Deconstructed Screen Printing -- First Attempts

 I had trouble with this at first.  I got two screens made and happily spread thickened dye all over them.  My results were, to say the least, uninspiring.

After a frantic couple of emails to Beth, I figured out that I was trying to spread dye thickener that was just too thick.

 So my first two -- here they are washed and ironed -- were pretty blah.  The top one looks better here than it does in real life.

 But after I used thinner print paste to make my prints, I got much better results.

And I really like this last one.  I currently have two more batching and two screens drying.  I'm still waiting for Mr. S to produce the frames for a couple more screens.  Hopefully, I'll have more results next weekend.

March Guest Blogger

In February Beth was lovely enough to give you a tutorial for batiking.  I, however, have never used inks. What to do????   Then Karen Silvers of  A Creative K left a comment on my post announcing inks for March saying she wanted to do MORE of them.  MORE?  To me that meant she has done some already.  Goody! 

I asked.  She accepted.  Karen Silvers will be a guest blogger on March 1 to show you what she has learned about inks and to show you some examples of what she has done.  Stay tuned!

March's Technique

As I was debating what technique to choose for March, I read a recent post by Terri Stegmiller that made up my mind.  In March we are going to try using  artists inks.  I have long wondered at the difference between inks, dyes, and paints.   So, here is everything I know about the inks and I hope that, with your help, I will learn much more during March.

First, here is a link to the product information for the type of inks that Terri Stegmiller used.  It includes a description of the inks, color charts, and a couple of PDF guides of projects on watercolor paper. There are of course other kinds of inks.  Judy Coates Perez uses these inks.

Suzan Engler did some tests with theliquid acrylic inks and wrote about it here.  I can see Rosalita trying this particular way of using the inks.

 Here is Terri Stegmiller's description of the inks and here is the tutorial and finished project from her that incorporated a zentangle technique with a gel pen.  It is another way to use the inks.

Here is a third way of using the inks and mixes them with aloe vera gel.  I had read of this method before from the Quilt Rat  with her outstanding doodles.  Quilting Arts also has instructions from Judy Coates Perez for gel ink painting. And here is another blog that tells you how to get the same type of results without using the gel.

Okay, I have told you  all that I almost know about using inks with fabric surface design.  I have my supplies ordered and look forward to experimenting. But first, I have some more shibori and batik techniques I want to attempt and show the you results--good or bad!