I’ve been playing with dyes and sunlight printing this week. I love it – so easy and so effective – for those of you who asked for instructions and more details here are just some quick guidelines.

You need:

white cotton or calico fabric

Dye na flow paints  – lots of different colours available see the photo in the side bar which will take you directly to this on Amazon

Flat surface (covered as it will mark)

leaves, flowers or any object that will lay flat

paint brush

water

sunlight!

Instructions:

wash your fabric – (gets rid of chemicals and allows paint to absorb better)

cut fabric to size and wet

squeeze out excess water (but it still needs to be wet)

Place onto a flat (protected) surface

Paint with as may colours as you want – more than one is effective but you can get some colours from plants (dandelion heads leave a yellow mark)

place your leaves onto the wet fabric and press them into the paint with your finger tips

leave in bright sunlight to dry

carefully peel off the leaves

iron to seal the colours

 

Notes:

some colours work better than others – pink on its own very pale but pink and blue mixture is stronger

Burnt umber is v effective

Fern type leaves are an excellent choice as they add detail

There are no ‘rules’ just play!

It’s worth allowing children to play – Tommy threw a pile of grass onto his picture so I left it – it really worked!

Let me know how you get on x