Over the years I’ve done a range of techniques to apply both natural colour (i.e. colour extracted from nature: leaves, bark, berries, plant stems) and natural patterns (i.e. leaf imprints, petals, fronds, pine needles, etc.) to both cloth and paper.

I’ve also created monoprints using commercial inks on paper.

A few years ago I read about a textile artist who buried a flat piece of cloth in the garden for a couple of months and left it to the whims of the weather, before retrieving it to see how it had survived and what colour it had taken up.  I don’t think this is a wholly uncommon exercise as I’ve heard about it several times since.

Two weeks ago I adapted this garden approach into a tray-dyeing trial with paper.  I used 2 standard kitty litter trays.

Tray 1:

• Layer 1: Blue/grey stones
• Layer 2: Strips of 250gsm Hahnemuhle print paper
• Layer 3: Blue/grey stones
• Layer 4: Strips of 250gsm Hahnemuhle print paper
• Layer 5: Blue/grey stones
• Periodically spray with water and alternate between sun and shade

Tray 2:

• Layer 1: Wood chips
• Layer 2: Strips of 250gsm Hahnemuhle print paper
• Layer 3: Wood chips
• Layer 4: Strips of 250gsm Hahnemuhle print paper
• Layer 5: Wood chips
• Layer 6: Off-cuts of paper + wood chips and stones to hold everything in place
• Cover with clingfilm to keep moisture and stop the wind blowing the wood chips away
• Periodically spray with water and alternate between sun and shade

Yesterday I liberated the sheets of paper, gave them a wash and ironed them dry.

Tray 1 – Layer 2:

Tray 1 – Layer 4:

Very little, if any, difference between the 2 layers of paper.  Extremely good results and very usable for future overprinting.

Tray 2 – Layer 2:

Tray 2 – Layer 4:

There’s a significant difference in the colour leeching from the wood chips on the different layers.  I was given a range of chips from different trees and I bagged them separately.  Although I wasn’t given the names of each individual wood I ensured I kept them apart when I layered.  Fantastic results.

The underside of the papers have also come out well.

And what about the off-cuts that were used to hold the main sheets down in the wood chips?

Fantastic.  There is a definite grey imprint where the stones rested.