SCREENPRINTING
History of botanical printing:
Botanical screen printing involves using natural pigments and the shapes of plants to transfer onto fabric or paper. Screen printing was first used by the Egyptians and Greeks who used plant-based dyes and pigments to decorate fabrics. It was done by applying pressure or steam to release the natural dyes and pigments. Botanical printing is used in many industries and its a way of connecting with nature as every print will look different and portray in a different way which is interesting.
INDIA FLINT
India Flint is a botanical printer (eco printer) - she mostly does it onto fabrics and she's drawn to the rich colours and textures that can be achieved through plant-based dyes. She gathers an abundance of plants (leaves, flowers) and puts them within fabric, then steams them so that they release their natural dyes creating patterns. The outcomes are always un predictable and not one is ever the same.
These are some examples of the prints she's created and it shows a sense of symmetry where the cloth has been folded which is nice and interesting to look at.
She has also published a number of books about printing and they offer guidance around printing and eco/botanical printing. They also include themes related to sustainability and they reflect India's passion for creativity and nature.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
There are a number of videos on her website illustrating er work process and how she does it. In this video she showed/explained how she created a beautiful piece of work on a large cloth which had leaves printed on it.
She said how she collected the leaves off of the street around her house and arranged them by folding them into small squares in the piece of cloth - meaning that there were layers upon layers of leaves/plants and she folded the cloth until it was a tight ball, she then boiled it and slowly went through peeling back the layers of leaves and seeing the natural pigments that they had left behind. As she unfolded it was clear that there was some symmetry within the design.
She had also embroidered some aspects of it and she explained that she may possibly outline the leaves with a needle and thread and add some more colour to the print.
I found this very interesting as it illustrated her thought process and what she does in order to achieve/create her work - it's very informative.
her work also shows the transformation of nature and how the leaves transform by leaving behind their pigment and how the cloth is changed by the leaves and becomes colour and filled with all different patterns.
My Work:
I have decided to screenprints to support my project and experiment more with my images. I'm going to use two different photographs that I've taken, one of which will be a studio photo and the other will be landscape photo. This will allow to be able to identify which images work better in the screenprint process.
For the screenprints to make it link to my project I will be presenting how the screenprints transform seeing how the ink runs out and dries which will make the subject less bold and show how when no extra ink is added the ink goes faint and the images starts to disappear and become less prominent.
Experimenting:
During a practise session I experimented with screen printing to ensure that I knew what I was doing and whether or not this is a process that I would want to continue with in my own project.
These are the outcomes - I used scrap paper and printed over the top of previous designs. In the first one I printed the David Bowie image and I really like the outcome of this as the detail is very clear and its very tonal showing all the highlights/shadows which is like.
For the second one I printed in blue and pink to experiment with mixing colours - I think when I did this print the ink had started to dry so the ink didn't fully filtrate through the silk screen - however you can still see bits of blue and pink but it's not very clear so I will need to consider this when printing my own images.
The last one is quite busy and slightly overwhelming, however I still like the outcome and the colours coming through from the background.
The Process:
These are the images that I've decided to screen print, I chose to do these as I wanted to test using landscape and studio photography and identify which one would be more successful. I chose images that have a specific subject as well so that it would be clear what the screen print is.
On photoshop I edited the images to grey scale and using the dodge & burn tool I picked out the highlights and shadows to make the contrasting areas of the image more clear. I also added a colour halftone to the images to create the small dots covering the image - which is vital when screen printing.
These were then printed onto the silk screen ready for me to use to print onto.
First, I used masking tape to identify where the paper should be and the position of it so that I was printing onto the right place of the card. I started by adding screen printing ink to the top of the stencil. I then used a squeegee to drag down the ink onto the silk screen. I only dragged the ink down once, as I needed to save the ink for the other prints as I'm not adding anymore, I also made sure all the excess ink was back at the top of the screen so that I could use it again.
I continued to do this process, waiting a few minuets between each print so that I could allow time for the ink to dry out a bit so that the image would transform and fade out.
I put the prints on the drying rack to allow them to dry quicker - however due to the minimal ink they dried quickly anyways.
I then washed the screen using water and a jet wash so that all the ink was fully washed out and there was no excess left in the screen.
The Outcomes:
These are the first screenprints that I did, they very clear and bold - showing all the detail in a flower. I think the screenprint has turned out very well and I'm happy with the outcome. Even with a few minutes apart the prints are still quite different and you can clearly see how the prints have changed and started to fade out. The black becomes a lot more faded and begins to loose its boldness as the prints go on.
I also tested the print onto pink paper as in the initial photo of tulip the flower is pink so I thought it would be nice to reflect this. However, I decided to do the rest of the prints onto white paper as the changes and fade out would be much more noticeable as the black stands out against the white.
These are the outcomes of the second image. I think these are nice and successful, however due to the background aspects the actual plant becomes less of the main feature as there's not a lot of white space around the plant.
Nevertheless I still think the outcomes are good and the transformation is very clear throughout the prints.
Overall, I really enjoyed the process and it's something I definitely would like to explore during my exam and for one of my final outcomes.
