Paints, Inks, and Dyes

106

art skill

You will need:

smooth board (such as a clipboardor a chopping board)old newspapers or magazinespaper towelswhite construction paper flowers, small and brightly coloredremovable adhesive tape (available atoffice or art supply stores)hammeriron

choosing plants

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Select flat blossoms that don’thave layers of petals.

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Choose flowers that have thin,brightly colored petals.

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Don’t choose plants that havehard or fleshy centers.

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Don’t choose leaves that are shinyor waxy.

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Choose plants that are com-pletely dry, or use a paper towelto blot up any moisture.

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Don’t choose plants with thick orfleshy veins or leaves.

Hammering on Paper

Every once in a while, nature offers a package deal. That’s whathappens when you hammer plants. Not only do you get great col-ors, but you also get the details that make plants so beautiful.Hammering is full of surprises. Many of the plants changecolors when you hammer them. Not all plants are good forhammering (for example, white flowers will not hammer). Justexperiment (and remember to make notes) to determine whichplants work best for you. Good hammering plants include car-rot tops, coreopsis, cosmos, dianthus, dill, fern, common gerani-um, impatiens, lobelia, maple leaves, and vinca. Look them upin Nature Skills, starting on page 203. When hammering flow-ers, select small, flat blossoms that do

not

have a thick center orlayers of petals.

(This project requires adult supervision.)