Florotype (part1)

When it’s getting colder (just like it is now) and there is no way to go out for a pleinair painting - I take my thick books and find beautiful press-dried flowers between the pages. I use them for making FLOROTYPES…

In case you don’t know - Florotype is a kind of Monotype. It is called so because we use natural pressed flowers, leaves etc. for creating a print.

To make a Florotype, I apply paint directly onto the plastic plate or onto the pressed flowers.. The plate is pressed against a bit wet pastel paper to transfer the paints. (So the finished print is a mirror image of what’s on the plate.)

I do not have a printing press at home so I do it by hand. You can use a simple spoon for it.

Usually I use acrylic or oil paints for my florotypes.

If you choose oil paints - you need to get reed of excessive oils. Just put some amount of oil paint between the pieces of folded newspaper for 30 min. After that you can spread the paint over the plate using the roller or put it over the press-dried flowers with a sponge.

This Florotype print I have got from the plastic plate above. The plate was painted with pink colour and then I’ve put dry herbs over it (painted in different colours). Then I covered it all with a slightly wet sheet of pastel paper and pressed.

This Red Florotype is available at my Prints Shop as an art print.

It also looks great on miscellaneous home decor items, phone cases, stationary and apparel.

I like Florotype - because you never know for sure what you will get at the end on your print… Kind of creative fun!

Start thinking of creating a set of botanical postcards this winter :))

See you soon!