Boiled Books plus fabric

An overripe pomegranate  was sitting on the counter and I thought I'd try using the bright red juicy berries to add to a boiled book.  Maybe it would turn red inside?     Hmmm... Do you think?   

I also thought it would be a good time to try some liittle pieces of old cotton fabric from a pillow case.  Seems like it should absorb about anything it's so old.      So, I alternated fabric and watercolor paper in a stack with leaves off my deck, and the pomegranate seeds.      Same routine as former experiments, layerd between tiles with rocks on top in the pot.  This time I didn't use any clamps.     I trusted the weight of the rocks to keep some pressure on the papers.      Boiled1 1/2 hour, took out and let them settle overnight.      Here's how they looked the next day.

Here is the fabric as I peeled it off the leaves.   

 Some good leaf impressions on the papers.

 This page shows the pomegranate seeds on the page after the cooking.  All the color disappeared.    Darn.   I had high hopes.

 This is one of the fabric pieces after it's dried.  there is a pinkish cast - perhaps from the pomegranate?

More of the fabric pieces.

I don't know how lasting this color will be.  I didn't pretreat the fabric with anything to help it set the color.      I guess time will tell.   I might try ironing half of them anc compare later.    

I'm not tires of this process yet, so will probably do more experiments as time permits.      I hope you have tried it too.   

Boiled Books - a new batch

Inspired by leaves on the street on a blustery day, I captured a few by chasing them down the street pushed along by hefty gusts of wind.   Must have looked a fool, but I got some good leaves.  

 Rather than press them or cover them to keep them fresh, I went straight for my dye pot and cut up some watercolor paper and started stacking.    The usual mix of water and some big glugs of white vinegar in the pot.       I put a tile on the top and one on the bottom of the stack of papers and leaves, and left them for almost 2 hours simmering on the stove with a couple rocks on top to hold them down and keep them flat.   

Here they are the following day.  I took them out of the pot after the allotted time, and set them on aluminum foil to set the color better, leaving them overnight.   


 Next morning this is what I found as I opened them up.  

If you are a  nature lover, you'll love doing these yourself.    It is sooooo easy.  I encourage you to try it.    

Boiled books part 3

These colorful leaves from the senior center seem like likely candidates for experimenting with the boiled books.

 This time I skipped the tiles and used only clips.

Ater boiling, I found the color of the paper to have hardly changed and the water in the pot was not black.    So, I began to wonder if the leaves had left any impressions.  

A quick peek let me see a faint outline, so  I used some Iced Spruce color distress ink spray on the edges of the soaking wet paper and let them sit awhile still clamped together.  When I opened the packet this is how they looked.   Distress inks are so reactive with water it spread all through the packet.

The second packet I returned to the pot and poured in more of the distress ink right into the pot and let it boil for another 20 minutes.      When I removed them, of course the water was now darkened more, and so was the paper. 

I set this packet on a tile and let it sit overnight with a stone on top to keep the pressure on the leaves. 

This is how they looked when I peeled them open.   You can see most of the color is gone from the leaves, but hardly any migrated to the paper.   

boiled books part 2

 Here we go again.     Taking the boiled book package out of the pot.   Can hardly wait to see what's inside but waited to let it cool and sit overnight.













 Look how black the water in the pot turned.    Perhaps because I used some leaves from black oak tree?












Here is a packet, note the wires are now rusted.   Hmmm...  hadn't thought of that.   

 What I'm doing is opening the booklets, page by page.  They started with the fresh leaves and plant debris inside but now are soft and flattened against the pages.  Soem of those little dark splotches were small red rose petals.  They did not leave any color as I expected.

 this is the page with the plant materials removed.

 Here is a page with the imprint on opposite page.

 Another one with imprint on opposite page, birch trees give off the yellow cast.   

 Geranium leaf imprint on opposite page.    Of course on the page under the leaf there is also a lot of color transfers and will be shown later.

 Here is a layerd page, with an iris sword, oak leaf and birch leaves over the top. 

 this is the opposite page.

this is the 2 page spread after leaves are removed.

 Finely cut Japanese maple leaf.

 Leaf removed.

 Dried iris leaf. rosemary, thyme.   Showing opposite page.

 With leaves removed.

 Bay leaf, rosemary, black oak leaf stem from garlic chive. showing opposite page.

 stringy stuff was from an old sisal planter liner.  Just curious what it might do.   

 Leaf assortment showing opposite page.

 Same spread with all leaves removed.

Instead of stuffing the pages with leaves, I thought I'd try a subtle piece.    I think this is from heavenly bamboo.   shows on opposite page as well.

 I turned back the bottom page which had been pressed up against the back of a ceramic tile with grooves on it.     Black oak leaves. Tile pattern looks like shutters.   

shown with plant material removed.



I expect these will dry lighter.   Will know later.

I'm pressing some of these cooked leaves.  Not sure how that can work with boiled leaves, but worth a try.   Would like to use some in the books.

These photos are from one of the two packets.   The other one I opened in the studio last night.   I'll show pics from that in next post.     I wanted to see if it made a difference to leave things stacked overnight.     I'll know later.  I guess I should let them all dry before comparing.       

Boiled Books

The frenzy is on.   Started by online art  pals who brought this to my attention.     It wasn't the process that lured me in, but the wonderful organic look of the paper after the process is complete.      It's a project that I didn't need to go look for materilas other than in m y kitchen, studio and garden. 



The first three photos are from the first batch I made.   I think they turned grey because I tossed in what I thought was a rusty little tin thing - but now I think it was a faux rust finish.   So, the finish stained the paper.   I like it fine tough, it's subtle at least. 

Basically, it's using watercolor paper, leaves from the garden, a big art-dedicated pot water and vinegar.   Oh yes, a couple of ceramic tiles and a rock.    

Here is the link where I learned to do this.  Of course I varied it up a bit.    LOL     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULFIuj1euQ0













First I folded and tore the paper to sized to make little books the size of the tiles. 

 I have some good smelling things in my little garden.  Rosermay, Bay leaves, sage, thyme.   It will smell better than the last batch which was mostly oak and birch leaves.   

I gathered leaves and stems and arranged them in the books, sort of stuffing them pretty full in most places. 











According to people who know, you put a tile down and start bulding your book on top of it, by adding the greenery and twigs and leaves between the pages of the folded books stacking them together if small.

Next step is to position the upper tile on it and clip them together with clamps or such.  Not having a ready supply of clips, I opted to wire mine together as snugly as I could.  








The bundled stacks now go into a big pot of water, with
about 3/4 cup white vinegar.     Just to hold mind down better, I added a rock on top.  But figure once it starts bubbling away, boiling for 1 1/2 hours, it's likely going to topple off - and sure enought I just heard it do just that.     Oh well, I"m sure they'll  do fine anyhow.    

I'll post pics tomorrow.   The first batch I did two days ago, I left overnight in the bundles rather than open them right away.  I thought the colors might get more intense with longer exposure to the leaves.

You might want to try this before all the leaves fall.   Fall is here and they are starting to turn now.   
     

December - a busy time

 Two of my friends had birthdays and we celebrated them on the same day  at Bev's house.   I made the round book for Sally's  birthday, and the beach  themed book for Bev.    In Bev's I used a lot of older photos and colored pencils.    

 this picture is of me working in Bev's book at the Senior center, on a day that Phyllis was putting finishing touches on some lovely scarves.    

Here's our little group working on projects at Bev's.