Today I will be sharing with you a cute & easy as abc construction that you can either gift to someone or just for funsies!
Before we begin, I would like to express my immense joy that A Shiny Day is finally live! Yay! I’m even more delighted that A Shiny Day has been inspiring and illuminating your day, as well as mine! I’M SO HAPPY I WANNA SCREAM! AAAAAHH! No exaggeration here. And before I start crying, let’s get started!
This is a relatively effortless and cheap gift idea, or even a gorgeous decoration for your house! It might as well just be a little game for quality time with your little ones! The possibilities are endless here! This idea came to me by accident, in one of my morning experiments. Some days, around 7:20 a.m I get a (strange) idea that I put to the test and sometimes it’s actually successful. Other times it isn’t. Let’s say that I advise you to never make pancakes with coconut flour. It just doesn’t work out.
But you know what works? Flower pounding!
You will need :
– Cotton fabric
– A few flowers & leaves from a yard, a terrace, yours or the neighbors’ *whistles cluelessly*
– A hammer
– A picture frame
Instructions :
The first step is to pick flowers. Be careful not to cut the plants aggressively. Check if any of the flowers are almost withered, & cut from the base. This way, we have the materials for our creation, while taking loving care of the plants. We can also take advantage of any flowers that our cat plucked and use the petals. Just saying, not speaking from experience…
In the pictures we see that the flowers are ready to wither, so I pruned them carefully & used them in my construction.
Today, I used blue jasmine flowers, roses, lantana and basil, which gives a very intense and gorgeous color to the print. You can also try printing with geraniums, a great way to spice up your botanical print!
Cut two pieces of cotton fabric. You can iron them before we start the process or you can just iron them afterwards.
Composing the flowers in the fabric :
Place the flower petals & some leaves on a piece of fabric, as seen in the 1st picture.
If you want your final print to have an actual flower shape, place some small flowers vertically onto the fabric, as seen in the 3rd image.
Carefully cover with the second piece of cloth, and pound well with a hammer. While pounding, be careful not to move any of the flowers from their place.
Are we done yet?
When all the colors have been imprinted from the side that you pounded with the hammer, you’re done!
Carefully separate the two fabrics. Wait for the plants to absorb the liquids and remove the parts of the plants that haven’t been printed on the fabric (tissues or whole petals). Depending on your preference, you don’t have to remove all the parts of the plants that were not printed, in order for the final result to be more intense. Either way, they will dry out and stick to the fabric.
Pick the side of the fabric where the colors are more pigmented! Frame it and… tadaaaa! Our botanical goodness of a gift is ready! You can always frame the other piece and gain a new decoration for your house!
Similarly, we can print only one leaf, like basil! Basil produces enough color. Today I also experimented with some lantana leaves, because I was intrigued by their unique shape, but in the end the result didn’t really hit the spot.
But as I was hammering, I thought “Why stop here?”I could always print on a T-shirt or a cotton bag… hmm… good idea huh?
I tried using avocado dyed fabric and the result was wonderful! You can place the flowers & the leaves whichever way you want : Unevenly or by composing a bouquet that will be imprinted on the fabric.
If you’re satisfied with the result, iron the fabric inside out and attach it in a cute frame. Use it as a decoration for your living room or gift it to a loved one and make them smile!
I’m sure you’ll love this easy idea as much as I did! Try it out and let me know how it went!
For any questions or just a wave, you can always find me on Instagram orFacebook.
See you soon,
