Natural printing with tertiary students 專上學生的植物印染

 

I have a special project with the HK PolyU and my honour to share in a part of it for my natural printing with the students.  It's the first time for the tertiary students to encounter with such eco printing with direct prints from plants.  We used just rose leaves, sorts of ecualyptus leaves, sumac and onion skins.  They're creative and made the sample silk panels in two hours.

 

Little leaves composition

 

 

Shades of red, orange, brown and rich tones from onion skins

  

 With my simple basic skills they made the outlines and shades

Bright red from eucalyptus

 Clean and clear from lecturer's prints with only onion skins, simply bold and creative.

 Onion skins are really great prints.  The prints on silk with little outlines and shade looks like 3D effect after printing.  Even prints on the cotton iron carrier with pink shade of the original color.

 

A piece with all the materials - onion skins, sumac, rose leaves and eucalyptus.

 

Fabulous prints on silk panel

   

All my pleasure to share with the students as well the lecturer's pleased with the works.

Fabric prints from bounty of nature 大自然之靈感印染

 

What do you think this? My belief is "less is more". 

Just a few pine lines and euc leaves to make this natural prints on silk.  I made this sample  for the upcoming workshops.

 How about this?  Simple layout of leaves printed on wool blend with shades.

 My friends asked how come I have the time or energy to do lots of creations while I spend some days weekly in hiking and biking. 

Well, I'm too addicted or the passion drives me crazy.  Indeed when I do outdoor activities particularly nature related, my mind is full of ideas and inspiration.

Just last hiking on Lamma Island we went up from one bay to the other with stunning views.

 Within 3 hours easy trails walk, we're on the top........

 with the view of Hong Kong Island.

 The strange looks of rocks are naturally stacked.  This looks like a dog.

 While I passed by the casaurina trees on the island, to my surprise the pine lines are so long as 80cm which I've never seen.  It must be a good find for natural prints.

 Other than hiking I got inspiration with the energetic biking team.  We biked along the sea coast for 50km today.

 Tired?  No, today's weather was fine for the long ride.

 

The panoramic view is gorgeous.

  A bike and boat ride is leisure.  What's more? Wow, found the eucalyptus blown off.  Can't resist to take home for the experiments.

 I recalled my last visit to a friend in Tuscany, Italy.  She lives in the brilliant region with the lined cypress.  Such picturesque view!

 With the ideas of the beautiful nature, just a little pine needles and assorted leaves, I made the placement for the prints on fabrics.

 Here's the outcome.  My simple natural prints on silk.

 

 Layout from the inspiration of Tuscany cypress

Such bounty from nature. 

This is the simple and  basic natural contact prints skills on wool blend.

Want to do this?  My ETSY instant download pdf file has the step-by-step tutorial.

Nature inspired creation - ecoprinting fabric 天然植物印染靈感

My recent works mostly are with some flower prints. Whenever I go hiking I would like to gather some fallen flowers for experiment. This knit silk jersey was made into a reversible Nuno felt dress after natural printing. Last hiking in Sai Kung was inspiring with the stunning views. Back home and I created a few pieces of prints.  Pictures below speak themselves.........

香港的郊野青綠處處，四季花卉燦爛，花開花落，洒在地上別有意境。近日我的創作嘗試了幾種在遠足時撿拾的落花，效果不錯且獨特，這針織𢇁料就是印了植物然後以羊毛混纎技巧製作的無縫裙子。

The day was brilliant to start our hiking from the water front......

那天清早到西貢遠足，晨光泛影......

Views of Ma On Shan and Tai Po in the further distance after an hour hiking

 與隊友從白沙澳往深涌，半山眺望馬鞍山。

Creek with running water after heavy rains

雨後流水潺潺，隊友互相照應渡溪。

After up and down then the easy coastal walk with the mountain view - the "Saddle Hill"

跨過一山又一灣，沿著海岸線，馬鞍山與八仙嶺山海連天。

Tranquil bay with fishing boats 漁排小島、藍天白雲.........

Stop under the shade of papaya leaves to have a closer look of Saddle Hill.

馬鞍山就在這片青翠木瓜葉的視線前，沿著路上拾了些黃槿與野山茶落花，回家靈感泉湧，就做了一些實驗製作.......

 

The fallen camellia just good for my experiment. 野山茶花滿地, 正好的印染材料.

Below are the images of "Before & After"  植物鋪陳經個多小時加熱後的比較

 

I love the prints on silk jersey as it's so soft. This is the dress made with nuno felt skill I love most, soft color and airy feel.

以花卉做的印染我比較喜愛這款很柔和的效果，因此以羊毛混纖技巧做了這件雙面穿著的裙子, 很輕柔的質感.