Flower and Leaf Pounding

Today I am testing flower pounding. I check the craft out online on Pinterest, and find Life Labs Art in the Garden pdf and their how-to YouTube (see Resources).  How does flower pounding work in practice?

Flower pounding to make bookmarks

Time of year: fall, spring, summer

Age range: 3 years - adult

Time to prep: 20 minutes

Time for activity: 20 - 40 minutes

Materials

Fresh flowers and leaves

Recommended flowers: Rose Campion, Coreopsis, Marigold, Lavender, Impatiens, Lobelia, Violets, and leaves from Parsley, Ferns, Japanese Maple

Hammers and mallets -  a selection

Wide painter’s masking tape (1 ½ inch)

Watercolor paper (140 lb), or experiment with other porous heavyweight papers

For bookmarks, in addition:

Plastic bookmark sleeves (2 ½ inch x 7 inch)

Raffia or ribbon ties

Try a selection of hammers and mallets

Preparation

1. Get together the materials: paper, painters tape, hammers and the mallets
2. Prepare for the class by pre-trimming the paper into trim paper into either:
   - bookmark sizes (say 2 ¼ inch x 7 inch) to fit in plastic sleeves
   - or notecard size (say 3 x 8 inch) to fit in envelopes
   Note: Each student will probably make two or three samples.

With class

1. Go out to the garden and harvest a handful of a variety of fresh flowers and leaves each. Note that some flowers and leaves will leave more pigment on the paper.

   

   Flowers and leaves from the garden in July

2. Cut stems and calyx off the flowers. For large flowers, such as coneflowers, discard centers, and use only the petals.

3. Work on the ground outdoors, or indoors on the floor or on a cutting board stabilized with a dishtowel or use a phonebook underneath as work surface.
4. Cut pieces of painter’s tape about 7 inches long for your bookmarks (or length to fit notecards).
5. Place the flowers and leaves face down on painters tape strip. Or put leaves and flowers onto the paper? Which works best?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Then place the painter’s tape down onto the watercolor paper
7. Now pound on top of the tape with a hammer. Make sure to hit each section of tape many times.
8. If you need to dampen the sound, you can place a phonebook under the paper.
9. Peel back the tape, and look at the paper to see if any area needs more pounding.
10. Peel off all the tape. Colors from the leaves and flowers will have left a print on the paper.
11. Remove any flower debris that is still stuck to the paper.
12. Allow your paper to dry. Use as a notecard, or for a bookmark, or as a decoration.
13. Laminate your bookmark or put in a plastic bookmark sleeve - and finish with a ribbon or raffia tie

Extensions

Fabric: Try flower pounding using a firm woven pale cotton fabric such as muslin instead of paper. Place the fabric over the flowers and leaves, and pound directly. Watch the color of the flowers and leaves come through the cloth.  

Mordant: Soak the cloth (or experiment with paper) in a salt or soda mordant solution overnight and then dry, before using. The salt/soda solution acts as a mordant for the pigment. Recipe for a yard of fabric is 4 T Alum, 3 T Cream of Tartar, 24 cups of very hot water, mixed together in non-reactive stainless steel or enamel bowl. Put in fabric, stir and leave for 30-40 minutes until cool. Dry in cool dryer or hang out, and iron flat before using.

In my practice

• Parsley and Fern leaves left recognizable green images
• Purple Japanese Maple leaves left faint reddish patterns
• Magenta Rose Campion and purple Petunia flowers imprinted as purple
• Lavender and pink Purple Coneflowers made brown smudges

Resources

Mallets: $3.99 from Ace Hardware

Bookmark sleeves from http://www.clearbags.com/2-1-2-x-7-1-8-6-mil-poly-hanging-bookmark-sleeve.html

Other examples online

Life Labs - The Fine Art of Flower Pounding - pdf from Art in the Garden page 189.

http://www.lifelab.org/wp-content/uploads/Flower_Pounding.pdf

And YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4F4OOlSeuA&feature=youtu.be

Flower Pounding Note Cards

http://www.greencirclegrowers.com/project-ideas-1/flower-pounding-note-cards

How to: Hammered flower and leaf prints

http://buildmakecraftbake.com/2009/04/how-to-hammered-flower-and-leaf-prints.html

Laura C Martin, The Art and Craft of Flower Pounding

Two New Learning Labs Launch

Two powerhouse websites, both called Learning Lab, recently launched to support pre-K-12 education with digital online resources.

• One Learning Lab provides digital resources for the Smithsonian Museums.
• The other Learning Lab is associated with the US Green Building Center and Center for Green Schools.
• Smithsonian’s Learning Lab is free, and USGBC’s Learning Lab is free until August 2016 and then by subscription.
• Add both these resources to your teaching toolkits.
• Check back as the resources grow.

Here’s my first exploration of both these new Learning Labs:

Smithsonian’s Learning Lab -  a Virtual Fieldtrip to Discover Create and Share

I view the video introduction, check out resources, and read threads related to Pandas, Hot Air Balloons and Robots.

• How to link these and other reading resources to my K-5 outdoor lessons?
• How can I share these resources with students, parents and teachers?
• How about using the Smithsonian's collections of museum objects?

I click to Exploring Essential Questions With A Group of Objects, and come across a beautiful collection of tools and innovation.

I bookmark this page for a teen after-school enrichment group that I will be working with on The Food Project. From a 5-minute browse on the Smithsonian’s Learning Lab, I now know where to come back for future links to millions of Smithsonian resources, and I can plan a virtual fieldtrip!

“Not everyone can come to the Smithsonian, but they can visit the Learning Lab to inspire and design their own digital learning experiences,” said Stephanie Norby, Director of the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access.

US Green Building Center’s Learning Lab - Education for Sustainability (EfS)

After registering with USGBC’s Learning Lab, I easily access their resources.

I download a series of three lessons and films on soil science from Nature Works Everywhere designed for grades 6-8. This I can also use with my after-school enrichment groups including The Food Project. While on the Nature Works Everywhere site, I check out their resources and lesson plans on bees and pollination to add to my collection for my after-school and in-school programs!

I bookmark a module on the theme of “water” from other partners: the Sustainable Intelligence curriculum designed by EcoRise Youth Innovations and Representaciones e Inteligencia Sustentable. The curriculum is mapped to current standards, and available in Spanish and English. I download the water lesson plans include songs, images and sounds of rain and a waterfall, and add these to resources for my work with a Montessori school.

I will check back often as these resources from the Smithsonian and USGBC and their Learning Lab partners grow.

Learning Lab Resources

Smithsonian’s Learning Lab - https://learninglab.si.edu/

USGBC, US Green Building Center’s Learning Lab - https://learninglab.usgbc.org/

Bookmark both for your green STEM and 'education for sustainability' (EfS) toolkits!

Add a comment below on how you are using these resources.