FLOWER POUNDING This is an old craft that has been demostrated at the Paradise Museum Days of Living History. This is where mostly senior citizens get to dress up as pioneers and show off the Good Old Days. Flower pounding, a craft once used by Indians shows one way to use natural (but unfortunatly not colorfast) dyes.
It also gives the kids a chance to hammer something. This sparks the interest of boys, who normally would pass up a booth involving flowers.
Equipment needed:
Squares of cotton fabric
masking tape
hammers
a pounding surface (we use plastic cutting boards)
scissors
flowers, flowers, flowers and leaves
Purists treat the fabric with alum and washing soda. However Dharma says that process deteriorates the fabric, so I just wash the muslin with detergent and 2 Tbsp.
washing soda to remove the sizing, and don't worry about making this a work of art.
It's just a fun thing for kids to do.
Start with ironed fabric squares. Have a variety of flower petals to work with and place the petals on the fabric to make a design.
Work from the center outward. When you have a pleasing pattern, cover the flowers with masking tape. Using a few petals at a time work best, you can always add more. A whole flower taped down will come out a mushy blob
Next, take your taped square to the pounding board, turn the whole thing over and start pounding. You will see the pigment bleed through. Keep pounding (not too hard!) untill your design has all come through.Then remove the tape. Now you can add more stuff if you like. Use a dry iron to set the colors, the complete project looks cute displayed in an embroidery hoop.
finished design
some sample flowers
Complete instruction can be found in the book Flower Pounding by Ann Frischkorn and Amy Sandrin
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