Botanical Printing Using a Craft Press

As you know I'm no art graduate or printmaking expert, with most of my creative learning having been developed through experimentation and lots of curiosity. This is the way I learned how to make relief prints with plants and I Iove to capture the lovely fine details of plants in ink.  To me it feels really magical - especially that moment when you lift the inked plant from the paper and see all the inky details on the page - pure joy...

If you've had the opportunity to explore 'proper' printmaking at a class or club and have then considered taking it up at home, you will know that relief printing presses are both wonderful and mightily costly. I simply cant afford a professional print press just now, although I do hope to in the future. In the meantime I've been enjoying a really affordable way to make professional looking prints at home, and I'm going to share with you my simple process and learning with you, so that you can try it at home too and create some beautiful prints to frame or share. 

The key piece of equipment you will need is a craft press - and what I mean by that is a press that is usually used for card making - either a die cutting or embossing machine. I have a few that I use which include a 'Cut n Boss' electric machine, a Sissix Big Shot manual machine (both with A4 plates), and a smaller Cricut CuttleBug and I obtained all of these from friends or charity shops, with each costing less than £30. If you browse the usual online market places I'm sure you will find some good local deals on these second hand. 

So now that you have your craft press purchased you are pretty much ready to get printing. You will just need some printing ink, I use either Cranfield Safe Wash Relief Inks or Akua Intaglio Ink on paper, and for fabric I've had some good success with Gamblin Black Textile Ink (formerly Drive by Black). You will also need some good quality paper; I use a watercolour paper or good quality cardstock. I'll link all my materials at the end of this post for you. 

For subject material I tend to use plants...surprise, surprise...which I collect in the local woods, press and then ink up using a wee cosmetic sponge. I first use an artists palette knife to pop a small amount of ink onto an acrylic sheet, I roll it out with a brayer, and then use my sponge to pick up the ink and apply to the plant. I see a lot of people applying the ink straight to the plant with the brayer, but I find this usually applies too much ink and sometimes damages the plant, so I tend to use the sponge as I feel this gives me a better control over the amount of ink applied. The more ink, the less detail you tend to get, and too little ink and the print is too faint. It takes a bit of experimentation to find what works for you. 

Once the plant is inked up to my liking I lay my piece of paper on my plate (you will get a selection of plates that come with the craft press) and then I lay the plant material on top in position. Some people like to dampen their paper a little with a misting/spray bottle of water. Sometimes I do, but sometimes I'm just too impatient. Positioning our plants is a tricky part, as once laid down, we dont want to be moving the plant again, since this will leave an inky mess on our paper. Once happy with the position, we then lay another piece of paper on top. I use cheap copy paper. You could use another layer of your watercolour paper and then you can get two prints from one pass of the press. I sometimes do this if I know I've inked up both sides of the plant really well. 

Next we want to add some soft layers. I tend to use craft foam or felt for this. This provides some 'give' that allows the plant to be pressed into the paper below. After the soft foam layer, we lay on our rigid top plastic plate. We've essentially created a sandwich with our paper and inked plant in the middle. We now get to the exciting bit - we pass the sandwich through the press and make our print. 

If weve got the thickness of our sandwich just right we will have the perfect amount of pressure and create a clear print, too little thickness in our sandwich and the print will be faint, too much and our press will jam and we could risk damaging the machine. Its a bit of experimentation to find the perfect combination of plates, foam and felt...play around adding and taking away until the plate sandwich just passes through without the press creaking too much and sounding like its going to break. 

The next bit is the best - the reveal! Take out your printing 'sandwich' and carefully remove the top layers, trying not to disturb your plant yet. I usually grab some tweezers at this point to carefully lift off my plant from the paper. I often keep some baby wipes close to hand throughout this whole process and regularly wipe my hands to stop getting ink all over the equipment and tools - ink will get everywhere if you arent careful and we can easily end up ruining the lovely print we've just made. An apron to protect your clothes is a good idea too. 

Once you got the hang of this technique the opportunities to play and get really creative are endless. You can try all kinds of plants and leaves, try different ink colours, paper colours and build up some lovely print layers. 

Once printed I leave the ink to dry, usually for up to a week, before I mount and frame them. Check your inks instructions for the recommended drying times. I like to simply mount and frame my prints in an ice white mount and oak frame, but you could also use the prints to make other items such as bookmarks, greeting cards and more. Kadinsky Arts are a good supplier for quality picture mounts in a range of sizes and colours (link below).

I hope that this has been a helpful wee tutorial and do let me know if you have any questions at all. Happy botanical printing!

Materials:
(These are affiliate links and I may make a small amount of money if you purchase any items directly through these links above)

Big Shot Plus (Craft Press) https://amzn.to/3zvXWdP
Cranfield Safe Wash Ink (Black) https://amzn.to/4enZk18
Akua Intaglio Ink (Lamp Black) https://amzn.to/3Xvnjo6
Cosmetic Sponges https://amzn.to/3XINYz3
Palette Knife https://amzn.to/3ZotZHe
Spray Bottle for misting paper https://amzn.to/4gpon5G
Watercolour Paper (Deckle Edge) https://amzn.to/4e3Saiy
Set of Kadinsky Ice White Picture Mounts, Back Boards and Cellos https://amzn.to/3TsIxBK