Of anything I’ve ever created using flowers and plants, this is one of my all time favourites. It has the perfect combination of simplicity, satisfaction and a beautiful outcome.
Two of the most appealing things about flower pounding are that you don’t need any specialist tools or equipment and although you’re creating your own design, the end result is a little surprise.
I learned this technique from an article by Samorn Sanixay in volume 3 of Plants are Magic magazine . For the full tutorial, please do check that out.
Seeing as spring is just around the corner and soon there will be a new abundance of flowers I have been thinking about trying this kind of plant printing again. I love the idea of sewing my own linen or cotton tops and creating patterns on them from the different flowers and leaves of the seasons. Each one would be completely unique, as they all are.
Here are some photographs from the process of creating the design on a top I already had. It was completely a dive in and give it a bash (pun absolutely intended!) situation. Next time I will need to prepare the fabric with a mordant and will take more care over the choice of flowers and design. But this hopefully illustrates how easy and effective it is:
In this design I used violas, malope, dahlia, phlox and cosmos sulphureas.
It’s so satisfying to see the print appear after hammering the flowers and leaves.
When the back fabric and flowers are peeled away your lovely, colourful design is revealed.