Eco printing : And Learning to Sample

I tore through a lot of silk scarves before it dawned on me that I could just as easily make samples and avoid the disappointment of experimenting with leaves that don’t print.  So that’s what I’ve been doing–even taking notes.  I’ve pretty much honed in on the leaves that want to give up their color and leaves that just leave ever so faint images on the cloth to the cloth.  Here are a few samples from today.

I’m not sure the name of the tree these leaves come from. It’s on the corner near the driveway and when we were coming back from feeding our neighbor’s 10 pound goldfish–seriously–the yard was covered with these leaves–fresh from today’s thunder storm. Wet leaves. Precious as jewels. The one bluish leaf in the first pic is the tree I adore–SourWood. And the circle shape was cut from a eucalyptus leaf which is more precious to me than gold. First cloth is habotai silk. Second picture is raw silk.

I’ve planted a tree–eucalyptus neglecta–it’s supposed to survive in zone 7 where we live. And should be a fast grower. OK.