Bundling with Lots of Artists

Judith says:
We've talked about material, mordants, leaves, and now we are on to the cooking process.  The first step is getting the leaves and the material into the pot.  The rule is that the leaves and the material need to be in firm contact.  After that rule almost anything goes.

Colour Ecology has a very nice post with pictures and instructions for bundling.  Kathy Beckett just finished a workshop with India Flint and had to try and document her attempt.

Colour Ecology folds her between boards then clamps them.

Becca Imbur also rolls and ties.  Notice the top one that looks like it maybe has a catalpa seed pod sticking out or it might just be a stick.

Threadborne wraps hers with copper to get that blue green color.

Lynda at BloomBakeCreate has been a guest artist on the Fire blog.  She has a nice post on eco-printing and two different types of bundles. Notice she is also using a copper pipe to wrap her fabric around and then is printing on paper with her flat bundle.

I personally have used the wrap-around-a-stick-or-copper-pipe method then using twine to hold the bundle tight.  I like a thicker twine for the strength.  I made the mistake once of using yarn which stretches when it is wet.  So not a good idea.  I have also experimented with colored twine and depending on the twine it can leave a very nice mark on the fabric.  Amelia Poole recommends using dowel rods wrapped in a plastic wrap as the center of the wrapped bundle so that the wood does not alter the color of the leaves.  Personally I like the more natural approach and use some almost straight sticks from my trees cut short enough to fit in my pot.  Do be aware that my sticks will give a less predictable result than Amelia's more controlled approach.