Prints Galore

Today I have been printing on fabric and paper. First up I cut a new lino block with a jellyfish motif. I always find it hard to visualise which bit will come out coloured and which will remain white. I used paint pens on the lino to mark the design and show clearly which parts needed to be cut away (white) and which to keep (black). I printed the jellyfish on fabric and paper using regular acrylics and Lumiere opalescent fabric paints.

Printed on sheer organza

Next I used half an apple to print with using acrylic paints.

Next I used Magic Stamps. You can heat up these foam stamps with a heat gun and press objects into them to make a stamp. First I tried rice along with a variety of colour mediums.

Up next were cotton reels.

I tried pressing in one of my lino cuts to get a reverse stamp. Inktense blocks seemed to work best on these low relief stamps.

Then I tried pressing them into stencils.

And then into stencils layered on top of each other.

I now have a variety of printed fabrics and papers to play with.

Layered Sunprint

Over the last few days I have been working on this layered sunprint. The basic technique is to lay objects over the wet paint and leave it to dry in the sun. Covered areas will dry lighter.

I used commercial stencils, home-made glue stencils and leaves.

Here are the layers building up.

You can also screw up the fabric while it dries or sprinkle on salt for more effects.

It works with paper too.

Sun Printing

I've been trying some sun printing on paper and fabric. These are my first tries with layering 2 colours. I like how the palm leaf came out so I'll do another once I've collected some more leaves. The basic idea is that you put on watery paint or fabric colour and lay objects on top whilst it is still wet. Then leave the fabric in the sun to dry. Areas covered with objects will come out lighter.

Coloured Pencils on Fabric

I'm taking the Stunning Surfaces Art Cloth course with Cecile from Unique Stitching. This week we were trying coloured pencils on cloth which I hadn't tried before. These postcards (above) and the girl (below) were both done with Karisma pencils (also known as Prismacolor). After colouring they were free machined.

Fabric Experiments Journal

I've started a new journal to keep my fabric experiments in. The cover itself is an experiment made at the Unique Stitching art retreat (see previous post). I made the journal cover from scrap cardboard in a scrapbook album style with post binding so more pages can be inserted any time. I used my fabric experiment to make a slip cover.

My first page is an experiment with some gilding flakes ironed onto Bondaweb leaf shapes and then free machined. Pretty huh?

Fabrics

I made these fabric pieces whilst on the Unique Stitching retreat. The first two use TAP transfer artist paper to add the words and images whilst the background and colours are a mixture of ink sprays, tissue papers, stamps, acrylics and wax.

The last sample is silk paper made from silk fibres. It was then embellished with leaf skeletons, velvet and other fabric scraps, fabric flowers, and machine stitching.

Fabric Art Book

I made this fabric art book whilst on the Unique Stitching retreat. This is Jane Davila's class. It's both fabric and paper sewn together and embellished with paints, buttons ribbons and more. A bit like a fabric scrapbook.

Inside the front door