1. These are the very simple materials. I used trimmings from dinner--the cut stem ends of zucchini and the cut end of bok choy. I used pigment stamp pads in shades of red and green and prewashed cotton muslin fabric.
2. inked bok choy. Take the stamp pad and tap it on the cut end of the bok choy. Since the vegetable as moisture, the stamping works really well. I find it much kinder to the vegetable to turn the ink pad upside down and stamp it onto the vegetable, rather than stamping the veggie onto the pad. Most modern ink pads are made to work that way (a surprise to me after years of using old-fashioned pads with date stamps).
3. first impression. Stamp on a firm ground. I'm using a very old flat cookie sheet. You're not going to get a perfect impression using vegetables, like you would with a rubber stamp.
4. Second impression. I think the second impression after inking is often the best.
5. different colors. The inked bok choy is in the middle, surrounded by impressions using various pinks and peaches. I did not rinse the veggie when changing colors--this wasn't that critical of a project. You could do so if you wish, and pat it dry before stamping a new color.
6. aging bok choy. You can see the color gravitating through the veggie as it gets a bit tired and overworked. I rarely use more than one head of bok choy for dinner so I generally stop when it gets to this point. The impressions begin to loose their clarity.
7. Adding green. To add some contrast to the pink and peach roses, I used a zucchini to stamp dots of various greens. I inked it the same way, tamping the ink pad onto the veggie. The zucchini's hard edge shows--more so as it begins to dry out. I like this effect.
8. More greens. On the left are my two zucchini stems, inked and ready to go. I generally made more than two impressions with each inking. Zucchini has a lot of moisture to it will print more and I like a lot of different values of green. As with the "roses," I stamped randomly across the fabric, I didn't do a lot of overlapping of shapes but that could produce some interesting patterns.
9. Here's the finished fabric.
10. Another view of the finished fabric. I did a yard in this printing.
11. More finished views.
12. When the fabric was dry, I ironed it on both sides with a hot iron. This is the back side of the fabric. Ironing helps set the fabric. I would hand wash it gently.
And here's the giveaway. A fat quarter of the finished fabric.To enter to win the fabric, please comment on this post by midnight on February 13th, leaving your name and a way to get in contact with you (e-mail or blog). Anyone, anywhere may enter. I'll draw the winner on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, 2011.
