Printing Autumn Leaves

 

I had never really seen fall colors before living here in Tennessee, so it was a neat experience to see the leaves change and get brighter by the day. Recently I had been introducing to the really simple but very beautiful concept of Hand Printing from Nature from a book by the same name that I borrowed from my mother in law. (read her homesteading blog here)

 

Basically you collect objects from nature and ink or paint them and press on to paper to make beautiful designs. I've tried both ink and paint and find that calligraphy inks work very well and bleed together beautifully when doing multiple color designs. One good tip is to use a separate piece of paper or a magazine to press the object down to keep it even - (not your hands).

 

The book is well work a look, and the process was very fun and easy. In the pictures above I was at home alone one evening and decided to try out the technique with fall leaves on a stack of thank-you cards on which I needed some artwork. I love the way they turned out! The best part to me is how each one is always a surprise!