Fall has arrived--It's time for new prints!

The cool days and nights have finally arrived.  I can cook batches of prints again.  The prints for this posting were cooked in a small pressure cooker inside, but will probably be the last ones so cooked until next Summer.  It is cool enough and I have enough firewood that I can start printing outdoors again.  I will also have a large stock of fallen leaves to work with and interesting fall flowering weeds.  It is always fun to see what the outcome will be by mixing one type of leaf with another in the same print.  Then to change the metals used to mordant, but keep the same leaf combinations.  I am including a few of the prints that came out of the mornings batch.  I have photographed pairs of prints that were facing each other in the stack and you can see it is not always a mirror image.  I have also shown single enlarged prints of my favorites.  Enjoy!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Book Two In Progress!

The creation of small single edition books is a fun way to enjoy my love of Eco Printing, and to learn techniques that bring out the best of color and line from my materials.  Here are four (out of 40) of my latest pages for the new book.  They are all cooked and printed in an aluminum pressure cooker that has the copper bottom from an old pan laying in it.  140 lb watercolor paper, no additional mordants added.  The pages were cooked the first time for 20 minutes under pressure.  Then they were allowed to cool overnight still sandwiched between the ceramic tiles.  The next morning, I opened the stacks and inserted some additional plant materials and metal bits and wires, then closed the stack again and pressure cooked for 20 minutes more and allowed to cool.  Some of the first colors changed a bit as they reacted with the metals, but an interesting red tone began to spread across the pages.  I like the final prints, and they they will make a lovely book.

Help with Translator!

Tatiana, thank you for your comment.  I'm glad you enjoy the prints.  Thank you for telling me about the Translator.  When I set this page up, one was not available.  I have set the Translator to translate, but it will not let me choose a language.  Any ideas how to overcome this?  Do you know if it is possible to select more than one language?

Lime/Euca/Dogwood Photos!

Lime, Dogwood & Eucalyptus, Recipe for nice prints!

A FB friend, Kim Cowley posted some prints made using Lime and Dogwood leaves along with some Eucalyptus.  I liked them so much I decided to give them a try myself.  Am I glad I did!  I used the same copper rich dye bath and 140# watercolor paper, and also added leaves of Loropetalum (Chinese Fringe Tree), Hibiscus acetifolia (Roselle), and Red Passionflower vine.  The copper brought some wonderful greens and the Hibiscus acetifolia brought some wonderful blues.  I can't wait for the prints to dry enough for me to handle them.  I now place my prints between sheets of blotter paper to absorb most of the water more quickly, but it still takes at least 4 hours for the paper to become strong enough to handle.  This batch was 5 sheets of 9 x 12 inch watercolor paper, and all but one sheet are printed on both sides.  A quick peek at them told me I have some nice prints, but like all good things, they are worth waiting for.  I will post photos of the prints as soon as I can in the A.M.

Let's get ready to bundle!

Sorry for the delay in getting the photo essay on the blog, but Life happens.  Here in a brief space is the method I use to bundle my paper prints to prepare them for cooking.  Here I am using ceramic tiles, 140# watercolor paper, natural rubber bands and plant materials. Soak your papers in warm water for about 30 minutes, or overnight in cold water.  Place a ceramic tile on a flat surface, lay a sheet of paper on it and place a layer of plant materials on top.  Continue to build the stack of paper and plant materials to the height you wish, then place another ceramic tile on top of the stack.  Using natural rubber bands, or heavy cotton twine,  wrap the bundle securely.  Now your bundle is ready to place in a pot for cooking.  I like to place the last rubber bands at diagonals on the corners to help even the pressure on the tiles.  I hope this helps.

Turning Over a few Leaves!

The first set of pages finally dried enough to turn over.  Here is the second set of 24 pages.  I think this little book is gong to be very special.