Not Really Without a Press

Day Lilies and Foliage Composition using a Heat Press

Jane Dunnewold (US) was the perfecter of this technique though I have to admit I have had less success with fabric than using water colour paper to create prints. The prints have a lovely water colour quality about them and can be enhanced with other techniques if so desired. Again I kept a comprehensive journal of my results so that I could keep track of what I did at different times. The advantages of using a heat press (I managed to pick up a second hand one for around $200) is that you can get floral imprints. The length of time in the steam bath tends to expire the colours of the flowers. Interestingly most red flowers print blue/purple. The day lily above was a deep burgundy red.

Like traditional eco printing the requirements are moisture, heat and pressure. The layers (rather than bundles) are laid out as follows: A teflon sheet, a wetted out sheet of felt (acrylic is OK but doesn’t hold the moisture quite as well), good weight water colour paper (I use 130gsm minimum), lay out the flowers that have been dipped or padded in a ferrous sulphate solution, another layer of wetted out felt and another tefon sheet. The water colour paper needs to be immersed in a bath of either iron sulphate (the colours will be dulled) or copper sulphate soln (the colours will be brighter) patter dry with a towel.

The heat press needs to be heated to 270-300°C and the layers placed on the plate and pressed for around 3 minutes. Be careful taking the bundle out as it can be very hot.

If wanting a coloured background a piece of interfacing dipped in procion dyes and placed on top of the foliage - the foliage must be the first thing on the water colour paper) will transfer colour to the background.

The flowers showing the colour of the print extracted

An example of using an interfacing sheet to provide coloour background

In this example I have added a bird printed on (teabag) paper and laminated with gel medium - silk organza works well too. The image needs to be carefully cut around to avoid seeing edges of the print substrate

An example from my samples journal. The temperature and time of pressing will be on the back of the sheet

So What About about Animal Fibres

Silk scarves hanging in my studio. These were printed onto purchased silk scarf blanks and were done for a local craft promotion

A lot of eco dyers only work with silk/wool because animal fibres are much easier to get good results from. I have mainly worked with cotton because of the cost advantage but having returned from India with several metres of economical silk in my bag, I also will be trying to eco dye with silk.

Animal fibres include wool, silk, alpaca and the structure of the fibres allows them to take up the eco print much more readily and without the need to so much pre-preparation.

These fibres do not need to be scoured, in fact scouring them may damage the fibres. Just wash in hot water with a ph neutral soap such as Dawn or Joy or Fairy.

Using the dry weight of fabric as a base to calculate the amount of potassium aluminium sulphate dissolve 20% of the dry weight in very hoy water. Add sufficient hot water to raise the temperature to 150° F (66° C) Immerse the silk and stire well. Let stand for 2 hours. Remove and rinse well.

I have achieved some results without mordanting the silk but the images will not be so precise.

It is always a good idea to keep a record of what you do so that if something goes wrong you can analyse it. I tend to take a photo of my leaves before printing and often do sample swatches to keep a record of variations in a process.

Liquidambar and maple leaves laid out with underside down prior to bundling

An experiment using onion skins and variations achieved

The Samples Quilt

This quilt is made of a mix of cotton and silk eco printed samples stitched together in a random fashion after I had enhanced each sample with stitch and embellishment. The quilt was then spaghetti quilted horizontally. Leaves in this quilt include cotinus, liquidambar, forest tulip, oak, maples, herb robert, beach, ferns, acacia, Queen Anne’s lace

Ecoprinting

A Page from my November eco print journal using liquidambar leaves and showing the prints achieved by pla

lcing leaves top side down and underside down

Eco printing is general a term used to express the use of flowers and foliage to print on fabric or paper and transfer the substances in the leaf/flower to the substrate. Depending on the outcome desired the bundles (or fabric or paper) my be boiled or steamed. Animal fibres such as wool, silk etc uptake the imprints much easier than cellulose fabrics (cotton, bamboo, linen. All fabrics need to be scoured by washing or boiling to remove finishes in the fabric that may prevent the uptake of the foliar prints. Different effects will be achieved at different times of the year and at variable climatic conditions. For example, especially when trying to print on cotton, tannins play a major part of the process. Cellulose fibres work best when the substrate has been mordanted (treated) with a tannin base prior to mordanting with a chemical. I spent a year experimenting and recording what leaves imprinted each month and what happened with various mordants. The common factors in eco printing are heat, contact and moisture but the best imprints occur when not too much moisture is present. Too much moisture tends to create less precise leaf prints. India Flint is perhaps the best known proponent of eco printing in general but Jane Dunnewold has championed the use of a heat press in eco printing. This enables prints to be achieved in as little as 3 minutes whereas traditional boiling or steaming methods require 2 hours or longer. Flower prints tend to burn out in the longer time frames so are much brighter when achieved with a heat press