It's the Waiting that Kills Me

India Flint recommends that bundles be left to "rest" for a couple of days after coming out of the dye pot, before unwrapping them, in order to realize their full potential.

I think it's safe to say that all my bundles are underachievers, as it's nearly more than I can do to wait until they are cool before opening the little beauties.

So, the other night, 11:30 p.m. seemed just as good as 7:30 a.m. for unwrapping. Besides, I reasoned, I'd sleep better if I wasn't wondering what magic had occurred while this block of yumminess had been cooling for six hours.

This batch of 36 pieces of paper had been layered with leaves that were pressed overnight between the pages of the hefty new Restoration Hardware catalog (a wonderful way to study their fall offerings) and then wrapped between two pieces of cardboard that were slightly larger than the size of the paper. Loosely following the technique I read about on Cassandra Tondro's site, this bundle was steamed rather than boiled for about three hours.

However, I could see that the pages didn't have that delicious dark edge that comes from being simmered in the dye pot, so after the steaming, into the dye pot they went for about an hour.

I'm not sure if the results are from the steaming or the boiling, or even the pressing, but I'm really happy with the rich, sharp prints that this batch yielded.

 There was a chunk of salvaged iron in the bottom of my dye pot and a splash of vinegar in the water, but nothing else was added, and I forgot to dampen my paper before layering my leaf sandwich, so the paper was dry when I started the process.