Leaf Pounding with Barbara Wise

Our local guild (Burke Quilters Unlimited) this week hosted Barbara Wise for a presentation on the ancient art of leaf pounding and dyeing with natural elements. Barbara has an Etsy shop (Aunt Lilly's Attic) where she sells rescued and re-imagined vintage fiber items and an Instagram page featuring her fiber art.

Leaf pounding is a Cherokee tradition that was used to decorate garments.  A leaf or leaves are taped to a piece of fabric with the vein side against the fabric; the tape prevents the leaf from shifting.  Then it is turned fabric side up, placed on a hard, lightly padded surface, and pounded with a hammer to transfer the pigment from the leaf onto the fabric.  This process produces very soft colors, and often the color you get from the leaf changes or fades after a fixative is applied.  But the results are still wonderful.

Barbara has used her leaf prints to create lovely pieces of wall art.

She sometimes enhances the prints with watercolor pencils to add a bit of color or definition.

In the piece above, Coral Bells, she has also incorporated embroidery. Isn't it pretty?

She had several small pieces mounted on wooden canvases that incorporated embroidery or applique.  The pounded leaves can also be turned into dimensional appliques by backing with felt.  Fabric used for pounding must first be prepared with a mordant (a treatment that allows the color to bind with the fabric).  When dyeing with plants, some require a mordant and others do not. Find more info about leaf pounding and plant dyeing on the web.

Barbara will be leading a workshop for the SAQA Northern Virginia pod in June and Sue is looking forward to participating and trying her hand at this ancient technique.