Crafting in the Sun

Yesterday I made a very cool craft that I thought I'd share with you.  I searched on The Crafty Crow for something to do outside, and found this idea ... "Faux Sun Prints".  I love the images you can get from sun prints, but have to admit I've never tried it myself.  This idea uses acrylic paints and cotton fabric ... both of which I have plenty of!

 

The method is so simple, a young child could do it.  (For a full tutorial, click on the link above.)

 

After wetting the cotton fabric and laying it out on a table covered in a plastic sheet, we painted the cotton with diluted acrylic paints.  Then we added soft leaves (top side down) and pressed them gently into the wet fabric.  I picked leaves from bleeding hearts, columbine, ferns, clover, ginkgo and redbud.  We found the thicker leaves like geraniums and cranberry bushes wouldn't stay pressed down.

 It was hot and muggy yesterday with not much wind, so we laid the pieces out in the sun to dry. 

 

After a couple of hours, this is what was revealed when we peeled off the leaves!

 

Pretty nifty, eh!

 

 

You can throw these in the dryer for 45 minutes on high heat to set the colour, and then, apparently, you can wash them safely to soften the fabric again and the colour won't come out.  I skipped that step this time.  But I thought they would make some very pretty pillow covers with the print in the middle and a border around the side.

 

I'd love to make a long panel using this method to hang in the shady corner of my yard with lots of fern leaves along it.  I'm just not sure I have enough ferns growing yet to accomplish this.  It would also make one-of-a-kind curtain panels for my kitchen windows (which are currently void of curtains).   Possibilities are endless ;)

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Wendy





peek-a-boo, I see you in there bumblebee!





Busted!