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A TECHNIQUE DRIVEN Blog dedicated to mastery of surface design techniques. First we dye, overdye, paint, stitch, resist, tie, fold, silk screen, stamp, thermofax, batik, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, fuse, slice, dice, AND then we set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Inktense and Aloe

I needed an appliqué for a journal quilt I was doing and someone mentioned Inktense pencils, so I got mine out and drew this crane.

I stabilized the fabric by ironing it to a piece of freezer paper.
 The last time I wet my Inktense pencil drawing, I got it too wet and the color ran off the edge, so this time I used some clear aloe vera gel and tiny brushes.  I got tired of all the little brush strokes (and I was in a hurry) so I got out a bigger brush and really wet it down with the gel.  Then I placed it gel/pencil side down on a clean paper towel, placed a piece of parchment paper on top and ironed it with a hot iron until it was dry.  Then I rinsed it with cool water and pressed it again.
There is just a tiny bit of bleeding off the edges, but it's much better than it was with the water.  And I had a lot more control with the gel.  The color is still really vibrant after the rinse.
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7 comments:

  1. Kit LangSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:18 PM

    I love the freezer paper stabilizer idea AND the aloe gel idea! How smart are you? :)

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  2. Vicki MillerSeptember 16, 2011 at 6:09 AM

    I haven't tried the aloe idea with pencils, but have with ink. With WC pencils, I have used dilute textile medium to do the same thing. Got the idea from Design matters TV by the Kemshalls in UK. If you need it to be colourfast, it works well. Lovely painting!

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  3. BethSeptember 16, 2011 at 1:42 PM

    Nice work Karen

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  4. Quilt RatSeptember 16, 2011 at 2:30 PM

    Beautiful! Yes I love the control using the aloe gel gives us, I use it with pencils, inks, paints....very versatile, but shhh, we don't want the manufacturers to catch on and start pricing it like art supplies

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  5. RobbieSeptember 16, 2011 at 4:00 PM

    Karen, this turned out so great!! Thanks for pics to go along with your piece! It explains it quite nicely!!

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  6. Quilt or DyeSeptember 28, 2011 at 3:37 PM

    Karen,
    Does the Aloe set the pencils so they are washable or do you still have to go over them with the textile medium?

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  7. Karen SSeptember 28, 2011 at 11:13 PM

    Yes! I heat set the wet aloe with my iron until it was dry. Then I washed out the aloe and had no loss of color. No textile medium was used in the production of this bird. I don't think it would work with the watercolor pencils, but the Inktense was permanent with just the aloe.

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