The eco printing bug has infected me, I can’t see an odd shaped leaf without wondering if it will print at the moment. While my youngest daughter was visiting recently, I decided to drag her on the journey for a short way.

This batch was made from another cotton sheet (from a second hand shop) which I cut into strips for experimental purposes. I used Aluminum Acetate (AA) as a mordant on this one rather than tannins. I was hoping this would leave the background colour of the sheet as white. After mordanting, I spun the pieces out and lay them out flat on my table in the shade while we collected leaves from the yard and surrounds.

We lay them out artistically and covered them with an iron blanket (at a rate of one cup Ferrous Acetate (FA) per 5 litres) that had been rung out well by hand. We rolled them up and tied them as tightly as we could before I steamed them for an hour.

The results show that rolling and tying tightly is very important if you want clear prints. I am looking around for some wide elastic bandages to add a bit of extra pressure to the wrapping process. The results were beautiful!

Now I am looking around for a recipe to make AA at home as it is an added expense I don’t need at present. This is such a fun way to make printed fabric, I will probably try a lot more variations on the theme. I have a plan to turn the experimental pieces into a quilt.