You know I’ve been enamored with eco-prints for quite awhile now. In the summer of 2011, I gave it a first try and I was encouraged by the results but a long way off from what I wanted: 
Last winter I tried a brief experiment that was encouraging. I had discovered Elena and her “optimization method” of contact printing and posted about it on the “And Then We Set It On Fire” blog last April.
So this year I made another attempt in July and that was a dismal failure! I won’t bother with the photos because there’s hardly anything to see. So then, after I accomplished my goals around deconstructive screen printing, and other procion dye experiments, I set myself back to the what has turned out to be the most challenging task of the year!
No matter how much I read I seemed to be going backwards. I have India Flint’s Eco Dyeing and Jenny Dean’s The Craft Of Natural Dyeing. They are packed with info but both of them are more focused on Dyeing than printing. I need to get both of their newer books! And now that I have a little more experience at this, I’m getting more out of India’s book now. Online, there’s a lot of contradictory information out there on the subject and quite a bit that’s outright wrong. Yet some of these folks are getting fabulous prints while I’ve been underwhelmed with my results and it’s not from not trying! I am a persistent beetch – out there every day this month!
And finally, I’m just beginning to make some progress. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you how because I’ve been like a madwoman in a frenzy, completely unable to record and/or remember what I did in each case and because I can’t afford to keep buying and ruining fabric, I keep overdyeing while I learn! Well, actually I kind of love some of it so it’s not really ruined but not really what I was after. I will, however, find some perfect places to use them.
However, I can tell you a couple of important things about this process. There are many , many factors that play at your results from your local water quality and environmental factors that affect the plants as well as the water to what equipment you use and what kind of fabric you’re printing on…whether it’s wet or dry, cotton, silk or wool and so on and on. More on this subject in an upcoming post!
Linking up with Nina Marie’s Off The Wall Friday once again.
Turtlemoon Impressions 