect ecological awareness and interconnectedness.

This 2025 expanded edition deepens the first publication from 2021, offering refined formulations, new photography, and extended reflections on process, materials, and time. It bridges art and ecology through practical knowledge — guiding readers to create inks from plants while cultivating a more conscious relationship with colour and matter.

Design & Materiality

Colour is Alive is designed as both a book and a manual for practice — a space to learn, observe, and record. Its form follows its purpose: to invite touch, to open fully on a worktable, to grow with use.

The text is printed in black for readability, while all images are printed in green ink.

This limited palette reflects the book’s core idea — that colour is not fixed, but something that changes with material, time, and interconnection.

No printed colour references are included: instead, each recipe contains a blank frame where you can add your own colour swatch, turning the book into a living archive of your ink experiments.

The exposed spine binding allows the book to lie flat, making it practical for studio use as a workbook.

Two papers alternate throughout the chapters, creating a tactile rhythm that guides the reader through shifts in tone and content. Every choice — from the materials, to the content, to the binding — aims to reflect the book’s essence: colour as a living, evolving process.

A Glimpse Inside Colour is Alive

Watch a short browse-through of the book to see its content, design, and materiality before ordering your copy:

Details

  • 159

  • 13 × 20 cm

  • Risograph


  • 300 copies

  • 9789090408019

  • €60

PRE-ORDER A COPY

*The book is currently available for preorder during a limited pop-up window (read more in the FAQ section). When the webshop closes, you can still: join the waiting list for the next release in 2026.

What’s New in This Edition

  1. Expanded recipes for plant-based screenprinting inks from dyes and pigments.

  2. New chapters on binders, textile use, material preparation and my process.

  3. Updated cover, design and larger format.

  4. Alternating papers to delineate sections.

  5. All text in black for readability; images in green to distinguish content.

  6. Exposed spine binding for usability and hands-on interaction.

 FAQs

  • Orders placed during the open webshop period will be shipped before the end of October 2025, before my maternity leave begins. Once the shop closes, orders will reopen with the next release planned for 2026.

  • Yes, the book ships worldwide. Shipping rates vary by region and will appear at checkout. Please note that postal tariffs outside the EU—especially to the USA—have recently increased, and delivery times may vary depending on customs.

  • Yes. If you are a bookstore, distributor, or collective interested in a wholesale order, please get in touch via the email at hello@gretafacchinato.com .

    Group or wholesale orders can help reduce international shipping costs.

  • Several copies of the previous edition Color is Alive are held in several academy and research libraries, including KABK Den Haag (NL), Stroom Den Haag (NL), Laboratorium KASK Ghent (BE), The Alternative Library of Blue Light Junction (USA) and the MRC Library at Rhode Island School of Design (USA).


    The new edition is not yet available in bookstores, but I will begin developing wholesale and distribution partnerships in 2026.
    If you would like to suggest a bookshop or library, or if you are a bookseller or institution interested in carrying the book, please get in touch by email at hello@gretafacchinato.com — I would love to hear from you.

  • At the moment, Colour is Alive is available exclusively through my webshop. Each copy ships directly from my studio in the Netherlands.
    You can sign up for the waiting list to be notified about the next release in 2026.

  • The price (€60) reflects the knowledge and expertise included in this expanded edition, the use of high-quality papers, Risograph printing, and hand-stitched exposed spine binding. Each book is independently produced in a limited edition of 300 copies.

  • If the webshop is closed, you can still sign up for the waiting list on this page. You’ll receive a personal update when the next batch becomes available in 2026.

  • This is the updated and expanded edition of the artist’s book first published in 2021 under the title Color is Alive. It now includes new content, recipes, and an redesigned layout under title Colour is Alive - Botanical Ink making for Screen-printing.