Leaf Printing With Lumiere Pearlescent Paints
a Dharma featured tutorial
Using metallic fabric paints like Lumiere you can print unique fabrics with leaves from your garden. Select some interesting leaves from the trees or plants and some pre-dyed silk habotai fabric or scarves to make a beautiful standout piece. It is very simple to do and it makes a beautiful gift or keepsake, especially for your plant loving friends and family.
Shopping list:
- Lumiere Fabric Paints
- Pre-Dyed Silk Fabric- Habotai or Charmeuse are best
- Brushes- a foam brush or basic paint brush both work fine
- Scrap paper for bloating
- Cover for work surface- plastic tarp
Let's get started!
A tip before getting started; make sure leaves are clean, flat and not too dried out because they will crack and crumble easily. Fresh off the plant works best.
If needed, iron out any large wrinkles on your fabric.
Using a plastic sheet, lay the leaf vein side up, then apply the paint onto the leaf.
Lay the leaf paint side down onto your fabric, gently tap the leaf down any sections if it is a large leaf with lobes or fronds.
Using a piece of scrap paper, cover the leaf and press down with your palm or rub over the whole surface with your fingers. You want to make sure the surface makes full contact with the fabric to get a full print.
It takes a little practice to get the right amount of paint and pressure for a good print. We recommend doing a few practice prints on some scrap fabric or paper before you print onto your main piece.
Keep printing with different colors and leaf shapes, you can cover the whole fabric with prints or do just a few, it is up to you!
Leaf printed silk is wonderful for scarves, blouses, woodland fairy costumes, and more! Try layering this technique with others such as screen printing or on ice dyed fabrics too.
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