DUNDEE KZN: Michelle’s magical new form of art

Michelle Hamman loves making magic with material and she’s constantly pushing herself to do
new things.

Highly creative, Michelle does not only focus on materials, having produced amazing products on
mainly ceramics and having dabbled in textile silk screening as well. “I love painting, creating and making pieces of art,” Michelle said.
Her new passion though, Eco Printing, is turning heads and is introducing a new art form to
Endumeni. Eco Printing is essentially a technique which transfers plant colour and shape onto fabric. The technique is not well known in South Africa, but is slowly gaining more attention. Having seen it on Pinterest, Michelle knew she had to try her hand at it and is loving every minute thus far.

While Eco Printing can be quite technical, Michelle explained that it involved soaking plant based fabric in a mixture of chemicals and then picking fresh leaves or flowers. If the leaves aren’t fresh, you can always soak it in lukewarm water to get it fresh again. The leaves or flowers are then placed on the material which is then rolled around a copper pipe and tied with a string and left. Probably the most interesting and exciting part of the whole technique is that no two pieces are the same. Factors such as the condition the leaves are under; time of year; which chemicals are used to treat the fabric and what leaves or flowers are used, all contribute to how the final product turns out.

“It’s a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun. It’s always a surprise when you open a finished product
to see how it turned out.
“There’s also a lot of trial and error involved.”

Michelle currently uses the Eco Printing technique to make bags, bread napkins and cushion covers
among other things.

But that’s not all that Michelle does. Her business, Bahia Art, has amazing products for sale. Michelle can be contacted via email at michele@bahiart.co.za or via phone on (034) 212 3344 or 072 125 6069.

You can also visit her website HERE.

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