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.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Finishing and using eco-printed fabrics

Janine here...

After the cooking is done, and eco-printed fabrics have been allowed to rest, then dried, then gently laundered and dried again, and then ironed... what to do with the stash?


Below are the fabrics printed during a two day intensive workshop - yikes!




Some printed pieces can benefit from added colour. For example, the piece below was printed with Japanese maple, then rusted a little. I think that the rust colour is a good complement for the purple-grey.




Ready-made silk scarfs can be purchased on-line, or printed from silk or wool scarfs from thrift stores. These made great gifts and often sell well.  Here's an example of a lovely complex print on a light silk scarf.




Although I love the results of eco-printing, I'm still learning about how to use them in finished pieces.  I hope that, if you are following this blog, you'll send along your ideas for finishing and using your eco-prints.  


I've stitched individual pieces that 'spoke' to me - keeping the stitching relatively simple to (hopefully) enhance the beauty of the print.  Here's an example:




I'm beginning to think about whether I could put several eco-printed pieces together to make a large, pieced work - here's one mock-up that I did recently - I add and subtract pieces... auditioning. The pieces are pinned to a piece of foam core - ignore the red, it's the carpet. :






I think that many eco-printed fabrics would make great journal covers. I haven't done much with journals yet. I greatly admire the work that Peta Bailey does with journal covers - see her work at studiopeta.com/blog/

Please, everyone, share your ideas for finishing and using your eco-printed fabrics - I know there are people out there who are doing wonderful things.


Back to Judith... and Judith,  I hope that you'll share photos of the eco-printed pieces in your recent show - the stitching was a beautiful complement for each piece.






7 comments:

  1. P6290004.jpeg

    Pojagi a variety of cloths together

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  2. oh oh ... looks like I can't include a picture of my pojagi piece. Any suggestions how to show?

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  3. This is what I do with my pieces, it´s wool./ Elisabet https://textilainslag.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/har-ar-kuddarna/

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  4. You might want to check out this artist's work: www.caroline-bell.co.uk . Thanks for all your wonderful posts! - Andy

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  5. Thank you everyone, for the wonderful ideas and websites. I have a pile of rusty things and eco=printed things I am hoarding........

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  6. Janine, I just LOVE what you and Judith have done this month! So much great information, and I want to put it all in my Eco printing journal. I'll also add your mordant information to the table I'm building. Thanks a bunch for all of it. I'll be posting some pics soon of what I'm doing with my finished pieces.

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  7. This was the most inspiring month ever on this blog. I bought some alum, got the India Flint book from interlibrary loan, and started to work. So far nothing worth posting. Lots of color, but not many clear successful leaf prints. I am not discouraged though and will try again and again until I get it right. Bugbane and purple ninebark appear the most promising. I was reading in the Flint book about post-mordants to bring out the color. Traditionally, one of these is fermented urine. Which made the silly idea pop into my head that we could add a postscript to the title of my favorite blog, " . . .and then we pee on it." Haven't tried it yet! Lynn

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