Sun Prints Follow Up

After yesterdays post, and showing the prints as they were drying in the sun after all of the work of setting them up, I thought I should share the results!! Seems only fair, right???

This was the 'in the sun drying shot' that you saw in the last post. The following shots show the prints after the botanical elements have been removed.

This print is the results of the print with the yellow daisy like flowers. You can see that the pollen from the center of each flower leaves a stain on the fabric. I have tried to wash the pollen stain out but it refuses to budge. Another wonderful element added form sun printing with botanicals , as far as I am concerned!!! This print was done on a piece of vintage linen hand towel and you can see the open work stitching along the bottom edge.
The tiny little star like spots are actually floral prints from this flower.
This is the perennial form of verbena and I grow it as it is a favorite with the bees and the butterflies. It does seed itself quite vigorously so I do pull out many seedlings in the spring. To use these florets in the sun prints, I pull out each little stemmed flower and place it face down on the wet cloth. The stems stick straight up in the air and seal very nicely to the fabric leaving a nice crisp edge. It does take quite a bit of time to prep each blossom and carefully place it, but the results are worth it!!
The flowers also happen to be a very intense violet and sway and wave in the breeze so wonderfully with many butterflies and bees drinking away- such fun to have in the garden!!!

You also saw this shot in my last post. Here are the hydrangea blossoms all laid out for printing.

This is one of the prints from the above picture. I used a piece of white eyelet cotton to print on.
Here you can see a mix of blossoms and leaves with the verbena florets mixed in. It is always so interesting to see how the paint moves to blur the edges or leave sharp crisp edges. You never know what has happened till you remove the mask elements.

I have just posted several sets of Leafy greens sun prints to my Etsy Shop. You can see them here. They are all 5 X 7 panels of fine cotton that have been sun printed with leaves and foliage to accompany the blossom and lace sun prints that have been previously listed.


And now, here it is, a picture of 'Zelda' Woodford. Now anyone who knows Becca or if you are friends with her on Face Book, had better not breath a word of this posting!!!!!!! Don't You DARE!!!!! She will kill me!!!!

I did want to show you the results of our costuming efforts. She was so thrilled with it all and went off to High School excited and happy to see what kind of response was in store for her.

REMEMBER No Comments to Becca about this picture!!!!!

The Colors of Fall in My Garden

Yes these are pictures of my Fall garden ! I took these pictures just last week. Last night we had a very still and chilly night, so I know that our first killing frost will soon be here. We also were able to enjoy a glorious Full Harvest Moon.

My Belinda's Dream rose is still covered with buds and the Endless Summer Hydrangea is putting out new buds, especailly after I did a big trim back of any spent blossoms.

My hardy Pink Daisy mums are blooming their fool heads off and next year I must rmember to tie them up so they don't flop all about. It does look pretty and wild with the pink blooms showing in amoung all of the other plants however. perhaps I will continue to ignore that chore! :)

As the fresh periwinkle purple hydanges blossoms fade they trun a wonderful akliedescope of colors and when paired with the pink Mums one can see all of the red and pink tones in the bracts of the flower head. Sooo beautiful!!

Despite my best efforts and repeated attempts, including presoaking of the seeds, I failed to get any of the old fashioned morning glory seed sot sprout!! My Moon Flowers went crazy however!!!

The wire fencing that seperates the dog run from the rest of the back yard looks so much nicer with vines growing all over it and the Moon Flower buds are still coming! It is such fun to go out after dusk and watch all of teh insect activity around the glowing blossoms adas the hawk moths and Luna Moths swoop in to feed. i saw two Luna Moths this year but the phtos did not turn out well so I will just have to count on my garden journal to remind me of her visit.

Both the roses and the Zinnia's really love the cooler chilly nights and warm days and repay me with glorious blooms .(as if I am responsibel for the change of seasons- HAH!!)

As long as I am willing to dead head, the zinniza and perrenial Verbena will continue to bloom. this all makes the little moths and butterflies very happy and I have seen lurking Praying Mantis feasting on the beetles and other little critters that are drawn to the floral feasting.

I jsut love the color variation on this zinnia blossom but I am not sure whether the red and orange streaking is due to the chilly evenings or to a mutaion in the actually plant. Some one came along and decided to snack! i am goignt o save the seeds form this particular blossom and plant them out next year to see if it is a real mutation ar a response to the cold. You can take the girl away from the science lab but you can't take the science lab out of the girl!!!

Now I must go out and pick another fresh bunch of Zinnia's as it may be the last of the season.

Have a beautiful weekend everyone!!!

Flying Flowers!

One of the pure delight's of gardening orgainically is visitations by a huge array of amazingly beautiful creatures! Two days ago I was lucky enough to enjoy the company of this glorious Swallow Tail! He had an wonderfully long meal tasting all of the delights offered by my perrenial Verbena.

I love this plant!! I am not sure that it is a True Perrenial but I am sure that it reseeds itself prolifically. If you are not careful you will have it sprouting up everywhere!! It will behoocve you to learn what the seedling looks like so you can control where it grows. It is simply unbeatable for attracting hummingbirds and butterflys to the garden and I love it for bouquets. the stature and airiness of the plant gives it almost the feel of Baby's Breathe in a bouquet!!


I am off to a Dyeing Workshop at Artistic Artifacts!! I hope that you all enjoy an Art-errific Day!!!