Portfolio of older work

Showing posts with label eco-printing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eco-printing. Show all posts

Friday, July 29, 2016

The Smoke Bush

Once upon a time there was a lady who loved to do eco-printing.  She had many good trees and plants on her land whose leaves and flowers would print very well.  Her daughter who  lived far away also helped by sending items that did not grow in the woman's part of the kingdom.  But alas, the woman had no access to the leaves of the smoke bush.  She really wanted to print with their leaves.

The woman went on a vacation.  It was a 14 day driving vacation.  While the smoke bush is a less seen plant the woman saw several along the way.  She was sorely tempted to pick leaves off the bush but she knew that taking things from others was called stealing so she did not.  That went on for days until the next to the last day of the vacation.


The women to her man that when she saw the next smoke bush she would anxiously knock on the door of the smoke bush owners and ask to pick the leaves.  She knew they would think her a bit odd but the woman really wanted the leaves.  The very next smoke bush she saw was the biggest one in the world!  Surely the owners would let her pick a few leaves since the bush had millions of leaves. So, the man pulled into the very long driveway and with trepidation the woman went looking for the owners.


Rather than knocking on the door to the house, the woman heard talking from the behind the house and she went there to see who she might find.  It was a man and his adult son working on some farm equipment.  Really big farm equipment.  The son was working on a truck and was closer so the woman asked about the smoke bush.  He looked at her with wonder, said he didn't see why not, but said she would have to speak to his father since the father owned the smoke bush.  The man climbed out of the cab of a huge tractor when he saw the woman approach.  The woman explained she was an artist and in need of some leaves from the magically smoke bush.  He grinned and said, "It is really big isn't it."  The woman whole heartedly agreed. He then gave her permission to pick the leaves.


The woman picked leaves until the hardcover book she was using to press the leaves could absolutely not hold one more leaf.  She knew that soon those leaves would leave wonderful prints on silk.


Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Texture Tuesday with Fabulous Textures but Lousy Eco-prints

This last weekend I did some eco-printing.  As eco-prints they were more fail than fab but I did get wonderful color and texture.  The material is all ironed flat so everything you see is printed texture. The pictures are all close-ups since I don't think the texture would show well in an overall shot. Enjoy.
 










Yep, above is a pretty close copy of the real fabric. It looks great in person.




Thursday, September 24, 2015

Eco-Printing

I have been experimenting with eco-printing for a couple of years and have nothing even close to success to report.  However, I have started getting together with some local eco-printers and am starting to have success.  Beth has posted some pictures on her blog of an eco-print party with Janine, Beth and me.  Now, I am not claiming to be India Flint, but I am finally getting some results I can show.  First the pictures and then some information about the process.









Aren't they gor-ge-ous?  LOL

Okay, here is the process that seems to work for me.
  1. First I had to mordant the fabric for 24 hours in Alum water.
  2. Second I had to soak the fabric in soy milk for an hour.
  3. Then I needed to know which leaves to use.  In this area I can use sycamore, apple, cherry, grape, strawberry leaves and runners, raspberry, rose, lilac, Japanese maple, cone flowers, geraniums, and a mystery bush in my woods.
  4. Then I needed to lay the leaves onto the wet fabric, roll fabric and leaves tightly on a stick, tie it with a string that won't stretch.
  5. Heat water in a large pan and add some metal to give extra color.
  6. Boil (or steam but I have more success boiling it) for about 3 hours at a hard boil.
  7. Let cool.  Say a prayer.  Unwrap.
  8. Peel off the mushy leaves.
  9. Don't wash for a couple of weeks, the fabric not me.
Only a few more days (not weeks) of leaves to print for this year and then I have to wait for spring.