An eco print (botanical pressure print) on silk, from my recent batch. The red dye is from red Virginia Creeper leaves. I was lucky to get the leaves. Normally, Virginia Creeper is found decorating the walls of private houses and the riotous autumn leaves are inaccessible without trespassing.

I came by these leaves without being arrested. They’re from a Virginia Creeper which has escaped from captivity to cascade down a bank of bramble that frames one side of the path through local woods.

The brown on the side of this print is a mystery. Might it have something to do with the sea water I used in the boiling/steaming process?

The lines resulted from the rubber bands I used to tie up the bundle before steaming; they acted as a resist, stopping the dye getting into the silk underneath the tight band.

Without the contrast created by the brown and lines, the print would be wishy-washy (though it is less wishy-washy in reality than this photo). The lines remind me of musical notation. I’ll call it contrapuntal, then.