Printing From the Garden

Create gorgeous floral prints on fabric and paper using the natural pigments of common garden plants, flowers, and leaves with this stunning guide to the art of botanical contact printing.



A first-of-its-kind visual guide and instructional handbook, Printing from the Garden showcases the stunning results one can achieve by using 30 common leaves and flowers to print on cloth and paper, capturing their unique forms and colors. No experience required: teacher and textile artist Alison Kelly provides step-by-step, photographed instructions for bundle dyeing, mirror printing, and printing on clothing. She offers many examples to illustrate the beautiful results that are possible. Anyone can create vibrant botanical artworks using nature's design wonders:
• Eucalyptus
• Rose of Sharon
• Daylily
• Coreopsis
• Queen Anne's lace
• And many more





  Alison Kelly is a textile artist and the founder of Flora Obscura, a Brooklyn, New York-based shop and design studio that uses plants and natural dyes to create one-of-a-kind floral prints, working with clients including J. Crew and Pottery Barn Teen. Kelly learned weaving, silversmithing, and natural dyeing in Mexico before studying fashion design in Italy and was cast on Project Runway back in New York City. She now teaches online and in-person workshops in the United States and internationally and can be found online at floraobscura.nyc.  Preface: Introduction

Chapter 1: Practices of Dyeing with Flowers

Chapter 2: A study of botanical imprints

Chapter 3: Flowers & leaves covered in this book:

Aster

Hibiscus

Roses

Dogwood

Peony

Gerbera Daisy

Sunflowers

Coreopsis

Marigold

Cosmos

Oxalis

Goldenrod

Raspberry

Strawberry

Strawflower

Bird of Paradise

Bougainvillea

Dahlia

Impatiens

Scarlet Begonias

Butterfly Bush

Hydrangea

Peaflower

Hollyhock

Dyer's chamomile

Safflower

Weld petals

bb. False indigo cc. Lavender dd. Mint

ee. Rosemary ff.

Chapter 4: Workshop
• Terminology
• Setting up for success
• Getting organized
• Materials
• Leaves and Flowers: A guide to reliable printers Chapter 5: Preparing Fabric for Dyeing

a. Scouring

b. Mordanting

i. A reliable mordant recipe for protein fibers

ii. A reliable mordant recipe for cellulose fibers

iii. A reliable mordant recipe for paper

Chapter 6: Techniques

1. Bundle Dyeing

2. Botanical Contact-Printing on Fabric Composition and Color

i. Printing with a white background

ii. Creating a mirror-image print

iii. Printing with a carrier blanket to create a colorful background 3. Botanical Contact-Printing on Paper

Resources

Bibliography