Ornamental Pistachio Fling: A Fall Adventure

Pistacia chinensis, or Ornamental Pistachio...green foliage during the year turns a showy red in autumn.  My neighbor, Sooz, put some from her tree in a plastic tub and microwaved it a few times; the water turned pink, so she gave me the rest of her fall leaves plus a bagful from some friends in the Sierras where the trees line Hwy 50.  Oh, joy, plenty for experiments.

Fall pistachio leaves, nicely red and delicate.

Pistachio leaf prints, bottom left, on watercolor paper.

 Dye bath is definitely red.

Skein of yarn dyed with pistachio leaf dye.

The pistachio leaf dye bath and two skeins of dyed wool.  The first skein is tanner.  I added some vinegar to the second dye bath with unmordanted wool in the aluminum pot.  It was pinker.  I would try it again with vinegar the first time.

Eucalyptus and Pistachio leaves bundled for dyeing.

Steamed for 2 hours. 

Silk scarf with pistachio leaves and eucalyptus leaves.

Some nice eucalyptus prints along with the pistachio prints.

My new best friend: Scissors which deckle the edges of the watercolor paper.  I was using the fold, dampen, tear method before, but this is much, much easier.

Paper Eco Prints and Repurposing old T-Shirt

I had a nice unwrapping this AM.  Some steamed paper samples with lots of different leaves: Eucalyptus, various, Hopi Red Dye plant, Maple, Cherry leaves, both green and yellow, Madrone bark found along the gravel road, Purple Petunia flowers, and a brightly colored blackberry leaf

Vintage Cotton panel, leaf printed, to cover up graphics of old t-shirt

 T-Shirt back

Some very nice Eucalyptus cinerea prints, along with various Euca leaves and other fall foliage

 T-Shirt front, almost too much of a riot of shapes

Madrone bark makes very very wonderful marks, upper left patch

Petunias, what great flowers for this, and Cherry Leaves

 Eucalyptus and Cherry

Cherry and

with Maple and Eucalyptus and Cherry

Eco Printing on Paper

This is my second attempt at making eco prints on watercolor paper (300 lb.)  On my first attempt, I made a classic beginner's error....I didn't pre-fit the materials to the steamer, and consequently, the papers, in their wrappings, would not fit flat into the steamer.  I got some prints, but the results were predictably uneven.

I used Eucalyptus leaves, both E. cinerea and E. globulus, Blackberry leaf, Rose leaf, Cherry leaf, Maple, and a few Cotinus.  All the papers and leaves were spritzed with an iron solution before steaming.  The steaming lasted a couple of hours.

I am drying the prints for awhile on an outdoor window in the hopes they will stay flat.

Eucalyptus and Cherry, open spacing

Two kinds of Eucalyptus, mirror images

I got carried away here with, perhaps, too many maple leaves.  Such bounty right now.

 Blackberry and Cherry Leaves

This is a fun and inexpensive way to test leaves...all the leaves I used, with the exception of the fava leaves left more or less distinct prints.  I want to experiment with the use of mordants...alum and spritzes of vinegar, iron, and copper to see what effect on the color.