Printing with Leaves and Flowers
My friend Mary sent me a link in an email this week that she knew I would love. ( thanks Mary). It describes a technique for printing on fabric with ferns. . All you need is some natural, neutral colored fabric , a hammer, a hard, smooth surface and some plant material from your garden to get started. Here is what I did. 
Here is some advice. The inclination would be to lay the leaves face down on the fabric but the color comes out far better if you lay them face up. Use a metal hammer not a plastic or wooden one. Start by hitting or tapping softly first to adhere the leaves to the fabric and then you can get a little more aggressive. If you start off too strong you will break the leaves and flowers. With the flowers start tapping at the edge of the petals and work your way to the center.
Heat fix the printed fabric with a hot iron and enjoy the beautiful natural patterns you have made.
The next one shows a print made from the fibonacci pattern on the bottom of a pinecone. I used a paintbrush and brushed the surface with some fabric paint and pressed it onto the fabric using my hand behind to get more pattern since the pinecones are not flat. I love the pattern it made and will definitely be exploring this more later in the summer.
I headed to my newly painted sewing room ( thank you deborah, sweetheart) to see what I could make with this plant printed fabric.
Here is a little sneak peek of what I made. Shhhh !!!! Some one has a birthday soon so I don't want to give it all away.
It has been so long since I have shared any thrift store treasures with you. I found this fantastic coffee table made in Denmark at Goodwill a few days ago.
I wish you all a great weekend and just want to leave with a thought economics and ecology are based on the same root word, eco, from the Greek oikos, meaning "home". Ecology is the study of home while economics is its management. If we are to find a truly sustainable future, we have to put the eco back into economics and the logic back into ecology.
Your plant prints are so delicate! The pinecone one is my favorite. You could do a whole "Fibonacci series" yourself!
Your last paragraph is a post in itself. I hope you can elaborate further, both in written and artistic form.
Posted by: Patricia | July 25, 2008 at 02:00 PM
oh wow, the results are awesome!!! and it looks like such fun :D this is definitely something i'd be in to - thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Eva | July 25, 2008 at 02:47 PM
i really love your blog, and resurrection fern is my favorite song :)
Posted by: jessicajane | July 25, 2008 at 02:50 PM
Oh, these turned out so beautifully! I have a book on flower pounding..just haven't gotten around to experimenting yet. I truly enjoy your place here. Thanks.
Posted by: ellen kelley | July 25, 2008 at 04:27 PM
it looks so lovely, i can't wait to see it :)
Posted by: rebekah | July 25, 2008 at 06:07 PM
I like the prints you made with flowers - they turned out perfectly!
Posted by: Rachel | July 25, 2008 at 07:38 PM
The little violas are gorgeous and so are the pinecones - I know you would be able to improve on it!!
Posted by: bluemountainsmary | July 25, 2008 at 08:05 PM
er I knew - not know!!
Posted by: bluemountainsmary | July 25, 2008 at 08:06 PM
Right on about your ending thoughts! Thank you for sharing. This should be plastered out there somewhere for the whole world to see and think about!
Posted by: Siri | July 25, 2008 at 11:07 PM
That looks great! I can't believe how well the color transferred. I was just at the purl bee (http://www.purlbee.com/the-purl-bee/) and the last two posts feature knitted mushrooms. They immediately reminded me of you! Have a fabulous weekend!
xox,
Linnea
Posted by: Linnea | July 25, 2008 at 11:37 PM
What an absolutely beautiful tutorial! I'm inspired by all you create and every word you write. Thank you for always shaking me up a bit...I will be sharing your "eco" thoughts with my family in the morn...we love discussing your blog together:)
p.s. the stem green looks delicious!
Posted by: mayalu | July 25, 2008 at 11:42 PM
Lovely! It's permanent? Wow!
Posted by: Andrea (noricum) | July 26, 2008 at 02:48 AM
Its beautiful - I will have to try our ferns. We bought a place and the man (45 years ago) planted 30 different kinds... We can only find 20 or so but its fun looking. Thanks for all your great posts!
Posted by: Ithaca Waldorf Handworks | July 26, 2008 at 03:16 PM
Margie, this is such a genius idea!
Something so simple and easy to make!
I really love it and I am looking forward to trying it myself! I was thinking about trying in on paper too and see what happens!
Thank you sooo much for sharing this with us!!!
Elsita :)
Posted by: Elsita :) | July 28, 2008 at 12:20 AM
These turned out so delicate! Mine are mostly blobs. Colourful blobs, but blobs nonetheless. Guess I'm pounding too hard... I did like the results I got from pounding left-over lettuce leafs from the garden though, it creates a lovely green background wash. Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by: Josina | July 30, 2008 at 10:19 AM
I did this on some handkerchiefs and they turned out lovely.
Posted by: Dennise | August 03, 2008 at 10:47 AM
I've tried this on paper with violas and daylilies, but never on fabric... Can't wait to give it a try!
Posted by: mollie | August 03, 2008 at 03:51 PM
beautiful work!
Posted by: jen | August 04, 2008 at 11:30 AM