Eco Dyed Papers with Canvas Corp Papers

Hello Crafty friends

Today, I’m here with a very environmentally friendly project for you. Not sure if you know but Canvas Corp strives to make environmentally smart decisions whenever possible. The papers are all made from recycled materials, including the Kraft which is 100% recycled and printed with soy inks. So it seemed to me quite natural to go a step further and eco-dye their paper with plants from my garden. It is a fun process and perfect for a summer project.

It is a two step process here. I tell you first how I died the papers and in the second paper how I made a book. But you are not limited to make books, the paper could also turned into cards or whatever you may come up with. I did start with all kind of papers (as seen in the picture) from their collection. I did try the plain craft paper,and the printed papers from Canvas Corp, their Mixed media Papers from Tattered Angels which all came out pretty cool. I also did try out the corrugated papers, which didn’t work as they came apart in the cooking process. Yeap I did cook them.

My first step was to gather all kind of plant materials from our garden. I have used the rose petals from already faded roses, Ivy, Lavender, ferns and what not. Every plant gives a different result and you just have to experiment. I also prepared two pieces of plywood, slighly bigger then my folded pages. I have cut the 12 inch squares in two pieces and then did fold them so I get a signature 6 x 6 inch.

Next I did place my first signature onto the wood pieced where I have already added some plant material and added some more in between the signatures and on top of the signature.

I stack all the papers and make sure that every surface has contact with some plants.

When I have everything ready I put the second piece of wood on top and tie everything together with some wire (cheap wire from the hardware store)

I do my dying outside the house, I have a large electric cattle which I use for craft projects. Don’t use your good kitchen pots if you want to keep them for food! Some of the plants might be toxic when cooked.

I then fill the cattle until everything is covered with plain water and add about 1 cup of plain vinegar. Next I heat it up and let it simmer for about an hour. To keep everything down I use some heavy stones.

After this hour I did take it out with the help of some tongues and did place it here on the little wall to let it cool a bit.

and that’s what it looks like when you finally open some pages. Remove the remnants ( I did put them into the compost) and let them dry.

At the end I had quite a bit of papers to dry on my rag dry stand

Once dry I did take then inside to my studio. They were all crumply, but I did straighten them a bit by putting them under a heavy book.

Now I wanted to make a book from all this yummy papers. I did start with a craft paper Canvas Corp. Kraft paper 80# and did cut it accordingly to my signatures which are 6 x 12 “. I wanted to give some texture so I did wet it and then carefully crumple up a bit. So when I go lightly over with Distress Ink it picks up the color only on the high spots.

After that I did grab a stencil and added some pattern again with Distress Ink.

I also added some of the fantastic rub ons. Of course I did pick the Architextures™ Parchment Rub-On – Grow, which is all about plant and flowers. I think it is a perfect match.

To strengthen the cover a bit I did glue on some Mousseline fabric on the inside. I simply spread a tacky glue all over the paper and then did use a brayer to make sure that the fabric has good contact. The fabric was larger then the paper and I did trim it when everything was dry. I also added some packiging cardbord to the spine part. That is something I like about CCB, you even can use their packaging material, how cool is that.

I did use the Fauxdori style for this book. You simply use elastic to put in the loose signatures. You start with the first elastic going through the eyelets and add the signatures. Then you add another elastic to 2 signatures and slide them underneath the first signature. If you want a more detailed instruction just look in Youtube under Fauxdori, there are lot of videos out there.

So here we are with an eco dyed notebook, I think it turned out pretty cool.

Thanks for looking!!!

Have a crafty day!!!

Bea Grob

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