Learn about the technique of flower pounding to create beautiful hammered flower prints on fabrics or paper.
Here's another great handmade gift idea. Mother's Day and teacher appreciation come to mind. Just another way to use the inherent beauty of nature to create something special.
Flower Pounding Art
This technique called flower pounding, flower hammering, or sometimes shown as Cherokee leaf pounding has been around for a long time. I also learned that Tataki-zomé is an ancient Japanese technique of transferring dye to fabric by hammering plant material.
Many people use it to make cards or to create textiles for quilting, but I thought it would be nice to make tea towels with this very simple technique.
Now, these are purely decorative tea towels. You can't really use them as I'm not sure how well they would hold up in the wash. But, I know I'm not alone when I say I have several tea towels that I used for decoration and not function. If you are like that too then these may be for you.
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Flower Pounding Supplies
- PFD fabric
. This fabric has already been prepared to accept dye. You could use regular cotton fabric and prepare it yourself with soda ash or an alum bath but I decided to go the easy route. - Fresh flowers and leaves - soft flat petals and leaves with darker pigments work best, but practice on a few first to see what you like. Pansies work great. However, flowers with large centers such as zinnias and black-eyed Susans won't work as well.
- Masking tape
- Hammers - Large and smaller tap hammers
. This fabric has already been prepared to accept dye. You could use regular cotton fabric and prepare it yourself with soda ash or an alum bath but I decided to go the easy route.If you are flower printing on paper I would suggest using watercolor paper because it will absorb the plant dye well.
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Steps to Create a Flower Pounded Tea Towel
Cut a piece of fabric out and practice. This will help you get the technique down and determine which flowers or leaves you want to use. The begonia leaves were a little messier than the green poinsettia leaf on the right. They are not as flat and I think that's why they didn't work as well.
Arrange your flowers and leaves on the fabric.
Then flip them over (on the right side) and tape them down with masking tape. I found that covering them fully with the tape worked best.
Next, turn the fabric over and place it on a hard work surface like a cutting board, and start hammering. You'll see the print come through as you pound. You may want to place a piece of parchment paper or tissue underneath in case the pigment bleeds through.
Next, flip the fabric over again and gently remove the tape.
At this point, the print will be a little wet and may have a little bit of the plant material on it.
Let it dry, and then gently scrape away any leftover plant material.
Pansies and violas were gorgeous for this project. I also liked the look of the green leaves that came from a poinsettia plant.
They turned out so well.
It's so easy to let the beauty of the flowers and leaves do all the work. And with just a little practice you will receive gorgeous results.
More Nature Crafts
Flower Pounding Technique - Makes Beautiful Handmade Tea Towels
Equipment
- Hammers
Materials
- PFD Fabric
- Fresh Flowers and Leaves
- Masking Tape
Instructions
- Cut a piece of fabric out and practice.
- Arrange your flowers and leaves on the fabric.
- Flip them over (on the right side) and tape them down with masking tape.
- Turn the fabric over and place it on a hard surface. Start hammering.
- Flip the fabric over again and gently remove the tape.
- Let it dry.
- Gently scrape away any leftover plant material.
Sarah
Would you scour and mordant your fabric before hand?
Patti Estep
Sarah, you could but I didn't. I purchased PFD fabric that is made to be ready to dye. However, some people still suggest scouring. That process would definitely be helpful if you were going to use the tea towel. For my purpose, it was just a decorative accent.
Liz Byer
What can you do to help colors stay in the fabric longer?
Patti Estep
I keep mine just for display. I have not tried it but one idea I have is to try pounding the flowers on fabric transfer paper. You need to create a mirror image of the pattern and then iron on the transfer to the fabric. This might help it keep from fading and is supposed to be washable.
Jayne Burton
I tried this last year and very therapeutic. Weirdly the red geranium flowers came out blue - rather nice!
Patti Estep
Jayne, that's so interesting that the red turned out blue. I'm glad to hear you liked the project.
Asha Parekh
It's very creative & pretty but after pounding washing techniques pl.
Patti Estep
Asha, this is meant to be a decorative item. I would not wash it. You could try spot cleaning if you had too.
ELIZABETH A MACLENNAN
I followed the instructions, except I used soda ash. I pounded and pounded and barely anything came through. What do I do now? Keep pouding. I would appreciate any help.
Patti Estep
I'm sorry it didn't work for you Elizabeth. Make sure you are pounding on a hard surface. Some people actually like using the rounded end of a bean hammer if you have one. Also, softer flat flowers work better even individual petals. Finally, you might try pounding directly on the tape instead of turning over the fabric.
Adlysa
Thanks so much for sharing your creativity with the world. It’s beautiful and refreshing. Beautiful things don’t have to be expensive, but the do require passion. Your passion shines through your work.
Patti Estep
Thanks Adlysa. That's so sweet!
Mary
Patti these are so pretty they can be put in a frame and hung up as art. Not even thinking about using them, they are just too precious!
Susan M
This turned out so pretty! I'm thinking about a spring table runner.
Carole West
This craft looks so familiar, like I may have done something like this at one time but not as successfully as you. This would make a neat mother's day gift, just something simple and natural. I love it. Do they wash well without fading?
Patti Estep
Thanks Carole. It was fun to do. Unfortunately, it's probably more of a decorative piece rather than a true tea towel. You can heat set it with an iron but I still think it would not do well in the washer.