Ecoprinting on paper with botanicals

It is funny how when in a partnership you can be miles apart and still be thinking along the same creative lines.  Recently, Sue posted some ecoprinting on fabric which she was working on in Virginia using rose petals while at the same time, here in New Hampshire, Elizabeth and her sister Becky were playing with ecoprinting on paper.

Using several different types of paper, they layered plant material and papers to get a stack which were then squished down between two remnants of fir board, which was not pressure treated.  Other stacks were encased in two pieces of cardboard  (from the backing of the watercolor pad and others from some inexpensive plastic placemats from the Dollar Store).  All of them were pressed down and wrapped with string to make as flat as possible with contact of the plant materials to the paper.

Using vinegar and alum for the mordant and rusty pieces of iron in the water the bundles boiled about 2 hours in an old turkey roaster.

They used inexpensive watercolor paper from Five Below and also large index cards which worked surprisingly well.  As this batch of paper came on a spiral notebook, the rough spiral edges were left to assist with opening and separating the wet pages.  It gave something to grab on to and the spiral edges can be cut or torn off later.

Here are some results.  The first two are different types of ferns, followed by a hydrangea
and then five index cards with sumac designs on them.

This last photo is striped maple where a piece of green construction paper was placed over the leaves in the stack.  That seems like a technique to try again as it was a nice way to introduce another color.

Let us know if you have any experiences with getting botanicals to print on either paper or fabric.  What has or has not worked well for you?