Celebrate Mother’s Day with a splash of creativity & love curtsey of Clippings Floral Design. Did you know fabric can be dyed by pounding flowers? Surprise your mom with this unique and handcrafted flower tote bag made with love, a gift that she will cherish forever.
What you will need
🌺 Thin cotton tote bag
🌺 Alum powder
🌺 Parchment paper
🌺 Masking tape
🌺 Fresh flowers
🌺 Board
🌺 Hammer
🌺 Iron
How to Assemble
- Treat your cotton bag with Alum powder. This will help the pigment in the flowers to adhere to the fabric. Do this by washing your bag then soaking it in a mixture of ¼ cup alum dissolved in 2 cups of hot water. Wring out the bag and let it air dry.
- Lay bag out on a board or flat surface that you can pound on.
- Place a piece of parchment paper inside the bag, to prevent the pigment from transferring to the back of the bag.
- Choose your flowers. Use fresh flowers that are vibrantly coloured and have thin petals. Don’t use any stems. Remove any pollen or stamen when possible. Leaves can be used as long as they are thin and not too succulent.
- Lay flowers, face down onto your bag in a pleasing manner.
- Tape flowers down using masking or scotch tape, this will help to prevent them from moving too much in the process.
- Cover the whole design with another sheet of parchment paper.
- Using a mallet or hammer pound the flowers until you see pigment through the parchment.
- Remove parchment, tape and any remaining plant material.
- Place a new piece of parchment over your design.
- Iron on low setting to set the pigment.
For more gardening and floral design tips from Clipping’s visit https://bit.ly/3PfF3P2