Printing from whole plants, roots and all

It’s springtime and everything is starting to grow, including weeds, so April is a great month to have a go at printing from whole plants. Printing the whole plant, rather than just the top growth which we usually see, profoundly alters the meaning of the botanical image. The difference between a leaf and a whole plant is a bit like the difference between a hand and the whole person – only a partial section of the story. As well as inspiration for creating new prints from found things, (ie weeds) this post includes tips and tricks for making really detailed prints from whole plants, roots and all.

Where to find whole plants 

Look for very small ones to start with, as the roots are usually at least as long as the stalk and leaves. You can move on to bigger ones once you have practiced on the tinies. Finding weeds which have seeded themselves in loose surfaces means you can get the whole root out easily. If you, (or any friends or neighbours), have a gravel path weeding may be seen as a chore, so any offers of help removing weeds will probably be welcomed. Once you start looking you will probably find loads; as well as gravel drives, check out bark chip paths, and drains and gutters are also a good source of whole small plants with their roots intact. One of the best places I have found is a garden pond; as the plants are growing in water or sludgy mud the roots are easy to get out in one go. Spring is a good time to fine little ones which need removing before they crowd out other things in the pond.

The Qualities to look for in whole plants for printing; 

Some types of plant print better than others.
Look for ones with a fairly uniform thickness, any particularly thick stalks or lumpy seeds will make the print uneven.
Plants with fleshy stalks can squish when you press them, the juices come out and mess up the image so avoid these.
Some seem very fragile, but it is still worth trying these, you may only get one or two prints from them but fine delicate plants can be very beautiful. 

Preparing your whole plants for printing 

Fresh plants are best for this type of printing, so ideally pick them just before you want to start printing. Give the roots a rinse to remove any grit or earth, and keep them in water to stop them wilting or drying out. Press them lightly between blotting paper to remove any surface moisture before using them, as this will affect the oil-based ink.

Most plants need a bit of thinning out – carefully remove some of the leaves, so the shape of individual ones will show. If there is a big clump of leaves the print won‘t shows the shape of the plant or its details as the leaves will overlap and may also be too thick.

Pressing and drying plants for printing

It isn’t always possible to collect plants on the day, so to preserve them for later you can press them. I use an old trouser press I got from a junk shop, but you may have a flower press already. Alternatively make one from a couple of stiff boards with some wood-working clamps or a heavy weight to press them together. Arrange the plants you have collected on blotting paper in layers between the boards and tighten the clamps or weigh them down.

Plants which have only been pressed for a short time work well, as they are flat but still flexible. Very dry and brittle plants don’t make good prints, so if they have been in the press a long time I soak them in water for a while, and blot them dry before printing from them. 

Very dry surfaces don’t really accept the oil-based ink well, this means you don’t get the range of detail, it is the same with printing paper – it works much better if it is damp. Aim to work with plants which still have some life in them, a bit juicy and flexible rather than very dry and brittle.

Inking the whole plant

Getting the right amount of ink on delicate leaves and roots without damage can be tricky, but using the sandwich method of inking makes this easy.

Take two sheets of fairly stiff acetate. Mix up two different colours of printing ink (as usual I am using Hawthorns – other inks are available though!) 

Mixing inks

When mixing your inks consider the following aspects – all are vehicles for experimentation

Tonal contrast – e.g. a light and a dark tone produces more dynamic images.

Transparency – adding extender increases the transparency of the ink, in contrast to a more opaque ink. contrasting or harmonising hues – remember your colour wheel? Adjacent colours (e.g. blues and greens) will harmonise while opposites (e.g. blues and oranges) will be more zingy. (pic colour wheel)

The viscosity of the ink – adding more oil to ink makes it runnier and this combination of runny and stiff ink produces different effects. To try this out roll a runny colour on one acetate and a stiffer ink on the other acetate to see what happens.

Roll the ink out

Using a clean roller for each colour, roll two patches of ink on a smooth slab. Then roll the ink onto your acetates in a thin even layer, it shouldn’t be making a ‘clicky’ noise, but just roll on nice and easily. 

Arrange your plants on the plate; tweezers help here, and a knitting needle or other fine pointed tool to help tease the roots out.

Carefully lift the plant from its paper and lay it on one of the inky acetate sheets; add more plants if you like, but try and avoid overlapping them.

Make a sandwich

Lay the second acetate, ink side down, on top of the first one sandwiching the plants in the middle.

Use pressure to squash the two plates together – I do this in the printing press.

Now you are ready to print!

Printing the whole plants

You have several different options for how to print the whole plants now:

1. Just print the inked plants – keeping it pure and simple. Lay the plants on a clean sheet of acetate, lay your damp printing paper on top and run it through the press, or apply pressure to the back of the paper. The prints will be a delicate image of the plant on a plain white background.

3. Reprint the acetate sandwich sheets only; the shape and texture of the plants combine with the qualities of printing inks, with suction patterns, viscosity effects, and colours. 

4. Over printing; place the inked up plant on the already inky acetate. As the plant is inked with a different colour on either side by turning it over you can create different and contrasting colour combinations. 

5. Silhouettes; if you lay un-inked plants on the coloured background plate, this will give you white plant shapes when you print it on paper.

Allow the shape of the plant to shape your print

If plant roots have grown in restricted places, e.g. a shallow bark chip path, the roots take on eccentric shapes. I love the characterful images these create, and they emphasise the intimate connection between the plants’ roots and the particular place they grew in. An artist who has taken this idea to a completely different level is Diana Sherer, by creating structures to manipulate the root growth she makes wonderful fabrics and sculptures from plant roots.

The balance between above and below ground changes with the maturity of the plant, and the roots are frequently much longer (or wider) than you expect. I found it was better to get the plants first, and cut the plates and paper to fit to their natural shape in order to give them space to spread out.

Root growth is fascinating and mysterious, happening in the dark, away from our eyes, but impossible without the light and leaves from above ground. Like many aspects of life it is easy to see the surface, without noticing the infinite layers beneath.

Whole plant prints enable us to appreciate the completeness and connection of the top growth and the roots. Seeing the whole structure exposed tells a more complete life story of germination and growth.

Botanical printing is always popular and I hope this post inspires you to extend your experiments with plants to include their roots as well. Don’t forget to share your ‘roots and all’ botanical prints in the comments section below.