When I was quite a bit younger, there was a magazine feature called "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" Maybe some of you also remember? Well, recently I felt like I was playing the game "Can This Fabric Be Saved"...
This piece of fabric was one that I did a folding and clamping technique to a while ago. I have some plexiglass circles and circle cutouts and here are some pictures just to show you how I did it.
After clamping tightly, it was immersed in some Procion MX dyes, looks like maybe Mixing Blue.
This is what the piece came out like, not too wonderful, so I left it for a while, thinking about what to do with it. I thought it would make a great piece for this round robin.
I stenciled some paint onto it, using some fuchsia colored paint. The paint I used was
Golden High Flow Acrylic from Dick Blick, by the way. These paints are very bright, don't need watering down, and don't change the hand of the fabric.
Still not looking too wonderful...
At this point, I thought about different things I could try -- maybe pulling out one of my stamps that I've carved through the years? Or something else?
Dyeing seems like it's always the first technique I choose. So, I folded it up again, accordion style this time, and dyed it a darker solution of the same mixing blue color. (The yellow piece is another piece I just stuck in there with it).
Hmm, it still seems to need a little more, doesn't it?
Now what? I got out some Color Magnet, and painted strips on this fabric. I've only used this product a couple of times, still not sure about it. It attracts the color (like a magnet), but in my limited experience, it isn't always the same color that you apply.
So, next, I mixed up some thickened Kiwi Green dye and scraped it on with a credit card, let it dry overnight.
Here it is after washing it all out:
And the back looks different -- more of the "color magnet" effect shows up there.
If anyone has used Color Magnet, I'd love to know about it. It seems like a very fun product to use!
Laura, I've worked a bit with Color Magnet and absolutely love, love, love it. You get two for one (two-tone fabric). Check out my blog post, a Q & A on Color Magnet: http://www.bloombakecreate.com/2013/10/color-magnet-q/
ReplyDeleteI really like how your fabric piece is developing.
Lynda, I read over your blog post, thanks! I was under the mistaken impression that Color Magnet couldn't be used with LWI techniques because it's water soluble, so I was using it only with thickened dyes. Now I have to try it to make some tone-on-tone fabric pieces!
ReplyDeleteI actually really liked the stencil. Very organic and attractive!
ReplyDeleteLaura, You will love it! I even used it with Indigo dye bath but didn't presoak the fabric before I put it in the vat. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteBecause I'm such a product junkie...of course I tried Color Magnet.....you can see my post here:
ReplyDeletehttp://robbiespawprints.blogspot.com/search?q=Color+Magnet
Fun to use...
Thanks for sharing, Robbie. I try not to be a product junkie, but sometimes I just can't help it!
ReplyDelete