ECO Printing

ECO Printing with Fall Leaves

I have caught the next wave of natural dyeing.  Eco printing with leaves by steaming them onto paper.  I then sew them into handmade books.  I love paper, I always have.  I have rolls and pads and sheets of it all tucked away all over my house.  I am slowly printing with all of it so joy of joys I will have to replace my stock when the next sale hits.  This is super easy to do - collect leaves.  I collect 4 kinds - Beech, SweetGum, Oak and Maples.  I do however collect from different trees and from different times of the Fall season.  Some of them have been pressed and dried and some are picked straight off the tree at the time of stemming.  I rarely keep records as I have no intention of repeating what I get and live in the joy of spontaneity.  

 Here is a bundle of papers after its been steamed and the strings are cut off ready to be opened.

 I also did run out into the dark to gather a few Ferns before the last hard frost killed them off and I was really happy with the results.  Its a beautiful pattern of resist and nice yellow too.

This paper won't be stable as I threw some iron powder on it before steaming - its gives a really cool coppery color but Im sure the paper will rust straight thru to the next page so I will just look at it or hang it on the wall as is.

SweetGum Tree - one of my favorite trees.  When it changes color in the Fall it does so with so many beautiful colors.  Green, yellow, orange, red, burgundy to brown.  Its just spectacular.  All the colors from this one work really well for eco printing.

This one is a bit of a cheat - red onion skins :)

 When you layer the papers with the leaves (meaning- no blank papers with no leaves in between) you get a mixed bag of prints all over the place, a print from both sides of the leaves.  This makes it really hard if you get something spectacular on both sides of the paper.  But then again that is great for book bookbinding.

 I received the most beautiful colors this time around.  This was done with dry paper but the leaves were soaked in iron water before I layered them out - only a few minutes - then steamed for 4 hours.  I can never wait so I always undo the bundle before it dries.  Happy Printing.

A Late Walk

When I go up through the mowing field,
The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
Half closes the garden path.

And when I come to the garden ground,
The whir of sober birds
Up from the tangle of withered weeds
Is sadder than any words

A tree beside the wall stands bare,
But a leaf that lingered brown,
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
Comes softly rattling down.

I end not far from my going forth
By picking the faded blue
Of the last remaining aster flower
To carry again to you. 

 - Robert Frost

My latest spun yarn - which is already fingerless gloves.

Fall colors

Such gorgeous colors this year.

This is one of my favorites that I took this year.

This little button buck (I think) has been hanging around out back yard for a few days.  He is hungry and very curious - however very wary of me as he should be.  It would be nice to see him mature.  I also saw a red fox yesterday being chased by a few crows - quite comical.  

Fall days

This past weekend has been a true Indian summer for us.  The leaves are at their peak and the weather is HOT.  70's!  I sat outside all day yesterday.  The boys were not alowed back inside untill the sun went down.  They made it too - lots of digging, stream splashing, leaf raking and general playing.  Its great when you can take the time to be outside for that long.  

I have finished needle felting three snowmen and a Tomten this weekend.  Next weekend I am going to the Rhinebeck wool festival.  I can't wait!!  Of corse I dont need a stich of wool but that is soooo not the point.  

Here is a shot (from last year) of a person that really knows how to display color!

Here are some examples of my 4/5th grade class doing their handworks bags. They really love it and are not wanting the class to end (what every teacher wants to hear).

It will be great to dive into the cross stitch next - I have one that really likes to argue his point and I love testing the waters with him.

Octobers bright blue weather

The changing colors of the trees are inspiring me to do more dyeing.  

The other day there was a storm in the distance but the sun was setting.  The dark blue gray of the sky played off the rays of color coming off the fall colored leaves & it was awesome (in the true sense of the word).  I truly love change but fall is one of my favorite "changes" of the year.  I don't have a photo yet of the blue sky and leaves but as soon as I can I will put one up.  

Here is one with a more subtle sky so you can see a taste... 

My grandmother, Me-Me's favorite poem was:

Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

October's Bright Blue Weather

O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October's bright blue weather;

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,

Belated, thriftless vagrant,

And Golden-Rod is dying fast,

And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes tight

To save them for the morning,

And chestnuts fall from satin burrs

Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie

In piles like jewels shining,

And redder still on old stone walls

Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things

Their white-winged seeds are sowing,

And in the fields, still green and fair,

Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,

In idle golden freighting,

Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush

Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,

By twos and twos together,

And count like misers, hour by hour,

October's bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flowers of June,

Count all your boasts together,

Love loveth best of all the year

October's bright blue weather.