Cutting Out Hand Printed Ornaments

The back of the hand printed fabric is treated with a fused layer of Misty-fuse.  Then, individual iris shapes are cut out.

Printing Iris Christmas Ornaments

 I created a batch of iris ornaments for the Big Sky Iris Club's Festival of Trees entry.  I used one of my hand carved rubber stamps to print many iris on a fat quarter of lavendar hand dyed fabric.  I used Pebeo Setacolor Transparent Paints for the printing.

 I used a mottled multi-color fat quarter of hand dyed fabric for the back.

Junk Mail Art - Layer Three - Block Printing - Part 1

 Continuing on with a little demonstration of my process for turning junk mail into art postcards, I am preparing to add a block print to these two postcards.  Both began as a piece of junk mail, had gesso applied with a putty knife.  One was printed with bubble wrap and the other was painted with blue and yellow paint using a putty knife and also printed with circles.  Next, I plan to add a block print and am going to use the one below.  I've not yet used this printing block on any of my postcards.

This printing block was carved several years ago and sits in a box with about 75 others in my collection of hand carved printing blocks.

Bubble Wrap Printing

 I have been using this same sheet of bubble for a couple of months.  It has printed many colors and is starting to get a bit stiff, but I will not discard it until it is useless.  I put two colors of yellow acrylic onto my palette and used a foam brush to apply it to the bubble side of the bubble wrap.

Below, is the postcard I will be printing first.

I lay the painted bubble wrap paint side down onto my work surface and press firmly, making sure all the bubbles make contact with the paper underneath.

Here is one postcard printed with bubble wrap.  This one has three layers at this point.  Gesso,  printed masking tape, and bubble wrap printing.

Printing the Binding

I showed you my process for fusing the binding in place in my previous blog post.
I have been printing my binding fabrics before attaching to the quilt, but I want to try something different with this piece.

The plain binding is not complimenting the quilt, so I am going to try printing the binding after it has been attached. Below, you can see the first print on the binding -( the block is inverted on the binding.)

The color is not exactly the same, but I don't really feel that is a significant problem. I continued all the way around the quilt, using the appropriate blocks to make the print on the binding match the quilt.

Fused Binding Tutorial

To create a fused binding, I attach Mistyfuse to the back of the binding fabric.
Then, I cut it into strips 1 1/4" wide. I start by fusing the binding strip to the front of the quilt - corners first, one corner at a time. When it is cool, I insert a straight pin at the exact corner of the quilt (this is so the miter will be formed correctly)

I then fold the binding diagonally at the pin to the back. Before fusing, I fold it down to make sure the miter will be correct. Adjust accordingly.

I flip the quilt over, fold and fuse the folded binding to the backing.

Here is a fused miter from the back of the quilt.
This particular binding is hand dyed fabric, and it has not been block printed to match the block printed front (yet). I will show that process in tomorrow's post.

Making Vegetable Prints with a Gelatin Plate

Gelatin Plate Printing
It has been a busy summer and I have not spent much time in the studio.
I thought I would do some gelatin plate prints using some of the vegetables from a recent trip to Farmer's Market. Above, you can see the gelatin plate after it has been used and is starting to break down a bit.

I use 2 rounded tablespoons of gelatin to one cup of water to make my gelatin plate.
Heat until fully dissolved, then pour onto the mold and as it cools it will set up.
I use Pebeo Setacolor Transparent fabric paints. I like to use a lot of different colors and brush these on the plate to blend them.

Next step is to arrange the items you want to print with over the painted gelatin plate.
I really like making prints from plants - my favorite.

For this group, I used paper towels to gently remove the paint around the beets. I also pressed gently on the beets, leaves and stems to make a good imprint of the texture in the paint.

After the beets have been removed - I will lay my fabric over the gelatin plate, rubbing to transfer the image from the plate onto my fabric.

Indigo! Still Singing The Blues!

More Indigo Dyeing

The vat is still good after sitting a few days, so I decided to try some more items.
I did more elaborate shibori techniques this time. Above, on the clothesline - a long sleeve T-shirt, two silk scarves, and a raw silk jacket. Below, four arashi shibori scarves.

Here is the pile of unwrapped indigo dyed items - ready for pre-washing. I soaked everything in cool water for a few hours prior to washing with Orvis paste.

I am happy with the T-shirt!

Sleeve detail of the T-shirt below.

The silk scarves also turned out really great!

More indigo to come!

Indigo to Dye For

Success!
I am really happy with the results of my first experience using indigo. Now that I see how wonderful everything looks - and realize how very simple this freeze dried indigo is to use - I wonder what took me so long . . . .

One thing that is a bit off-putting is the smell. The vat is smelly and there is a smell that lingers on the fabric or garment even after the washout. Joe and I both remember how our new blue jeans used to smell the first month or so. That's the smell.

The image above shows the two pieces of cotton yardage I dyed. One was dipped twice, the other only once. It's pretty obvious which is which.

Just love the texture that was created on this cotton yardage. Must do more!

I'll be showing you more of my results next time.

Indigo Dyeing Continued

Here you can see two pieces of fabric on the grass. The one further away has just come out of the vat. The one closer came out a bit earlier. It is really fun watching the colors change before your eyes!

I dyed a number of T shirts, jackets, and scarves. I placed them on plastic lids in the sunshine to oxidize. I had to keep moving the fabric around to expose pleated areas, etc. so everything could oxidize.

As the fabric came out of the vat, it was green, gradually shifting to a nice dark blue.

Even on the second or third dip in the vat - the fabric would look green when it came out . . .even though it would be dark blue going in. Interesting!

I hung everything out on the clothesline to dry. Apparently the dye fixes better if it is fully dry when you do the washout. It got into the 90's today, so things should dry quickly.

The pale blue fabric only went into the vat once. The loosely woven wraps went in twice, and three times. The jackets went in two or three times.

It is so hard to wait . . . but I know I really need to delay handling these fabrics any more until they are fully dry. Then I will remove the ties and do a wash out. Stay tuned!

Indigo Dyeing

I've had indigo dyeing on my mind for a number of years.
Finally! I was able to do it!

I wanted to do some garment dyeing, so I created several Bog Coats - such as this one above. A super simple pattern to make - from a single piece of fabric. I added patch pockets. The one in the picture is made of cotton, but I also made a couple in silk.
These were manipulated shibori style prior to dyeing to create visual interest.

I used the instructions for pre-reduced indigo from Earth Guild at earthguild.com.
I'd ordered the pre-reduced indigo and Sodium Hydrosulfite from Shibori Dragon.
I also referred to "A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing" by Vivien Prideaux, published by Search Press.

The Earth Guild / Jacquard recipe was super easy to follow and worked perfectly in the 5 gallon bucket I wanted to use. Apparently, this will keep for quite a long time if it is properly maintained! Fortunately, I also have instructions for maintaining the vat.
So, in the picture above, you can see the stirring process after all ingredients were added to the vat. Below - see the "flower" in the center. This is skimmed off the surface before you start dyeing.

You can see that the liquid is clear yellowish green, but the surface is dark blue/indigo with a coppery metallic sheen. Beautiful!

The fabric looks pale yellow green when it is first removed from the vat.

Different shades of green - depending on the fabric.

I'll continue on about indigo dyeing in the next post.

Vegetation Prints from a Gelatin Plate

To create interesting prints of plants, I always start by brushing paint over the surface of the gelatin plate. In this instance, I used Setacolor Transparent paint in green and Jacquard Lumiere in bright gold.

The plant is then placed onto the painted surface in the desired location. This will make the first print. Lay a sheet of fabric or paper over the paint and plant material. Press gently with your hands - moving them around to make sure all exposed paint is transferred. This first print will look like a stencil print - with the plant creating the stencil.

Next, gently lift the plant material away. You will see an intricate imprint from the plant material has been left behind on the gelatin plate. This is the image used to create the second print. After the plants are removed, lay another piece of fabric over the gelatin plate. Smooth it carefully with your hands until you think all available paint has been transferred from the gelatin to the fabric. Then, lift the fabric away and set it aside to dry.

The second print will be a very detailed print of the plant material.

Lya, I think the gelatin sheets can be reconstituted in water in order to make a plate for printing. I am not sure what the proportions should be, but I think you should try a small amount - maybe on a paper plate or something - use half the water you would normally use for edible gelatin. I think that should work. Let me know how it goes if you try it!

Lisa, I do reuse the modeling clay. The soft gelatin can be washed away or it can be left to dry and then the flakes can be discarded.