I had a great day at the Lavender Print School in Battersea last week. As I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago they invited me along to see what printmaking is all about. As someone who left art behind after GCSEs this was a total joy, even the smell of the place brought back memories. Under the instruction of artist and printmaker Liz Miller I scratched out an etching of a bee, copied from a book I hasten to add, on an aluminium sheet in a process known as 'dry point' which I, or rather, we, then inked up and printed onto lovely heavy-duty paper.

Lack of time is obviously a major hindrance to booking something like this - who has time for themselves? But they do evenings 7-9pm for £30 per person and half a day at the weekend am or pm for £40 per person. If you fancy some handmade art for your walls - whether it's an etching or lino cutting, both very much the look of the moment - then I'd urge you to have a go. They do family printing days when you can bring the kids and they've got a hen party coming in this weekend.

The school is run by Izzy Moreau and Nick Bashall (read more about them here) who between them have some pretty serious artistic chops; Izzy also runs Lavender Leonardo's children's art school (very popular), and Nick runs Lavender Hill Studios which teaches traditional painting and drawing.