The Sunflower Process

I live on a farm so I have access to an abundance of wild sunflowers (our state flower). I get very interesting prints from them. But two issues have challenged me.

1. The petals are fragile and print very pale. But with a bit of watercolor I can bring that back to life.

2. The centers are so thick it can make a hole in the paper. I've tried cutting them down but they fall apart. So I came up with this idea. I create a hole in cardboard to cradle the center of the flower and keep the part to be printed fairly flat. You will see in the photos how it works.

I use a brayer while the paper is wet to help flatten the centers. It doesn't take much and doesn't tear

After Therese are dry I will post the final look.

Another thing I noticed this print round. The card board produced an unusual color and sometimes grid. I like it! I did steam for 3 hrs not sure if that made a difference.