How to Eco Print with Flowers | Natural Dye Technique

Eco printing, natural dye, eco print, plant dye

Eco printing is the process of transferring color directly from a flower or plant to a piece of cloth. It’s a simple and fun natural dye technique that gives truly stunning results. In this post, I will show you how to eco print with flowers.

Eco printing is similar to bundle dyeing. However, the outcome is what sets the two techniques apart. With eco printing, the goal is to be able to see the definite shape or outline of the plant that gave the color. Whereas, with bundle dyeing, the goal is usually more blended and fluid.

Click Here for my online, self-paced Eco Printing Course.

Terminology

There are many terms that go along with eco printing.
Here are a few that I will be referencing throughout this tutorial:

  • Target fabric – this is the fabric that you want the color to transfer onto
  • Barrier – A piece of cloth, paper or plastic that minimizes the bleeding of the color
  • Dowel – A piece of wood that is used to roll the fabric

Supplies

Eco printing, natural dye, eco print, plant dye
  • Target fabric
  • Flowers or leaves
  • Dowel rod
  • Barrier of choice (see options below)
  • Ace bandage or cotton string
  • Heat source

Choosing Fabric

Like other natural dye techniques, eco printing will only work on natural fibers. Natural fibers are fibers can be either cellulose (cotton, linen, hemp, bamboo, etc) or protein (silk, wool, other animal hair). Many choose to use silk because it takes prints really well. However, I have found that cotton and bamboo silk also work very well.

Choosing a Barrier

Barriers are necessary for clear and clean prints. Many eco printers achieve beautiful results by using single use plastic but there are many other, more eco friendly, alternatives.

Here are a few of my favorite alternatives to single use plastic:

  • Kraft paper
  • Parchment paper
  • Packaging that comes on things ordered in the mail
  • Cereal bags
  • Thick cloth

Step 1

Dampen your target fabric then wring as much excess moisture out as possible. I like to give mine a spin in the washing machine. Then lay the fabric on a flat surface and smooth out any wrinkles.

Fabric should be pre-treated (scoured and mordanted) for best results. I like to keep the background of my eco prints as white as possible so I use the alternative mordanting process that I share in my online natural dye course.

Step 2

At this point, you have to decide if you want to lay flowers on the entire piece of target fabric or only on half the fabric.

If the flowers are laid on half of the fabric, the other half will be folded over to achieve a mirror print. I prefer this method, as it tends to give cleaner prints.

Step 3

Eco printing, natural dye, eco print, plant dye

Arrange flowers on the fabric face down. Some stems and leaves will give beautiful prints as well. There’s no wrong or right way to arrange your flowers. Play around and have some fun!

Step 4

If you choose to arrange flowers on the entire piece of fabric, skip to step 5.

If you chose to arrange flowers on half of the fabric, fold the other half over to make a fabric, flower, fabric sandwich.

Step 5

Cover your fabric with your barrier of choice.

Eco printing, natural dye, eco print, plant dye

Your pile should either look like

  • Target cloth, flowers, target cloth, barrier
  • Target cloth, flowers, barrier

Step 6

Starting at the bottom, roll your pile around the dowel as tightly as possible.

Bundles can also be rolled without a dowel but expect the prints to be a bit messier.

Step 7

Now it’s time to wrap your bundle! My secret to clean prints is to use an old ace bandage to wrap around the bundle. However, you can also use cotton string.

Eco printing, natural dye, eco print, plant dye

My secret to clean prints is to use an old ace bandage to wrap around the bundle.

Step 8

Now it’s time to steam your bundles! Place them in a steamer and heat for 5-15 minutes. I’ve found that flowers need a much shorter steam time than leaves.

Eco printing, natural dye, eco print, plant dye

Step 9

Eco printing, natural dye, eco print, plant dye

Allow the bundles to cool then unroll to reveal your magical eco printed fabric!

Step 10

Wash with a small amount of pH neutral soap.

At this point, the dye from the flowers has formed a bond with the mordant in the fabric so any dye that washes away is excess.

Click here if you’d like to learn more about natural dyeing!

How to Mordant before Natural Dyeing

Natural Dye, Mordanting, Plant Dye, Mordant

Many know or refer to mordants as natural dye fixatives. I’m here to tell you all a secret… mordanting doesn’t have to be difficult, confusing or scary. I am going to show you how to mordant in a few easy to follow steps.

When it comes to natural dyeing, mordanting is the key to stronger, longer lasting colors. However, it should be mentioned that some plants will not make dyes that are colorfast or lightfast regardless of how well the fiber is mordanted. Plants such as beets, cabbage and berries are not good plants to use for dyeing if you’re hoping to achieve long lasting colors.

In this post, I’m going to teach you how to mordant. I will share my favorite method for mordanting cellulose fibers. It is a two step, cold morndating process that uses tannin as an assist and an aluminum salt, aluminum acetate, as the mordant.

Why Mordanting is Important and How it Works

When dyeing fiber, the goal is that the dye particles will create a strong bond with the fiber. However, dye particles will not create a strong bond with cellulose fibers on there own. They need a little help from their friends, mordants and assists.

The way to create a strong bond between fiber and dye is to soak fibers in a tannin bath before soaking them in an aluminum salt bath. The tannin bath is an important step because aluminum salts don’t readily bond to cellulose fibers but tannins will.

First, the tannins form a weak bond with the cellulose fibers then the aluminum salts bind with the tannins. When the tannin and aluminum acetate form a bond they become stable and insoluble and are fixed into your fiber.

When a mordanted piece of fiber is placed into a dye bath, the dye particles bond with the mordant creating another stable, insoluble bond between the dye and mordant.

A note before beginning

Mordanting isn’t difficult but it does take around 5 hours to complete from start to finish. You will want to choose a day where you have time to complete the entire process. It may seem appealing to soak the fibers in tannin on one day and then finish the process with the aluminum acetate soak on another day. However, because tannin only forms a weak bond with cellulose fibers, the process of re-wetting the fiber before the aluminum acetate bath may damage some of the tannin bonds.

Supplies

  • Two buckets or stainless steel pots
  • Tannin (I use gallnut)
  • Aluminum Acetate (this is the aluminum salt)
  • Scale
  • Thermometer for liquids (a candy thermometer works well)
  • Long handled spoon
  • Small spoon
  • Jar or small bowl
  • Rubber Gloves
  • Water
  • Fiber

Note on choosing the size of the pot or bucket

You will want to choose the vessel depending on the amount of fiber you will be mordanting. Your fiber should have plenty of room to move freely. If the fiber is squished into the vessel, it is likely that you will have uneven results.

Step 1 – Preparing Fiber for Mordanting

The first step is to scour your fiber. Check out this blog post for instructions on how to scour.

If you’ve already scoured, skip ahead to step 2.

Step 2

Weigh your dried fiber to determine your weight of fiber (WOF). You may have already done this before scouring. However, if you’re going to mordant a different amount of fiber than you scoured, you will need to weigh it again to determine your new WOF.

Step 3

Wet out the fiber by placing it in water to soak. This can be done in a bowl, pot or sink.

Step 4

Measure out the amount of tannin you will be using based upon your WOF. When using gallnut, I use 10% WOF (e.g. if the WOF is 100 grams, you will need 10 grams of gallnut).

Here’s a simple formula to determine the amount of tannin to use:
WOF x .10 = amount of tannin to use

Step 5

Mordanting, natural dyeing, natural dye, tannin mordant

Completely dissolve tannin in warm water. I like to dissolve the tannin in a jar with of water before adding it to the large bucket I will be mordanting in. Mixing in the jar first allows me to really be able to see if the tannin is completely dissolved.

Step 6

Fill a bucket or pot with warm water. The ideal water temperature is between 110-120 degrees F. It’s okay if the water is a bit cooler than 110 degrees F but it shouldn’t be any hotter than 120 degrees F. If the water is cooler than 110 degrees F, the fiber will need to soak for a bit longer than the recommended 2 hours.

Step 7

mordanting, preparing fiber for natural dyeing, natural dye, mordant

Add pre-dissolved tannin to the vessel of warm water and stir well to incorporate. Now you have a tannin bath that is ready for fiber!

Step 8

Wring excess water out from fiber and add damp fiber to the tannin bath. Use a spoon to push the fibers into the bath and push air bubbles out until the fiber is completely submerged.

Allow the fibers to soak for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to ensure that the tannin will be evenly bonded onto the fiber.

The tannin bath will cool to room temperature during this process. That is completely okay and to be expected.

Note on Soaking Time

I’ve experimented with soaking fibers for much longer periods of time. I used to soak my fibers in tannin for 12-24 hours. However, I began soaking them for less and less time and found that the shorter soaks were more easy to attend to and gave better (more even) results.

Step 9

After the fibers have soaked in tannin for 2 hours, remove them and squeeze the excess water back into the tannin bath before giving them a gentle rinse.

Remember that the tannin does bond with cellulose fiber but the bonds are weak. Vigorous rinsing may damage some of the bonds.

Set the fibers aside while you prepare the aluminum acetate bath.

Step 10

The process for making the aluminum acetate bath is identical to making the tannin bath. However, aluminum acetate is an extremely fine powder that isn’t safe to inhale. To avoid breathing it in, you may want to wear a mask during the measuring and mixing.

It’s also best practice to wear rubber gloves while working with aluminum acetate to avoid skin exposure.

First, measure out the aluminum acetate based on your WOF. You will need 10% WOF. Then completely dissolve the aluminum acetate in a jar of warm water (no hotter than 120 degrees F). The aluminum acetate will be lumpy but keep stirring, it will eventually dissolve.

Fill your second bucket or pot with warm water (between 110-120 degrees F) and add the dissolved aluminum acetate. Stir well to incorporate.

Now you have a aluminum acetate bath that’s ready for fiber!

Step 11

Mordanting cotton before naturally dyeing

Squeeze excess water from the fiber and add them to the aluminum acetate bath. Use a spoon to push out air bubbles until the fiber is completely submerged.

Allow the fiber to soak for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. This bath will also drop in temperature which is perfectly okay.

Step 12

When the fiber has soaked for 1-2 hours, remove from the aluminum acetate bath and squeeze excess water back into the bath.

Now the tannin and aluminum acetate have come together and formed that stable insoluble bond that I mentioned earlier. The mordant is now fixed into your fiber! Hurray!

Step 13

Now the mordanted fibers should be rinsed thoroughly to remove any excess aluminum acetate that is not bonded.

If the excess, unbonded aluminum acetate isn’t rinsed from the fiber, it will float off when the fiber is placed into a dye bath and attach with the dye particles before the dye particles are able to attach to the mordanted fiber. This will leave less available dye particles in the dye bath.

After rinsed, the fibers can be placed in a dye bath immediately or dried and saved to dye at a later time.

For more information, please check out my self-paced online Natural Dye Course:

Natural Dye: Cellulose Fibers

How to Scour Cellulose Fiber Before Natural Dyeing

how to scour, natural dyes

Scouring is the process of removing sizing, wax, grease and dirt from fiber by soaking it in a heated bath of water, a combination of detergents and white vinegar. In this tutorial, I will show you how to scour in a few easy steps.

Scouring is one of the most important steps to natural dyeing because it allows the dye to penetrate the fabric more easily and evenly.

Scouring fabric before naturally dyeing

What you need:

Stainless steel pot
Soda Ash
Synthrapol
White Vinegar
Spoon for stirring
Heat Source
Water

Step 1

Weigh your dry fiber and take a photo or write the weight down. You will need to know our weight of fiber (WOF) throughout the scouring, mordanting and dyeing process.

Step 2

how to scour before natural dye

Fill a stainless steel pot with enough water so that the fiber can move freely. Place the pot of water on a burner and turn heat on medium-high.

Step 3

Measure 1% WOF soda ash & 1% WOF synthrapol.

Add the synthrapol and soda ash to the water.

Soda ash has a high pH that ranges from 11.3 – 11.8.

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A note on the importance of vinegar while scouring

If you are planning to mordant your fiber using the tannin and aluminum acetate method I share. it is important that your fiber is neutralized before entering into the tannin bath. If the fiber has a high pH when entered into the tannin bath, it will cause the tannin to shift to a much darker color.

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Step 4

Stir well to fully dissolve and incorporate the soda ash, synthrapol into the dye bath.

Step 5

How to scour cellulose fiber

Turn the heat up to bring water to a simmer. Add the fiber and press down into the water until it is completely submerged. Allow the fiber to simmer in the scour bath for at least an hour.

Stir occasionally, being sure that all of the fiber stays submerged.

You should begin to notice that the water is turning a yellowish color.

Step 6

Remove the pot from the heat source and allow to cool. Once cooled, remove fibers and rinse very well.

I like to run my freshly scoured fiber through a complete wash cycle without any detergent.

Step 7

Fill a pot or bowl with water (the temperature isn’t important) and add vinegar, about 2 Tablespoons per half pound of fabric. Stir to incorporate then add the rinsed scoured fabric and allow it to sit in the bath for a few minutes. Rinse thoroughly.

Scouring cellulose fiber before naturally dyeing

Once rinsed, scoured fabric can be immediately added to a mordant bath or dried to use later. Click here to learn how to mordant!

For more information, please check out my self-paced online Natural Dye Course.

Natural Dye: Cellulose Fibers

How to Natural Dye with Avocados

natural dye, avocado dye, plant dye

It’s hard to imagine that avocados could get any better… until you learn that you can dye with them! Both avocado skins and stones (pits) can be used to make dye that ranges in colors from tans to peach to pink to rust. Greyish lavender tones can also be made by dipping avocado dyed fiber into an iron water after bath. In this tutorial, I will show you how to dye with avocados.

Supplies

  • Aluminum or stainless steel dye pot (a pot should not be used for food after it has been used for dye)
  • Bowl or additional pot
  • Clean avocado stones or skins (fresh, frozen or dried)
  • Water
  • Spoon
  • Sieve
  • Cheese cloth or cotton muslin
  • Fiber that has been scoured and mordanted or pretreated with soy milk

Check out my post about pre-treating fabric with soy milk.

Step 1

Place avocado skins or stones into a pot and cover them with water. The amount of stones or skins that should be used depends on the depth of color you are trying to achieve. For a medium adult t-shirt, I use 3-4 stones or around 10 skins for a light to medium pink. Less stones or skins will give a lighter color and more will give a deeper color.

Step 2

How to dye with avocados

Heat the stones or skins on a low temperature for 1-2 hours. You might be tempted to turn up the heat to get faster results. However, heating avocado dye at a higher temperature causes the color to shift from pink to orange/brown. You should notice that color is beginning to be released into the water after 15-30 minutes of gentle heating.

Step 3

How to dye with avocados

Turn the heat off and allow the dye to rest for at least a couple of hours. I like to let mine sit over night. I sometimes choose to reheat them at a low temperature one more time if I feel that the color is not as deep as I would like it to be.

Step 4

How to dye with avocados

Now the dye is ready to be separated from the stones or skins. Line the mesh strainer with either a double layer of cheese cloth or cotton muslin and pour set it on another bowl or pot. Pour the dye through the cloth lined strainer. The strainer should catch all of the solids and the resulting liquid should be clear and free of debris. I like to squeeze the solid to get every last drop of dye out. The solids can then be saved to use in another dye pot or composted.

Step 5

Wipe out or wash out your dye pot to be sure that it is free of debris. Then pour the dye back in.

Step 6

Natural Dye using avocados

Wet out your fiber by soaking it in water for at least 30 minutes.

Step 7

Add water to avocado dye so that your fiber or fabric will have enough room to freely move around while remaining covered by dye. You might worry that adding water will weaken the dye. However, the same amount of dye particles will remain in the dye regardless of how much water is added. It might take a little longer for the dye particles to find your fiber but they eventually will.

Step 8

Squeeze out the excess water and place your fiber into the dye. Give it a good stir and make sure that all of the air bubbles have been pushed out so it can sink under the dye.

Step 9

Heat the dye and fiber or fabric on a low heat for around an hour, stirring and checking the color frequently. Stirring often helps reduce the chance that the fabric will be dyed unevenly.

To shift the color to a deeper, rusty tone, add a few teaspoons of baking soda to the dye and stir well to dissolve.

Step 10

How to dye with avocados

Remove the fabric from the dye and squeeze out as much of the excess dye as possible. If you’re satisfied with the color, you can wash your fabric with a gentle detergent and hang to dry or in the dryer according to your fabric’s care instructions.

For more information, please check out my self-paced online Natural Dye Course.

Natural Dye: Cellulose Fibers