BPO: Beginnings

Beschrijving van de dienst

The principles of botanical printing So how does it work, this botanical printing? In short: it is transferring the pigments and tannins from leaves to fabrics, using moisture, pressure and heat. We mordant, wet and manipulate fabrics, and roll them up really really tight with leaves inside. The rolls created by this we boil or steam for a lengthy period, in which the pigments and tannins are naturally bound together with the mordants in the fabric, creating an insoluble bond. After cooling down we can open our master piece and see how truly nature gets transferred to textile: from field, to fabric. Who owns knowledge? (giving credit where credit is due) Transferring botanical pigments to fabrics, straight from the leaf is not new. Flower pounding was a known hobby through the ages, and India Flint coined the first versions of botanical printing calling it 'eco print'. By combining the principle of eco printing with mordanting techniques used for ages in natural dye traditions, and using those dyes in combination with leaf prints, we get scaffolded knowledge. I choose to call the work we do in this course botanical printing, because I do not think that eco printing is really covering what we do and to claim that this craft is 100% eco friendly would be far fetched. My recipes come from years of practicing, reading, learning and working in the field of natural dyes and botanical printing. I spent the better parts of corona days (and nights) running experiments to understand how things work. This resulted in over 20 small cardboard boxes with a5 sized samples of about any dye available in combination with different mordants. I am no mad scientist, but I insist understanding the why of things. There are no secrets, there is only learning and trying. My mordant recipes are all based on 17th and 18th century recipes of great dye masters and experts of their time. They are tweaked, combined and adjusted according to my personal esthetics and preferences and they give you a base line to continue to experiment with. I give thanks to having learned from many people in the field like David Santendreux and Dominique Cardon, and friendships with colleagues in the field who inspire and fire me to keep working: Linda G. Illuminardi, Caroline Nixon and Corrie Koenen to name a few. My favorite books for detailed knowledge are Edward Bancroft - Experimental researches concerning the philosophy of permanent colours and H.