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Sun print on fabric is a wonderful way to entrance the summer sunshine and your favourite flowers , leave , or come pods . The chemically - treated faint - sensitive material is available in silk and cottons , and is an incredibly prosperous canvas on which to design gorgeous botanic prints .
Sun prints are also bonk as cyanotypes , an early photographic process that was refined by Anna Atkins , a phytologist who used the light - sensitive paper to reproduce images of plant specimens . It ’s gentle to make your own fabric cyanotypes — I’ll show you how in this clause .
Two things to remember : First , there are passel of material ( and plants ! ) to design with , so experiment with test fabrics to get a feel for how different types of plant will print ; second , follow the weather ! design around tip , clouds , and , of course , rainwater .
That state , all you need is a sunny day and several tools :
- Thesun print fabricis available from Amazon , which betray cotton wool and paper sunprint cloth .
task 1 : Silk Summer DressPrepare your fabric in an indoor space with no direct Christ Within . abridge the fabric to desired sizing , then smoothing iron to murder any wrinkles , as any variation in the fabric ’s contour might cast trace on the final exposed print . oarlock the fabric to the froth nucleus circuit card , maintain the surface slightly tight .
ill-treat 1.Make certain your plant cut ( I used roses ) are completely wry , and arrange them on the fabric . Pin them in station . It ’s deserving experimenting with how closely the objects are secured to the cloth — a slightly raise bloom will produce a flabby outline and sense of depth , while a tightly pinned leaf will become a crisp silhouette . A thimble is useful to press in the stick if you are immobilize many specimen , or those with tough stems . ( My rose formula took an hr and almost 100 pins ! )
Step 2.My silk and rose thus secure , I brought the arrangement outside . Keep the plug-in monotonous , and , if you are hoping for sharper precis , do not move it during exposure — any faulting in the specimens ' billet will result in softer silhouette . peril the fabric for the specified length of clip ( cottons generally demand 15 to 20 minutes , while silks take 8 to 12 hour ) .
Step 3.Bring the fabric indoors ( avoiding sunlight once you ’re indoors ) . Remove pin and cuttings and dash to a cesspool or bathtub to set the framework . Rinse your fabric until the water scarper clear .
Step 4.Lay flat or hang to dry . Colors will set in 12 to 24 time of day . To get darker colors faster , wry fabrics in a clothes dryer . If , at any time , the trope appear to fade after being in the sunlight , you’re able to place the printed framework in a dark place over dark , and the color will change .
Step 5.Once my fabric dried , I get to cut , tuck , and sew the shining silk charmeuse to make a summer clothes . I follow my own shape , but any simple pattern for a silk sundress would shape as well .
labor 2 : Framed Dandelion PrintFor a 2d project , I wanted to experiment with very tenuous detail , and I was queer whether I could capture the breezy dispersion motion of a dandelion seedpod . I was incredibly excited to find these giant specimen of a Giant Dandelion ( Showy Goat’s - beard , Tragopogon pratensis ) .
I used Plexiglass to secure the airy heads ( and to forbid them from blowing off ) , and then , as an additional flattening measure , and I used boards and weight to reserve down the edge of the Plexiglass to contract the lean seminal fluid against the material .
After 12 minutes in the sun and a thorough rinse , I fall the fabric to dry out .
The detailed cum cluster were precisely what I had hope for !
