Student Eco-printing Printing Resources

STUDENT RESOURCES

This page shares information about the tools, materials and process covered during our workshop, including what I buy and from where.

I buy most of my art supplies online, from several different sources depending on who is having a sale, and what I need in my order. I look for overall value in the pricing of the item, delivery cost and quality of service when ordering.

I don’t receive any commissions from these sales – and I encourage you to shop around for different pricing if that works for you. Different online stores offer sales and discounts at different times of the year, and there are other suppliers for most of the tools and materials I use.

I would love to hear from you if you do source from a different supplier – I am always on the lookout for other options to share with students, and for myself.

Bookmark this page in your browser so you can keep referring back to it.

Wow what a day! This webpage shares information to support what we covered during our workshop. If I mentioned something and have not included it here, please let me know so I can add it to the page. During our workshop we worked through the basics of the process, printing on to silk and paper. There is so much more to discover and explore with this process. Fire up the burner, fill the port with water, bundle your fibres and eco-print away 🙂

Bookmark this page in your browser so you can keep referring back to it.

The information below:

Eco-printing Reference Books

PRINTED BOOKS

There aren’t a great deal of printed reference books to buy, but these 2 are in my library:

Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles
Author: India Flint
Most online book stores and good street book shops will sell this book

the bundle book
Author: India Flint

ONLINE eBOOKS

These are books that I have bought. They range in price, and I found them all interesting and helpful in learning more about this process.

DIY Ecoprint on Paper in Color and Natural
Author: M Thersa Brown – approx AUD $65

Gum Leaf Alchemy: Eco printing on cotton
Author: Louise Upshall – approx $25

Plant Poetry: eco printing on paper
Author: Louise Upshall – approx $25

An Introduction to Leaf Prints on Paper: How to create amazing art using just paper, leaves and steam
Author: Cassandra Tondro – US $7

A Study of Leaf Prints on Paper: An investigation into the variables involved in the leaf print process
Author: Cassandra Tondro – US $7

Harvest and Store Leaves
Kathy Hays

Other Eco-printers to check out

Wendy Fe – Threadborne
Dye colours for eco prints
Dye plants for eco printing and eco dyeing

Barb – Made by Barb
Eco Printing on Cotton
Stunning Silk Eco Printing
Alternate Eco Print Processing – using the microwave oven!!

Chris – Joybilee Farm
How to Ecoprint on Silk and Make Fabulous One-Of-A-Kind Gifts

Emma Phillips
Eco Printing / Dyeing

Jo Horswill – Paper Cloth Studio

Kathy Hays – Kathy Hays Designs

India Flint

Cassandra Tondro

Louise Upshall

Other Eco-printing learning resources to explore

Maiwa School of Textiles – maiwa.teachable.com

Nicola Brown on YouTube

India Flint

There are many people offering online learning opportunities for eco-printing. The list below will grow as I come across more practishioners who I feel are delivering great content. If you know of someone else offering online workshops please let me know so I can add them to the list.

Social Media

FACEBOOK
These are some great Facebook Groups and Pages to check out to learn more about this process from other people. So much to learn!

Some INSTAGRAM tags to follow

Buying Silks and Dyes

I buy my silks and dyes from these two suppliers:

I use 2x different size scarves int he workshop, depending on supply and stock availability at the time. Below are the two different sizes I use in workshops. You will have used one of these two:

The dyes we used are natural dyes from both suppliers. Please note that ‘natural’ does not automatically mean ‘non-toxic’ or environmentally sustainable or responsible. The dyes we use are, but I encourage you to do your own research around this when you look to buy natural dyes.

The dyes we used in the workshop will be two of the following, both available form the above mentioned online stores:

  • Cochineal – suitable for silk and paper
  • Gardenia – not suitable for paper but great on silk
  • Madder – suitable for silk and paper, But I believe it to be a fugitive colour, meaning it can fade, so do some research on this if you are wanting a light-fast red/brown dye

Care for your Silks

AFTER YOUR WORKSHOP

When you get home, give your silks a rinse in fresh tap water. Give them a 15 min soak in a small bowl of fresh water with a capful of white vinegar. This will help restore the sheen in the silk. I also like to give mine a quick hand wash with shampoo and fresh water. Then iron. General recommendations for ironing silk is to iron the a low heat; I iron my silks on the Cotton setting. I also iron my silks wet – this will give a better iron result, and is a lovely way to see the prints and colours emerge are you iron.

Note that some creases may not be able to be removed from your silk. If the silk was creased under the bundling string, that crease may now be a permanent crease in the fibres of the silk.

ONGOING CARE

A natural shift in colour may occur over time. Do not hang or leave in direct sunlight for long periods as this may fade the colours on the scarf.

To clean, hand wash in cold tap water with a small about of hair shampoo or pH neutral soap or detergent designed for delicates.

If needed, iron using the Silk setting on your iron. That said – I iron on the Cotton setting on my iron.

Do not wash with regular laundry detergents – the chemicals in the detergent can leach colour from your fabric.

Paper

WORKSHOP PAPERS

When you get home, give your workshop printed papers a rinse with fresh tap water. This will work to remove any residue sitting on the surface of the paper. You can iron the paper to remove any waves or wrinkles. Dampen your paper – that will make it easier to iron.

BUYING PAPER

We eco-printed onto either Stonehenge 245gsm white or Somerset 300gsm off-white printmaking papers. You can buy Stonehenge at art shops (in-store) that sell printmaking papers. You buy it online from most online art stores.

Most printmaking papers will hold up to the process, as will watercolour papers. Good quality, thick cartridge can also survive – just be gentle and think about how ‘stiff’ the foliage it in the bundle.

Thin Japanese papers, with their long fibres, will generally hold up to the rigours of boiling and steaming.

Most art shops will sell printmaking and watercolour papers. And read a little more online, there will be clues about other papers that will handle the process.

Try eco-printing onto inkjet photographic paper.

Mordants

A MORDANT works to bind the colours from plants (leaves, bark, roots or natural dyes) to the fibres you are printing on to. Mordants also helps to improve light- and wash-fastness.

Please refer to your “Mordanting Natural Dyes“ handout you were given during our workshop for more information about MORDANTS, and the different types of mordants that you can use.

Generally speaking:
– Alum (Potassium Aluminium Sulphate) is used as a mordant for protein fibres (eg. silk, wool); and
– Aluminium Acetate (AA) is used as a mordant for cellulose fibres (eg. papers, cotton, linen).
– An exception: silk is a protein fibre and does not need a mordant.
– I use Alum as a mordant for cellulose fibres, even though AA is the recommended mordant. Alum is cheaper and easier to buy.

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