Since Marilyn asked, some of you might want to know too. Flower pounding is kind of messy, but not as bad as first thought… like poor posies being beaten with sledge hammers until all their ‘blood’ comes out…
The flowers are pulled apart so you can put them flat, and arranged on the back side of PFD (prepared for dye) fabric, usually one at a time and face down. Cover completely with masking tape so no ‘juice’ can leak out. Then you turn the fabric over and put it on a piece of board or masonite with a towel under it. (This can be quite noisy) Then start tapping with a hammer, usually a small one with a very smooth head.
Depending on the flower, the results may be a surprise. Purple might come out as red, or even yellow. It was a lot of fun since the flowers look like we made them up, not like the flowers we used. Just pansies retained a bit of their distinctive shape and color. Leaves do nicely too, but are place right side up so the veins show in the fabric.
6 comments:
How interesting. I've never heard of this before. Seems a bit mean to the poor flowers though ;-)
Well, it could be thought of this way: the blossoms last only a few days at best, but this preserves them for much longer?
Still, it is not easy to take any flowers from my garden. They seem to have such a short season and there are never enough of them.
Course, this technique also works with weeds...
Hi, LC! Flower pounding sounds very cool. What a gorgeously "natural" way to dye fabric!
Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier today. Nice to know there are some crazy Canadian crafters, too!
Hugs!
Oh my goodness, I never heard of pounding flowers before, but it does sound like something exciting to try! Does the color stay, or would it fade after a while? Thanks for leaving the comment on my blog. I think you're right--some distance from the piece will help me appreciate it more. Thanks!
What fun! I saw that episode on Simply Quilts, but it's always nice to get the perspective of someone who gives a new technique a try. They came out great! And I really like your heart mat (last post), too.
Well, I did see that I left a comment before. Nothing wrong with me. LOL This sounds like a fun thing to do with kids. I remember collecting irises when I was a child and squeezing out the juices to make stuff when we made mud pies. I bet my mom was not happy if we got it on our clothes.
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