white on white fabric

Deconstructed screen printing is the subject for the month; Diane here with more of my printing. Luann Fischer will be writing the posts for me next week.

I like to use unusual fabric for the printing.  I've had some good luck with white-on-white fabric. My friend Wendy in the UK was the first to point out the advantages of adding color to white-on-white fabric.  These are usually sold in the quilting stores - printed in white on a white background - used to create a very subtle texture rather than just plain white in a quilt.  When you dye or screen print on this fabric, the results are pretty incredible. The dots in this example play peek-a-boo with the screen printing.  I got the textural effect in the dye by using a torn piece of corrugated cardboard when I applied the dye to the screen.

The white polka dots really stand out because it was printed right side up.  There is a right side and a wrong side to most white-on-white fabric.  The design can be less visible on the reverse since it is a surface treatment and this allows the dye to creep in behind the white-on-white designs.

Fast forward about six months and here is that print covered in embroidery stitches.


And a close up of one of modules of the print. Each of the five rectangles is a different print from the screen. As you can see, the dye affected each dot differently. 



Here are a few other prints on white-on-white fabric.

If I am remembering correctly, the blue and green one was printed on the "wrong" side of dots so they are a little more subtle.  IMHO

I'm fascinated by the layers of imagery created by deconstructed screen printing on white-on-white fabric! Here's my latest purchase below - yet to be printed.  Isn't it going to be great?

 Diane - yarngoddess

embroidered screen prints

Diane here, with more on deconstructed screen printing also known as breakdown printing. You can click on either of those Labels in the right hand column and read more Fire blog posts on the technique.

For this monochromatic print, I chose two colors of cotton thread close to the hue of the dye and did cross stitch border patterns as a member of the "Edges" Dutch group on Facebook.  Each week a different pattern was posted and most members were doing their bands or edges on linen at 20 crosses to the inch.  Not me!  I am not a counted-cross-stitch kind of gal. It was fun to see their projects and translate all the chatter but, after a while, I ran out of cloth, time and steam and literally fell off the edge.  Some of them were amused by the way I titled my piece. 

Knowing what to do with your output is often a stumbling block for getting started. "What's that going to be?" is a FAQ when the artist is in the throes of a play session. I usually get inspiration from my prints and that leads me to take up the needle and thread and begin to embroider. Here is one "finished" embroidered print, with a photo of the print before stitching and a detail of the stitching. Each of the 8 characters were stitched on one of the eight repeats from the screen.  I tried not to make them so loveable (!) but I just couldn't help myself.  They just looked like strange little birds - some with their backs turned!

This was stitched while I was following the blog written by Sharon Bloggins and the challenge was called TAST - Take a Stitch Tuesday.  About six months of stitch experiments - one a week.

The photo below is an art quilt designed around a deconstructed screen print that only gave me one good print.

Creating original fabrics can lead you in so many directions, why wouldn't you try it?

Diane - yarngoddess

with a little help

I get by with a little help from my friends ...

Hi, Diane here, with an intro to the month of May - Deconstructed Screen Printing.  Some friends will be contributing their work and posting with me.  Every year in the spring, I get together with artsy friends in the Hill Country of Texas for Art Camp.  We used to plan a single workshop and hire an instructor but for the last dozen years or so, we've just each done our own thing!  This year I'm leading them astray with mono-printing on gelatin plates. Another time, I introduced them to dyeing with mud or earth pigments.  One year I decided to demonstrate deconstructed screen printing and one of the campers has been actively printing since then. Nancy will be showing her work here this month

Then at a regional weaving conference, I taught a seminar on printing with dye on handwoven cloth.  I'm still walking down that pathway - I have a lot of handwoven cloth! 

This one has a border woven into the bottom and several layers printed from two different screens.  I plan to do some embroidery on it next.  Who knows when it will be "complete."

Lately, I've been taking part in a Surface Design sample swap online.  We have an international membership and it has been fun to get 12 inch square of fabric in the mail each month.  Some of the techniques have been new and some are old favorites reinterpreted.  That's how I met Luann who has prepared a week of posts this month from her perspective.

 So, while I am working away writing blog posts for you, picture me here, relaxing in the country away from the hustle and bustle of the maddening crowds - but with an excellent wi-fi connection.

Seeing these two photos together - maybe I should title my piece "Bluebonnet Meadow"...

Diane - yarngoddess

Book Review: Fabric Printing at Home

Lynda here from Bloombakecreate.com and for the next two posts I'll be sharing with you a couple of books that I've come across recently that you might find interesting and useful.

I don't know about you, but I love books. It seems like I can never read enough about fabric surface design. Fabric Printing at Home by Julie B. Booth is a brand new book from Quarry.

 

This is the blurb from the publisher about this book:

You don’t have to be a fashion designer to create your own amazing fabrics! Fabric Printing at Home will show you how to print your own custom fabrics using everyday items from the kitchen and around the house! With tons of color photos, step-by-step instructions, and helpful hints, you will be crafting your very own fabric designs in no time! Learn to make print blocks, rubbing plates, stencils, and fabric resists from a wide range of kitchen materials. See how your favorite fruits and veggies create perfect shapes and texture patterns for your fabrics and how to upcycle simple materials for surface design. This family-friendly guide shows how to make fantastic, colorful fabric designs with accessible, non-toxic materials.


This book is full of techniques - all from stuff you already have in your kitchen or around the house.

Julie starts you out on how to set up your work area, the basic tool kit, and even directions on making your own portable print surface.

Then each chapter has different surface design methods. I absolutely love the corn cob printing in her 
Kitchen Textures chapter. It's definitely one I will try.

I love resists and she has a couple I've not tried. One of them was using gelatin. I love her clear directions and sample pieces.

I also like the Recycled and Repurpose chapter where she makes lots of interesting stamps out of cardboard.

And if all of the techniques weren’t enough, the Contributing Artists chapter provides the reader lots of inspiration from artists using techniques from the book.

You can get into fabric printing without spending a lot of money. As I mentioned earlier, many of the objects used to print are in your kitchen or somewhere in your house. If you are new to printing on fabric, you will find all kinds of different techniques, with pictures and instructions. If you’re experienced with fabric printing, you might be surprised at what you didn’t know. I found several techniques I plan to try soon.

Fabric Printing at Home by Julie B. Booth, is one of those reference books that is great to have on the studio bookshelf.

Excerpts used/ photos used with permission from Quarry Books.