Fabric printing with Logwood

This blog post is about fabric printing with logwood. This is my latest and new experiment in printing fabrics. Logwood is actually a chipped bark that produces a lovely deep purple color. It is a stunning color that now many natural fabric printers are using to print fabrics. It is also used in natural dyeing fabrics and other media like paper.

I bought the logwood from George Weil. To get the color all one needs is a small amount of logwood and it will yield a nice deep color. I am using logwood for fabric printing. Yes, fabric printing or bundle printing so as to create prints on fabric. It is one of the beginnings of the fabric printing journey for me. So far the result someday less successful. Fabric printing does have a lot of variables that could alter its end result.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kar L Sow (@makergardener)

Fabric printing with Logwood

However, I have successfully got a great result using dyed Logwood fabric printing with ivy leaves. I choose ivy leaves as it is easily found in my garden and the parks. I also like its shaping curves of the leaves as well. First I dye the fabric with logwood. Then I use a gall nut tannin on the ivy leaves then I use an iron blanket. I sandwich using the plastic bag technique. Tie it up tightly as I can then a few minutes in the microwave and it’s done.

My initial results are a bit blurry but with a bit of practice, the prints are much more like prints.

Of course, there are many other types of fabric printing techniques. Using different types of leaves that can be used. Also, the fabric can be steam over a steamer but I just find the microwave is much quicker than using the steamer.

I also use other types of dye but just using logwood and iron as blanket. the effect was amazing like the picture below.