Chlorophyll Printing Progress

My first successful Chlorophyll Print.

A couple months ago I found out about the alternative photographic process called Chlorophyll Printing and fell in love. It is a direct positive, completely organic photographic process; the leaves do not need to be treated at all in order to produce an image. I was enchanted by such a simple, beautiful process that has managed to remain under my nose for far too long. Since learning about it, I decided to create a project that incorporates printing on leaves. The first step of this project is to understand the process for myself.

The largest learning curve for me has been figuring out which leaves are receptive to this process and which ones take a little longer to produce results. So far I have tried pothos, pilia, hosta, and a few other leaves I have not been able to identify.

After two weeks of trial and more errors than I would like to admit, I was finally able to create a clear print using a leaf. The easiest way I have found so far is to create a contact frame using 6mm glass and wood that are held together using binder clips. Between the glass and wood is a freshly cut leaf beneath a positive print on transparency film. After just over one day in direct sun, I was able to yield a print on a hosta leaf! I was very pleasantly surprised by how beautifully the leaf lightened too. I have not had any luck with pothos or pilia yet, but I will continue my exploration and research into this ethereal, ephemeral, wonderful process.