Thursday, August 10, 2017

Eco Printed Art

Last month we had the opportunity to do some eco printing at our Fiber Junkies meeting. We used hand made paper and leaves from our garden along with some fresh Eucalyptus from Trader Joes. I was pleased with the results...
 but what to do with them....2 ideas came to mind...size being a factor.
 The smaller ones I thought would work up nicely into some notecards. I've always done notecards as they are fairly good sellers and people always seem to need them. They also make great gifts.
 I used 5 x 7" blanks and glued the eco print in place using a double bond created with rubber cement. To make a double bond, glue each surface and let dry thoroughly. Carefully place the eco paper on top of the blank..once it's down...it's DOWN...no turning back so this step I do very slowly and with great care. I remove any excess rubber cement that might be beyond the print by gently rubbing.
 The envelopes have a stamped leaf in the upper corner and a short blurp about eco printing on the label. Both envelope and card are placed in plastic.
 Onto the bigger prints...both sides are printed and often not the same depending on what was touching them during the process.
 I like this side which uses Eucalyptus leaves and a rusted flat gear of some sort. I thought it might need a little darkening in places so....
 I used a spray on color wash....diluted and applied with a brush for more control.
 The eco print was backed with a fusible web.
 I thought a silk noil in natural color would work well as a backdrop for the print. I love silk noil and the wonderful texture it provides... I marked off the area to quilt, sandwiched it with batting and light backing and dove in.
 I did a simple free motion stipple stitch in a rayon thread the same color as the noil. I then fused the print down in the center and secured it permanently with a monofilament thread.
 I used 8 x 10 blank canvas's to mount the piece. I laid it down with wrong side of print up and facing the right side of the canvas. I then brought the whole thing to the back. I stapled it in key areas...checking each time to make sure it wasn't off center...
 then went and filled in the gaps with more staples.
 And a look at the finished piece.......which is large Eucalyptus leaves...
 and the back which is finished....
and the other print.

11 comments:

  1. Beautiful use of your eco-prints. I particularly like how you "matted" and framed the larger ones.

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  2. Folks if you admire the look of these beautiful pieces……I wish you could see them in person…….they are fabulous!!

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  3. This is a lovely piece, the stippling frames it nicely.

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  4. Hi Judy, that's a great way to finish your eco printing. They are lovely!

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  5. Love how you've finished these prints, beautiful!

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  6. These are absolutely stunning! Note cards or wall hanging, they are fabulous! Thanks for the tutorial.

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  7. These are amazing! What type of fabric did you use? Did it start out white? How do you get that great muddled background?

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    1. The background fabric is a silk noil, the prints are done on handmade paper...some off white and some with patterning and color. You stack the paper and leaves (see previous blog posts) and depending on where papers fall (sometimes as many as 10 in a stack), color bleeds through to another layer.

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  8. Wow, they are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the process. It's very interesting and the results are great.

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