Philippa Devine

Textiles

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Over the last four years I have found my artistic passion lies within the discovery of Botanical Printing.
The transferring of plant colours and patterns onto fabric using leaves to extract colour and ghost like images from foliage. The results are endless. The choices of tannin rich leaves makes for innumerable variations depending on other natural resources used.
Selected fabrics are prepared by removing any detergents from them initially.The fabrics are then soaked in a soy milk solution, the soy playing a part in the eventual effects of the print.
Rust water is used for a pre-print soak. Leaves are then sandwiched on the fabric which is bound tightly and strung around a cylindrical object.
This is immersed or steamed over rust water and eucalyptus leaves for several hours.
Once the fabric has cooled it can be unbound and the leaves gently taken away to reveal the results which are mostly incredible !