My turn...

I was afeared these experiments would not go well, as we don't have a "Pro Chemical" here and though I went to two different shops, no one had any "print paste" just "base".  I tried a third shop, where they did have print paste, but no "SH" option available, nor did they have a "thick" option available. I bought it anyway, but when I opened it at home - it looked like white glue with a sticky pudding texture - nothing like Beth's and it didn't require any of the mixing process that was part of the linked instructions.

I  knew it wasn't going to work like Beth's did as soon as I opened it, but I tried a mixture of 4 tablespoons of the print paste to a mason jar's worth of urea water and blended that up. No thickening whatsoever occurred - it remained the same texture as it was after I mixed it (with some pleasant foaming action lol) - but I added the dye powder in the recommended amount of 1 tsp powder to one cup print paste mixture and gave it a shot anyway.

The resulting liquid was about the texture of whole milk, so using a resist of any kind would have been futile, but I tried to work a design on the screens and after my first pull (washed, dried and with an iron print for your pleasure [I got distracted by our new dog!) this was the result :

 

Uninspiring, but I can certainly work the cloth some more  (maybe some shibori discharging?).  My second pull on the same screen:

Which I liked much better.  And then I tried some smaller screens (8 x 10) with similar results:

Really just kind of a mess.  After doing 4 screens of  2 or 3 pulls each, I gave it up as a bad job. Like I said above though - these pieces of fabric can be rescued with some other processes.  And, not all was lost - I made some lovely painted, scrunched and shibori fabric pieces with the leftover print paste mixture that turned out beautifully!

I would try this again, but would have to order the proper tools for the job from the U.S. in order to get anything close to the results that the rest of you had.  I was also thinking about using a base extender as the "print paste"  as well - any guesses on how that might work?

No matter - as always, it was fun experimenting though!

Also - completely unrelated to this month's technique

I actually used some of my dispere dye/transfer painted fabric in a piece and thought I'd show you it:

And I really like the result - so I can see myself using this technique a lot in the future!

Discharge paste = Decolourant?

I hope so!



I didn't have any Decolourant, but had discharge paste, (although I used a Canadian supplier) and I had a piece of procion MX dyed fabric that hadn't turned out so well, so I put them together.  :)  I used one of the stencils that I've had around forever and never used, just dabbing the paste on, and I think I've improved it. I could quilt the dog out of it with some bright coloured thread and play with a bit - and maybe have something good!




and then I used another stencil with discharge paste and Procion MX dye powder (mixed straight into the paste) and then applied in the same way.

I used a blue for the birds, brown for the branches, green. for the leaves and red for the berries. On the right, I used an iron, and as you can see, didn't get the expected results in terms of colour.  On the left, I tried it with a heat gun - got a better bleaching result, but not a better colour result.

I have tried it in the past on RTD cotton fabric and gotten much better results with the dye/discharge paste combo; but as you can see, on this fabric (a heavy cotton jersey ) -  not so much!

And the experiments continue...

Jumping on the bandwagon...

I started with a piece of black, heavy weight jersey cotton, marked it with chalk and then loosely pulled some threads through the markings. (You'll note that I decided not to do the circles on the top left hand-side after all.)

Once I pulled the thread tight I used a small sized squeeze bottle of bleach to apply bleach along the pulled areas, and sprinkled drops randomly over the blank area.  When completed, the result was:

Which I'm rather pleased with.

Finished!

When I talked to you last, I had what would normally be a finished quilt top; but had decided to do more - so I slashed through the top, and added some inserts to make "Shattered" which would be of a piece with my burgeoning "fractured" series. 

I was pleased that it fit in so naturally, and pleased too, to try something out of my comfort zone.  

This was a really fun exercise - thanks very much to Rayna and Judith (for introducing us to Rayna's technique) - a great start to a new year. 

My first kick at the can...

You may remember that I started with an odd assortment of blocks that were given to me as part of a birthday block exchange.  I decided to first cut them into equal strips.

And then chose some additions from my scrap stash in the same two inch widths.

I fussed with the layout until I found something I was happy with...

And then sewed them all together.

Normally, I would stop here; this is my comfort zone and what pleases me aesthetically: a limited palette and not a lot of pattern in my fabrics - but since were "what if"-ing - I didn't!

Stay tuned...

My book is here!

Well, not "here, in my hands", but "here" I can pick it up at lunchtime!  

So, what I'm going to be working with are these birthday blocks that were the result of a miscommunication with my group. I asked for blue or purple stars, but most people gave me blue AND purple stars. So, they didn't go with each other at all, and consequently, not much could be done with them.

Given what other people have posted on the blog so far, I thought I would start with these two blocks as they needed the most help;

but in the end, decided to go with this block as I have a lot of fabrics that would fall within this range.

So, give me a chance to read the book, and I'll be on my way within a couple of days!

*rubs hands together*

Playing with plastic

I played with this technique over the weekend; using grocery/store bags, dry cleaner wrapping, thickened plastic wadding and bubble wrap. 

Mostly, I just melted stuff together. :)

I was interested in the types of textures I could get with the different weights of plastic; but because the dry cleaning plastic would have been excessively boring, I first put two squares as a base,  mixed up some craft paint on top, put another two squares of plastic on that and melted away, 

Four layers wasn't enough (paint ALL over my iron), but 8 was, and I got some really nice results that were highly coloured, very pliant, and easy to quilt. 

I also tried it with some white grocery bags for a less vibrantly coloured result and in my finished piece, layered the different kinds of plastics and some of the colours together. 

I also tried putting "stuff' in between the layers: sequins, tiny beads, bits of fabric, plastic mesh and the like - with varied results - I may use those bits and bobs in other pieces in the future:

But often, the result was such a hard mass of plastic, I couldn't imagine using it in any way except possibly, sculpture!

It's not clear from the pic above - but this turned out be a lump of hard plastic that no needle could ever get through!

In the end, I took some pinks and greens and whites, cut them up, layered them and put them together in a little wall hanging. BSP (Beloved Spouse) *LOVES* it and thinks I should work with melted plastic all the time.  

It was fun - but that's enough for me. :)

Kit

Last one....

As some of you may know, I've been having computer problems (it's still living with The Geek Squad), so I've had virtually no computer access as work doesn't allow most entertaining type sites.

But I managed to do this: show the last thing I made with transfer paints/disperse dyes in this sad little un-retouched photo taken in bad lighting on a rainy day with my phone!

Later, when I have access to both my computer and the pictures on it, I'll edit this post with a better pic, but for this one, I cut out the shapes on my papers and ironed away - and got some great effects which are not necessarily apparent on this photo.

So, learnings:

1.  Unlike some of the others, I didn't use kits, nor did I use transperse paints.  I used transFER paints pre-mixed and disperse dyes that I mixed myself to the following recipe:

 tsp for a pale value
2 tsps for a medium value
4 tsps for a dark value; and
8 tsps for black

mixing the dye with 1/2 cup boiling water and a drop or two of synthrapol.  For watercolour effects on paper, thinning with another 1/2 cup of water

These gave great, results time after time, with no smell and virtually no mess. What mess there was, was easily cleaned up.
2. Using these mixtures and the pre-mixed transfer paints, I had the best results, by far, using art paper rather than bond (photocopy) paper

3.  The higher the value of man-made material in the cloth, the better the result was, with 100% polyester "silk" turning out the best result

4. A very sheer polyester tulle had great results with printing on both sides showing through

5.  These mixtures can also be mixed with thickener paste thinly mixed for paper, or using a thicker paste for printing, stamping or stencilling on paper very well.

6. Cutting out shapes and/or using resists gives really lovely results as well.

Overall, this is a technique that I will use again - there are some results I got that I have been unable to get with any other technique. If I were making a bed quilt, I would be hesitant about using this technique as there is some prejudice about using polyester/man made fabric in bed quilts  - but for art pieces, I have no compunction using it. 

I was pleased with both the learning curve for this technique (my first days with it were sad and pitiful!) and the results I got, as well as what I learned.

Don't forget, if you try this technique - come back and tell us!

More experiments and play

So, for this piece, I took some of my dried painted papers, cut them into the above designs, laid them on my cloth, and then ironed a yellow-green painted paper over top of them to achieve the above result.  I think I'm going to go over it again with a green and/or blue paper as well to get a more nuanced result.

For this piece, I cut some papers into triangle shapes and ironed them onto a piece of cloth for a cute piece of fabric. More, after the jump:

Experiments continued...

I have been working on other experiments over the past couple of weeks with transfer paints/disperse dyes.  For this piece (36 x 24 or so), I couldn't pick up the gloriously glossy effect that this fabric has as I'm not yet that skilled a photographer - but it's really lovely. 

For this piece I tore the painted papers into pieces and then laid a piece down, ironed it, laid another piece on top, ironed it  -  with a fairly light hand onto the fabric, a quite laborious proces, but a result I was quite pleased with. 

First finish...

Happy Monday!

This is something I made with my first set of transfers...

Here we go...!

The basic technique is as follows. 

1. Mix your disperse dye according to the directions and/or mix your transfer paint
2. Paint your paper (Let dry thoroughly)
3. Iron onto your fabric
4. Enjoy the results!

There doesn't seem to be a lot of available reading about transfer paints/disperse dyes - a lot of people seem to use it, but almost none seem to talk about how they do it. I ordered a booklet from an artist who offers courses in the technique, but was quite disappointed with the result - the directions were pretty much what I gave you above, and lots and lots of pictures of what she did with the technique, and no information as to how those results were achieved - other than labels like "layered disperse dye".  *ahem*  Nonetheless, I found four or five people online who gave sketchy outlines of what they did, cobbled them all together and gave it a whirl.

My last fugitive media piece

Hi there, Kit Lang here.  When I left you last, I had used watercolour pencil-crayons, watercolour crayons and a little charocal on my flower.  After it dried and I had ironed it to set the colours, I cut out the petals and fused it to a background composed of two pieces of my hand-dyed fabric.

I also used a micron pen to write the script on the right. 

I'm really pleased with this first experiment using fugitive media, and it will be something I develop for use again and again.

Further explication of the piece and what the writing is at my blog.

Fugitive Media - watercolour pencils and crayons

Kit here.

I tried the fugitive media this weekend using watercolour pencils and watercolour crayons. 

I started out with a piece of my hand-dyed fabric (from when I was attempting make mandelas with procion MX dyes),

and with a watercolour pencil, I enhanced the fuschia lines that were already dyed in, and added blue at the ends of what I imagined were petals. 

Also with watercolour pencils, I added some green. I just left it in the "lined" state as I knew once I added some water, I would be blending. I used a flat, square paint brush with hard rather than soft bristles for the blending.

Then, I used my watercolour crayon to add some more depth to the petals.  (I was working outside in the garden, so as the sun moved around it created shadows on my work.)

After that, I used a charcoal pencil, made "feathered" edges at the ends of the petals. Then I used my paintbrush dipped in water to blend the colours I'd added in.  In retrospect, I'd do the charcoal step at the end, when my petals were done, rather before;

because after I drew in the petals with the watercolour crayons, I had this odd circle shape.  Lesson learned!

I then painted on a mixture of half and half base extender and water, and let it dry. And now all that's left with this is to decide what to do with it.

I've also bought some pastels and will be trying that next.  I'll post about it in a couple of days.

Cheers,