screen printing Day 2 with Luann

(Luann Fisher is blogging this week on her experiments with deconstructed screen printing. She blogs at Let's Create Today.)

Here are a couple of the screens after removing the texture items.

I then put my fabrics onto clean insulation board, placed the screens on top, and started the pulling of deconstructed screen prints.
Oh, how much fun can one person have? This is a blast! I realized later that the color I would end up with wasn’t what I was seeing at the time. That is probably the only part, next to cleaning up, that can be disappointing. But here are some of those pulls.

screen printing Day 1 with Luann

(Luann Fisher is blogging this week on her experiments with deconstructed screen printing. She blogs at Let's Create Today.)

On my first day, I thickened my dye solution with sodium alginate. I followed the directions that came with the product. I over thickened a couple of them, but was able to add extra water to get them to move a bit. This may have been one of the reasons that some of my dye colors didn’t turn out to be as dark as I had wanted them. I also put fabric into soda ash solution to soak. Some were previously dyed and thoroughly rinsed and washed. But most were new and pfd.

I placed my screens on pieces of insulation board. I put textural items into the thickened dye that was spread onto some of the screens. Other screens I drew on with the thickened dyes.

The screens were left to dry overnight. Fabric was squeezed out and also left to dry overnight.

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

water refections

Beginning with a photo of reflections of a red canoe on the water. I took a workshop from Kerr Grabowski in 2011. A great opportunity since I had watched her DVD on deconstructed screen printing about a zillion times and yet still wanted to be able to ask questions and listen to her comments and encouragement to everyone in the workshop.

 
Her screens looked more experienced!  She never washes them because she likes the serendipity of stray bits of leftover color and there's less risk of the frames getting soggy and rotting. 




 





So after letting the screen dry overight, I printed it several times on a length of my handwoven cotton.  There was more texture in the image than I got using commercially available "quilters" cotton. The dye sat proud on the fiber unless I used a lot of print paste and pushed hard with the squeegee.    Several repeats filled the fabric.



Unfortunately, what I had envisioned as red turned out to be hot pink.  I am not a fan of fuchsia dye; I should have known better!



Oh, well, when life gives you fuchsia, you make fruit punch. 



Deconstructed Screen Printing with pink commercial fabric, embroidery on a denim background. 

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

Fabric Pyrography - 4

Sandy Snowden with the last post on Fabric Pyrography.

From time to time I have mentioned the issues with your soldering iron, location and other problems.

Where do you put it when you have to put it down?

Margaret Beale advises using a terracotta – NOT plastic – flower pot turned upside down. You insert the hot portion of the soldering iron into the hole. It needs to be a larger one so that the tip of the tool does not touch your working surface.

The Margaret Beal soldering iron and some others have an attachment which can be used to hang the soldering iron on something. You can take it off and reposition it to suit your needs. This is useful. However, I find the hook bit gets in the way of how I hold the tool. So I usually take it off.

With a bit of maneuvering, I can hold the handle of the tool and slip the hook on from the bottom. (It has a slit in it so you can get it over the cord.) And then I can hang it in a sensible place. That is, if I can find one near the place where I have plugged in the soldering iron!

So the easiest way I find to park my soldering iron is a tall mug with a rock inside to keep it from tipping over.

Lately I have also been keeping a metal dishwashing scrubber inside, too. It keeps the tip clean.

Sometimes with a curved tip, you find you can’t hold the tool comfortably because the positioning of the tip is not natural for the way you hold it.
I have found that you can turn the sheath holding the tip around. This must, of course, be done when it is not plugged in and not at all hot.

I used a pair of pliers to turn this sheath. Don’t grip too hard, as it could break.

I understand that you can get replacement tips. But to be honest, the amount of use you will get out of your soldering iron means it will last a very long time. The one case I have heard of a tip breaking was an artist who produces large numbers of work for Gallery shops and Art Council Shows. She was able to order a new tip online.

Some of the issue with holding the soldering iron is the fact that the bit of the cord below the handle is pretty inflexible. Not sure of a solution for that except keep working to find a comfortable position for you.


Things about health to consider:

As with all things you need to beware of your health. Obviously with this tool, it goes without saying that you may burn yourself!

I haven’t had any problems with any fabrics catching alight, which is a big issue for those who are using candle flames and incense sticks. But I suppose it could happen. If you work over a non-flammable surface, then you don’t have to worry about any unexpected scorch marks. This could happen with your natural ‘jerk’ reaction when you burn yourself...you may automatically release hold of the soldering iron and drop it.

About the ventilation

What may be a greater problem however, is the smell of the burning. Burning silk smells like singed hair and burning cotton has a smell like burning paper. Cotton and silk are natural fibres, but you still don’t want to be inhaling them for hours! Little wisps of smoke/heat come from the fabric as it is being burnt...surprisingly, it can come from the back and curl round an edge to the front.

Often I would be doing this and a family member would come home and say, “What is burning!?!” The interesting thing is that I have grown accustomed to the smell and thus am unaware it may be causing me problems. SO now I do this at least by an open door or window. A fan may also be an option. Of course, this is where the soldering iron is a better prospect than a candle or lighter. If you have any breathing issues, it is a wise precaution to use a mask.

About the fibre content

If you are interested in trying mark making with a soldering iron on different fibres, a burn test chart is helpful in finding out how your fabrics might behave. It gives you a way to test fabric with unknown content. (although blends still can be rather mysterious!)

There are several of these charts to be found online, but here is one burn test chart with basic fabrics. A quick glance shows that there are fabrics you might not choose to use for Fabric Pyrography – perhaps because it won't suit the purpose you have in mind, but even more importantly, it may be that the chemicals in the fibre make-up could be toxic.

Additionally, it is worth looking for other burn test charts, because you may learn of other characteristics to the way fabrics burn.

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Other links from commenters:
A sculptor who uses pyrography - with sunlight - is Roger Ackling ---Margaret Cooter

Burn Marks using Iron Soleplates: Willie Cole. His website doesn't seem to have as many images of the iron scorches, as he refers to them, but I see he also took the idea further and found a way to heat the metal perforated ironing boards and used them to print with. However, he even has a Wikipedia entry! If you want to find more images of his work, it is easiest to Google Images Willie Cole iron scorches or Willie Cole iron burns.----reg82

Madonna Yashinski, for Nov 2005 issue of SewNews. She had a pattern for wheat stalks and buds included. She used a low-temperature (750*) burning tool and natural fibers.----Luann Fischer (I was unable to find Madonna Yashinski's work online. Sandy)

The Cord Issue: I had a wood burning kit when I was a kid. I used the ironing board for my table since it was adjustable and my Mom already had one of those cord holders on the end of it. It kept the iron cord from dragging across the clothing so with my smaller hands, I figured it would keep the cord to my tool out of my way and off my hand/arm. Worked great!---Crystal Griffiths
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Well, it seems there are no questions! So, I leave you with a photo of one more example of using Fabric Pyrography.

A map of my neighbourhood. The fabric is British Calico. The burning is often just the thing to give an aged look to something.

Let me know if you try Fabric Pyrography and how you get on with it! I would love to see how you incorporate it into the type of textile work you enjoy. If you want to keep up with other things I do, please visit my blog! I try to stay busy. ;-)