Recently, I was gifted with several Monarch butterflies by a friend whoes parents picked them up off the ground (already deceased) in the 1960s while on vacation. I love the added touch to the cover.I wrote this Steve Jobs' quote on both sides that reads "have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become".
and a close up of the cover.........
Just for fun, I thought I would share these before and after photos, they help demonstrate how the paper was dyed.
After soaking the paper in a water/alum mixture, I placed fresh plant material on the paper. Here you can see dark red rose petals, a hardy geranium leaf and a wild blackberry. After" smooshing" the pages together and steaming them for two hours, you get this.........................
Amazing, huh? The leaf printed yellow green, the dark red petals printed blue-ish purple and the berry printed a really nice dark red. I consider this my art/science project 'cause there is a lot of stuff going on in this process that I have not control over. No matter what you do, there will be surprises.
A little time consuming but so worthwhile.
8 comments:
goodness, science indeed and surprising results. Good art!
What a great little book. I am trying to contemplate Steve's quote as I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up!!!
May be time consuming, but the results are unlike anything you will find at your local craft store. And talk about one of a kind prints! Beautiful and oh, so unique.
I have a question. If I don't have alum, is there anything else I can use? I can't get e-mails, so hope you'll let me know on my blog.
I love what you did with the eco-dyed paper! The quote meandering down the open book is wonderful!
Wow! I love your eco-dyeing results, and that you found a new way to do this. And what a beautiful book, with monarchs even. You are a wonderful artist!!
roxanne
OMG! This book is gorgeous! xxoo
really gorgeous!
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