Layered Monoprinted Fabric

I am so excited to be your guest blogger for May!  Monoprinting fabric is one of my favorite techniques. So, I thought I would show you my process for creating layered, mono printed fabric. All of these techniques are in my new book, More Fabric Art Collage, 64 New Techniques for Mixed Media, Surface Design, & Embellishment.   I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments on the technique!

I start with either fabric paint or as above acrylic paint and a fabric painting medium.  If using fabric paint, the medium is not necessary.  

If using acrylic and medium, mix together onto freezer paper or acrylic sheet. 

 Continue mixing.

Place material that you wish to make a monoprint of onto paint.  You can also stamp, draw, or press found objects onto paint.  Here, I used bubble wrap.  

 Place fabric face down onto monoprint.  Lift up to reveal the design.  I use the painted bubble wrap to add a stamped design onto blank areas of fabric.  Let fabric dry completely.

 Next, I mix Dye-na-Flow with water.  Test variations of added water to determine the shade of color you desire.  Dye-na-Flow is very concentrated, so a little goes a long way.  

Paint the diluted Dye-na-Flow onto the monoprinted fabric.  You can see that a lighter shade of Dye-na-Flow works best to help highlight the printed fabric design.  Let color dry.

 Repeat with another color, here I used Cranberry Red.

 One of my favorite techniques is to scrape paint across the fabric.  Simply load a paint scrapper edge with acrylic (I often use white), and scrape across fabric several times.

The next step is to collect found items for stamping onto monoprinted and painted fabric.

 Brush paint onto found object, and stamp onto fabric.  If using bottle caps, simply dip the rim into paint and then stamp.  Use several objects to create texture and interest to fabric.

Next I collect and choose stamps that I have created from craft fun foam (thick kind).

 Brush paint (acrylic or fabric) onto stamp.

Stamp onto fabric.

 Finally, I stencil designs onto fabric using commercial or handmade stencils.

I like to incorporate a couple of different stencil designs.

I use this fabric as a whole cloth (for quilting), cut it apart and use it for patchwork, cover journals, the possibilities are endless!