More Ideas for Heatpress Printing

Added texture with spackling

This idea is one of Jane Dunnewold’s. It creates a textural background to the image being printed. The spackling (inside outside plaster) is applied to the water colour paper before immersing it in the mordant bath. The spackling is applied through a stencil - I have used a honeycomb stencil in the option above. Once the spackling is dry the process is the same as previously described

A More Practical Project

A simple cotton overshirt

I used a simple pattern to make this edge to edge overshirt. The cotton was eco dyed rolled on a 1/2 inch plastic tube so that I could bend it around to fit in the steamer. The leaves were harvested in Autumn and stored in the freezer till late summer. Leaves used are liquidambar, beech, maple

What is an Iron Blanket

An array of Autumn leaves laid out on dampened, mordanted cotton ready for the iron blanket to be placed on top

When I first started eco dying I kept hearing on line about iron blankets but it took me quite a while to find out what it was. The use of a post mordant modifier often increases the clarity of the leaf print received. The most common of these is the use of iron (ferrous sulphate) Ferrous sulphate is a slightly greenish powder that dissolves easily in water. The stronger you make the solution the darker the result will be. It tends to dull colours I use about 1 tsp in 1/2 gallon of water. Ferrous sulphate will darken the prints so experiment a bit and don’t overdo it. Copper sulphate is another product that can be used in a similar way but it brightens colours.

Some eco dyers will dip their mordanted fabric in a prepared solution of ferrous sulphate but the fabric must be wrung out really well as fabric that is too damp will give blurred images. Others my dip their leaves in a ferrous sulphate solution or use a stamp pad of felt that has been soaked in ferrous sulphate. Note that the way the leaves are placed on hr fabric to be printed will alter the print result. Leaves placed with the underside down often give the most satisfying result but it depends on the effect requied.

My preferred use of an iron blanket is to us ordinary kitchen towel. Soak it in the ferrous sulphate solution and wring out well. Carefully open out the towel and place over the laid out leaves. A piece of non mordanted fabric can also be used in this way but the prints on the paper towel are often amazing and ca be used in journal or lamination work after the main event.