Eco Printing on Paper

Eco Printing has fascinated me to no end. I finally watched some Youtube videos last week and Friday decided it's now or never! And in the last four days I have made four batches!
 I had inherited a perfect pan from my mother in law which held my 11x14 papers nicely. I used 90lb. watercolor paper then added a couple sheets of Bristol to see how it did. It performed great also.
I decided to be more organized while assembling my second batch and took photos of each layer. I also wanted to know what plants were making which colors and what not to bother repeating. It was also interesting to see the difference in the top and bottom of the prints.

Layer 1, oak leaves, cotteneaster, (don't know the burgundy plants name.) I loved the round impressions the Cotteneaster leaves made. This is one of my favorites.

Layer 2, dried pressed maples from my fall trip, honey locust and tiny seed thingies from the neighbors tree that is also unfamiliar. The seed things grow into helicopter like seeds similar to a maple and left great tiny black specs in the paper. (I've pressed a ton of these for later use.)

Layer 3, decided to try more of my saved pressed leaves from our trip out east plus a couple rusty washers and nails and three chrysanthemum leaves. (The dried things proved to work just fine.)

Layer 4, more dried leaves. The ginkos turned out a lot paler but gave off a bit of yellow color. I sprinkled seed buds from just finished blooming Victoria Blue Salvia. It left some wonderful blue marks.

Layer 5, more honey locust, purple pansy petals, Victoria Blue Salvia stems with seed buds sprinkled.  These added a little purple and blue to the mix. Note the rusty area that bled through from the leaf underneath the paper.

Layer 6, honeysuckle (very subtle), crepe myrtle leaves (the darkest), rose leaves (impressed with those), pink salvia and more seed things from the neighbors.

My top layer, for weight and just to see what it would do. I love what it did!

This is a view of all the back sides except the first layer.

I placed an 8x11 sheet of index paper 90lb on the very bottom of the pan and it left this great border.

And because the pan was dark and blotchy look how cool this paper turned out! Even though it was 90lb, it was so fragile I had to be extra careful while rinsing it. I did this on each batch and everyone turned out different.

 I topped off all my layers with a piece of 2x12 wood and a brick. Added water I had already brought to a boil in a kettle and added about 1/2 C of vinegar.  Brought it to a boil again and simmered for 2 hrs. My third batch was only simmered 30 minutes and did just as good. Let it set to cool and then rinsed. (I've read of people only cooking for 10 minutes or so too. Or even baking in the oven.)

These are the papers I used.

One batch I sprinkled a few coffee grounds on some of the papers. It didn't leave speckles like I had hoped but it did give a warmer tone to the papers.

Today's batch I added a pinch of turmeric and some ground cloves to one sheet. (Half pinch would have been enough enough, but three layers down looked great.)

OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST

 Chinaberry blossoms make great prints, as do the leaves.

Flowers that left interesting marks. Pink peony petals, red rose petals, daisy petals, red poppy petals and their black stamens, Chinaberry blossoms.

Other things. Strips of purple fountain grass and miniature monkey grass cut up in half inch lengths. (Reminded me of chopped chives.)

Even the papers that were so-so, will be great for journaling. I know I will be cutting some up and making little books. I recently found someone on Instagram who is a dyeing maniac.  It would be so awesome to take a class from her. I just drooled over her whole Instagram feed for a couple hours last night. You can find her at @orlyavineri

And if you want to watch "The Big Reveal", my neighbor came over and I filmed us rinsing the papers. (Ignore the part about 140 lb. paper, it was 90lb.) on Vimeo.

Mobile Art Monday No. 49

A Digital Mixed Media Piece

Today's purpose: Mostly to inspire with a tidbit of instruction here and there.

This piece was created using three photos(sunflower, bird and an oil can label for texture) and two vintage papers(the butterflies and text.)

My original photo was shot with the Hipstamatic app using two of my favorites, Tejas lens and Ina's 1982 film. (I cropped off the border.)

In Leonardo I layered the other images on top and began changing blend modes and masking away areas.

I inverted the text paper and set it to screen so the text would be white. I duplicated most of the layers and used two different blending modes to achieve desired results.

When happy, I saved to camera roll and opened it in Picfx.

Under the PFX Film Set I chose PFX10 and reduced the opacity. (Touch on the right side to pull up the opacity slider. You can also rotate the filters on the left.) Be sure to touch the 'layer+' icon to add additional layers.

Under the Scratches Set I added Scratches One at a very low opacity and Olden Texture also at a low opacity. 

At this point I opened it in Procreate to outline the bird slightly and add a few sublte touches to the butterflies.

For an experiment I thought I'd run it through Brushstroke and saved three of the edits. 

Another play with the three in Leonardo using different blend modes for a unique painterly effect.

I hope this inspires you to try some layering in your edits.

Beauty

"Every girl longs to hear that she is beautiful. Her heart needs to believe it's true. But her true beauty radiates from within. And as she ages, she realizes the mirror isn't the true reflection of her beauty after all." -rh

My second 'mixed media' type piece. I'm taking several classes this year some of which don't have anything to do with the others, but somehow they are melding together and I'm creating mixed media type work in Photoshop (and some on my iPad in Procreate.)

She Just Smiled

Often times I feel like I need to narrow my playing field. It seems every month it gets broader and broader. It's always hard to totally let go of the old or is it to just be shelved for a bit?

The past two years my curiosity has been peaked about mixed media. Sketching and painting and collaging. I've dabbled just enough to be dangerous. Or just enough to photograph work and then alter it digitally.  To be honest I really don't have a clue about what I'm doing. Perhaps I should take a beginners course just to learn exactly what type of paint and ink works with what and all the rules that apply, like when to use gesso on your paper first and when not to. 

I'm always needing a challenge of some sort and this year I signed up for a few drawing/painting classes. And they weren't beginner ones. There are other beginners in them but it's such a struggle to be a beginner. And there is no undo button to click on that paper. 

The sketching part is not so bad. Putting all the parts together is a challenge. Like making the eyes not look like they belong to two people. 

Adding a little water to it was... well.... let's say a learning experience. What did I learn? I'm still not sure. 

I keep asking "her" why I'm doing this. 

She hasn't given an answer except to smile and turn back to sketching.

Real paint and paper edited in iColorama, plus sketch and watercolor, then edited in Procreate and Leonardo.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone! I't s time for flowerbed cleaning around here!

Digital Rolled Paint

My first Slate story was used to advertise my new brush set. This is an experiment to see if it will embed in my blog. If not, go here to check it out.

Too Many Passions

I have too many… passions that is. Just when I decide to narrow the field something else comes in to tempt me. The latest being as a result of a Creative Live class on surface pattern design. Patterns for fabrics or scrapbook papers and such. I've often thought that if I had kept up the quilting gig that I would be designing fabric. But I was on the road to burn out when one of my friends started designing reproduction fabrics for a well known company. And I was ready for a change of pace, like focusing on a second marriage, building a house and new work place for both of us.
After doing some digital scrapbook designing the past few years, the surface patterns have always intrigued me. I've dabbled but that's about all. There are companies that will print your personally designed fabric for a price and I'm seriously thinking about it. We have grand baby number 2 on the way and it's a boy. Wouldn't it be cool to design some boy fabric and make a quilt for him? I better hurry if I think that's going to happen. December will be here before you know it. In the mean time I've at least cleared off the table in my studio for a little gelli printing. I so don't know what I'm doing, but it's fun to get messy once in awhile. I took a photo of two of my 'pulls' and combined them in Superimpose with the blend mode changed. Flattened it, added another layer of a building and changed the blend mode on it and saved. Opened it in Snapseed, made a few tweaks and cropped.

Then I played in the Retrolux filters…

 And black and white and came up with this.

I'll be using this as 'texture' of sorts for another photo. You'll have to check back tomorrow to see how I plan to use it.
Just another way to use my iPad apps…..
I think I've really open another can of worms now.
Joining Barb at Keeping with the Times for App Happy Wednesday.

Gratitude Day 2

I am grateful for friends that inspire me, like Carol Hart. Not only does her garden look fantastic, she takes awesome photos not just with her camera but her phone too. And she made her iPad cover into a piece of art. She did one layer of paint then used stamps and ink. On mine, I painted one layer then used more paint with homemade 'stamps' and a couple stencils. I also 'split' a turquoise napkin and used gel medium to adhere it and put another coat over the whole thing. I had 2 paint nicks before I got finished but after a week it is still looking good. Carol reminded after it was too late, "go easy on the acrylic (thin coats) because it turns to plastic and will peel off." I've done very little mixed media stuff but it sure is fun. 
Thanks Carol!

Tag Time

Trying my hand at mixed media. I found some small thin wood pieces with holes that I think we're supposed to be made into Christmas ornaments. I thought they would make great tags. Since this is so new to me, it took 4 different play times each about a week apart to get this finished. Hope the next one goes faster. But I like it and that's what matters. Oh how many things have I made that I'm never quite satisfied with? and.... I think that's the reason I don't finish a lot of things. hmmmm.......