Can You Screenprint with Compost? Jealous Print Studio Explores Edible Earth at Somerset House
News Published on:We're getting our hands dirty at the Jealous Print Studio for a collaborative project with Somerset House, masharu, and The Land Gardeners!
Investigating soil through geophagy (that's the intentional practice of consuming earth), next month Somerset House will play host to the internationally touring 'Museum of Edible Earth' by artist and researcher masharu. Operating on a pay-what-you-can basis to keep this unique interactive show accessible to all, it centres around a communal tasting table where visitors can sample specially sourced earths from the museum’s collection.
We were thrilled to be approached as part of this ground-breaking show and challenged to answer the age old (debatable) question: "can you screenprint with compost?" Taking a sample of soil from Somerset House's landmark exhibition 'SOIL: The World at Our Feet', we've created a unique and sustainable compost-based ink to use while making textured screenprinted signs that will be a part of the display.
Enter Bench Allen from the Jealous Print Studio who was more than happy to dig deep and get his hands dirty to create this very special, experimental ink - nose clips at the ready! After mixing the compost (essentially, rotted down remnants from previous exhibition 'SOIL: The World at Our Feet'), this was dried and split into two batches. The first batch was steeped in water to get all the pigment out, blended, strained and added print medium to create a ink-like consistency to allow it to be put through a screen and prevent the compost from drying out.
Ben then smeared the unique compost-based ink across its custom screen, featuring the exhibition's logo, before it was dragged across the mountboard with a squeegee. Following this, a layer of PVA glue was screenprinted over the top and finished with a sprinkle of dry compost from the second, untouched batch - similar to embellishing prints with a glitter or diamond dust overlay.
Ta-Da! The complete 50 x 70cm screenprinted signs ft. Ben who stands at a mighty 200cm, fact fans.
Ben's favourite element? "Figuring out how to make an ink with compost, a usable workable ink that you could use. Luckily, it came out as a rich brown, close to a burnt sienna tone that we'd use ourselves in the Jealous Print Studio! Compost was wholeheartedly our main source of colour - zero additions."
The exhibition opens on 18th March and will run until 26th April at Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA. To mark Earth Day on Wednesday 22nd April 2026, Somerset House will host a special weekend of talks, workshops and events from between 16th-19th April, including ‘The Workshop of Screen Printed Earthy Delights’ a free drop in session to create your very own sustainable print with Bench Allen, on 18th April between 2pm-6pm.
Interested? Book your tickets for The Museum of Edible Earth at Somerset House here and find out more about the Jealous Print Studio now.
