A good impression
Jun. 18th, 2023 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrMore fun with paper, from our last Book & Paper Arts meeting.
There's a technique called eco-printing, where prepared paper or cloth is layered with leaves, blossoms, and other plant material, rolled up into a tube, and steamed. Natural dyes are transferred from the plant to the paper, and set by the steam and mordant. It's fascinating, but a little fussy, especially in the rolling-up stage. But our newest member, Rachel, learned a short-cut.
By taking advantage of an electric heat press, you can eco-print small pieces, up to 12" square, in about four minutes. You soak your paper or cloth in a mordant (dye-fixing chemical, in this case, aluminum acetate), then layer into a stack: a sheet of teflon, a sheet of damp felt, paper, plant stuff, another sheet of paper, a felt, and top with two sheets of teflon (which she buys online). Four minutes in the heat press, and you have matching unexpectedly colorful pages.
I used rose blossoms, for the purple/red, Japanese maple, also purplish, strips of yellow onion skin, for brilliant ochre, and leaves of the mimosa tree, which printed out a brilliant lemon yellow.
It was great fun, almost enough to get me pricing my own press. Almost.
There's a technique called eco-printing, where prepared paper or cloth is layered with leaves, blossoms, and other plant material, rolled up into a tube, and steamed. Natural dyes are transferred from the plant to the paper, and set by the steam and mordant. It's fascinating, but a little fussy, especially in the rolling-up stage. But our newest member, Rachel, learned a short-cut.
By taking advantage of an electric heat press, you can eco-print small pieces, up to 12" square, in about four minutes. You soak your paper or cloth in a mordant (dye-fixing chemical, in this case, aluminum acetate), then layer into a stack: a sheet of teflon, a sheet of damp felt, paper, plant stuff, another sheet of paper, a felt, and top with two sheets of teflon (which she buys online). Four minutes in the heat press, and you have matching unexpectedly colorful pages.
I used rose blossoms, for the purple/red, Japanese maple, also purplish, strips of yellow onion skin, for brilliant ochre, and leaves of the mimosa tree, which printed out a brilliant lemon yellow.
It was great fun, almost enough to get me pricing my own press. Almost.