Botanical Printing on Paper
Eco-print is a sustainable botanical printing technique using plant materials to create patterns and images on fibre-based supports.
A key part of the process is identifying tannins in plants through botanical printing. Participants can gather local leaves, flowers, roots, stems and bark.
Adding an iron solution makes tannins react with iron, forming insoluble iron-tannin complexes that help fix colours on fibres such as fabric and paper.
This experiment uses eucalyptus, a tannin-bearing plant, and flowers, with different dilutions of iron sulphate. Different concentrations create different shades and effects.
What you need
- Card or paper
- Fresh eucalyptus leaves
- Fresh flowers
- A rubber mallet or another heavy object
Step by step
Dip the paper in an iron sulphate solution and allow it to dry. Arrange fresh or dry eucalyptus leaves and flowers flat on the paper. Gently crush the plants with the mallet to release and transfer their pigments. Lift the plants carefully to reveal the print, then let the paper dry.
Experiment with different plants, papers and mordant dilutions to obtain varied results.