Monthly Archives: December 2014

First Paper Prints

Have finally tried eco printing on paper.

From Eco Print

Used some heavy watercolor paper and leaves that had been soaking for a couple of days.  Because of all the tannin, the prints were all shades of brown.  The amount of tannin was so great it even overpowered the golden onion skins in the dye bath. I did wet the paper in vinegar water prior to laying down the leaves although did not soak it. There was a lot of seepage from the dye bath. Next time I don’t think I’ll let the paper ferment for a couple of days. I believe perhaps maybe I’ll just let the paper sit in the bath until it has cooled.

From Eco Print

The shades of brown were a bit different due to the leaves used.

From Eco Print

Interestingly, even though there was a piece of waxed paper between each sheet, there is a ghost image on the back of each print from the page below it.  Didn’t know waxed paper was porous. Below are the ghost images.

From Eco Print

Next I’ll try some fresh leaves and flowers. Hopefully, will get some color on the paper.

 

 

 

Eco Prints and a Little Fall Foliage

From Surface Design

We don’t get much in the way of fall foliage in Houston but I have been picking up a few leaves and combining them with some of our evergreen botanicals. Above is a print on a cotton/silk scarf. This was exclusively a ‘fall’ print of Mexican Buckeye and Tallow leaves. I went searching for all the red Tallow leaves I could find but, interestingly, they printed yellow.

From Surface Design

This scarf is silk chiffon and was printed with Turk’s Cap and Texas Star hibiscus leaves, fern and some ‘Wandering Jew’ leaves. These botanicals were all fresh from the yard. The prints were very pale so, after the scarf had dried, I dipped it into an iron bath. I like it much better even though it lost most of the pink coloration from the ‘Wandering Jew’.

From Surface Design

This was a silk habotai scarf that has a combination of yellowing Mexican Buckeye leaves, old oak leaves and some fresh asparagus fern. The result was good. I use a bit of asparagus fern in many of my pieces as it makes a nice resist.

From Surface Design

Depending on the combinations I plan on printing in a batch, I’ll try to include a piece of cotton fabric in the mix. Having these cotton pieces provides a ‘stash’ for future embellishing projects. The piece above had a wonderful oak leaf and a bit of my yellowing Mexican Buckeye (which only acted as a resist) and a bit of ‘Wandering Jew’. The color from the ‘Wandering Jew’ is on the fabric but too lightly to be seen in the photo. This is going to be a great piece to embellish.

I have a few more pieces in the fermentation pot but it will be another week or so before I see them. Meanwhile, I’m anxious to get started on some paper printing.