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Botanical printing on paper

Botanical printing on paper is cheap and relatively easy. You can make it as simple or sophisticated as you want. You can use up natural dyes and small amounts of plant material leftover from larger projects and use more or less any paper you can lay your hands on.  Equipment Paper - this can be artist paper eg cartridge, watercolour or sketchbook: plain wallpaper aka lining paper, pages from old book, old envelopes, copy paper, repair tissue, kraft paper or thin card. In fact try anything that isn’t too thin or shiny.  Leaves and flowers - use the ones you know print well on fabric either because they have high tannin or give good colour. Leaves that have a good shape but are not good printers can be used as resists either tucked under a printer or when using a dye. Flowers especially daisy shaped ones work well.  Tiles or similar- I prefer to use leftover ceramic tiles cut to size to fit my fish kettle. However I know that Rita Summers aka Gone Rustic...

AUSTRALIAN BOTANICAL PRINTING SAMPLES

Whilst in Australia on our month’s trip, David sketched (@davidsteedenart on Instagram if you are interested) and I did some botanical printing with the local leaves. The image below gives an indication of 4 of the results I achieved. I brought along with me some green tea teabags and ferrous sulphate powder. This allowed me to play around with strengths and combinations. Top left is a white linen, no alum or AA mordant dipped in iron with a green tea kitchen towel blanket. Top right is vintage Lancashire cotton, no alum or AA mordant dipped in iron with an kitchen towel green tea blanket. The leaves were soaked in vinegar. Bottom left is silk noil no alum or AA mordant dipped in iron with a green tea kitchen towel blanket.  Bottom right is vintage linen no alum or AA mordant dipped in iron with a strong green tea kitchen towel blanket. Note how the results all vary. Due to varying fabrics, leaves used, length of time dipped, strength of dips.   ...