ECO Print for Dummies

I Needed Help

That’s right! I needed help! ECO Print for Dummies! There’s no book for ECO printing? I followed instructions on Pinterest and Google — with no luck. I got help from the experts at ECO J in Indonesia. After their excellent tutoring, I successfully created my first scarf from silk and plants. In the US, you can buy their creations here.

The Backstory

Earlier this year, I was visiting Yogyakarta, known as Jogja for short. Don, meanwhile, attended a music education conference in this quaint and friendly city.

At Taman Budaya, the Jogja cultural center, I took the opportunity to walk through a vendor fair, ie SHOP! ECO J was there with a beautiful selection of wraps and tops. These items were all printed using the ECO method of steaming leaves wrapped inside silk or cotton fabric. Read about my first adventure in Jogja here.

After internet research and several failed attempts at home, I am back in Jogja taking a class from the experts, my friends at ECO J.

The Process

The team at ECO J prepared for me three strips of silk fabric. The silk was washed and treated overnight with a solution to help the fabric accept the plant colors. Also, Leafs and stems from several Indonesian plants in the neighborhood were soaked and treated. With wet fabric, I designed my first scarf by placing the leaves face up on the silk. We used dried onion skin as the border, can you believe it! The bits of dried onion skin created spots of yellow color all along the edge of the fabric.

Do you want to learn this art form? I highly recommend a class from ECO J.

Visit their shop in Jogja.

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So, thank you to my teachers at ECO J!