How to Keep Good Notes when Eco Printing
“LAB NOTES”
I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with eco printing on paper lately.
The more I do, the more confused I get if I don’t take notes.
Paper isn’t cheap and the leaves and flowers I’m using are valuable to me. So I don’t want to waste my materials or my time.
I get the most frustrated when I get a really cool print and can’t remember what I did to get it.
For example, the Japanese maple leaves in the photo above are from the small tree in front of my house. Because it isn’t a big tree, I’m careful not to take too many leaves.
Japanese maple tree
It’s important to me that I produce good eco-prints as often as I can. And not repeat the duds.
I’ve kept some notes before, but not consistently. I’m using lots of variables that change the outcome drastically. Keeping track of the choices that I make helps me repeat the actions that led to successful prints.
Here is my latest iteration of “LAB NOTES”, my way of keeping track of the choices I make in eco-printing.
I hope that this new “LAB NOTES” sheet is valuable to you too as you get into eco-printing leaves and flowers on paper.
Click here to have your own copy of “LAB NOTES”. Be sure to print several copies for all of the experimental printing you plan on doing!
“LAB NOTES”
Here are the highlights of the sheet:
The date of the project will be more important as the seasons change. The plant’s characteristics change dramatically during the year.
Of course, the type and name of the plant material is important. If you don’t know what kind of leaves or flower you have, you can do an image search with the description of the leaf on Google to find out what you have.
What type of moist heat are you using? Are you steaming or boiling your paper and plant bundle? Or are you using some other way to apply heat, moisture, and pressure?
How long is the bundle staying in the moist heat and pressure?
What modifier are you adding to the soaking water? Vinegar, alum, rusty water, something else?
Are you dipping your plants in a modifier before building the paper and plant bundle? Ferrous sulfate or vinegar and water or something else?
Is the plant material new growth or more mature? This also affects the plants ability to leave color on the paper. It’s more difficult to get strong color from new leaves.
The added layers section of “LAB NOTES” lists the ways you’ve added more color, pattern, or texture to your prints.
Don’t forget to take photos of the pages that you open up from the bundle.
When you open the bundle, you’ll see the front and the back of the plant material prints differently. Taking a photo will help a lot in remembering what was going on to get that print.
Eco-printed clematis blooms
If you choose to download and print my “LAB NOTES”, please let me know if you find it useful. I’m always trying to improve what I post, so I appreciate your feedback.
Enjoy your next eco-printing session!
