Extraordinary Prints from Ordinary Objects - F

F is for Flour!

Flour is something that we usually keep around in the kitchen.

Why not use it to create fabric as well as for baking cookies!

- Mix the flour approx. 50/50 with water. 

- Mix until smooth

- Spread the flour mixture onto the fabric.

- Let dry completely - it will get quite hard.

- When the fabric is crispy: Scrunch it - the more violent you are, 

  the more crinkly lines you will get.

Flour is dried on the fabric and ready for crackling.

- Paint with pigments. Really work the colour into the cracks.

While the flour is wet, you can make patterns.
Here I used different sizes of forks.

Finished "Fork" fabric

- If you want more colours, let the flour/pigment dry and scrunch some more.

- After the fabric is dry, rub off the flour - not a quick process,

but quite relaxing and fun!

Flour and pigment are dry and partially scraped off.

More fork patterns.

Colour Vie pigments, www.colourvie.com, like most fabric pigments, 

need to be heat set with an iron in order to be wash fast. 

Make sure that all flour is removed from the fabric before heat setting.

If it is not removed, the flour has a tendency to become a permanent fixture 

in your design.....

Now here’s the really cool thing: Colour Vie pigments will actually heat set 

without ironing over a period of time.

So, if you’re not in a rush, you can simply let the fabric sit for 2 - 4 weeks, 

and then rinse off the flour in luke warm water.

 You may want to check out this great blog that uses flour in a different way.

http://eyesaflame.blogspot.ca/2008/06/demo-flour-paste-batik.html

Extraordinary Prints form Ordinary Objects - E

E is for Eraser!

Excellent fabric pigments are available at www.colourvie.com

Want to create your own stamps?

In printing the alphabet we are already at E!

One of the easiest ways to make your own stamps:
Cut your design from a cheap white eraser.

- Carve out your design with an x-acto knife.

- Make a simple stamp pad out of a piece of foam.

- Spread the pigment on the stamp pad.
- Print away - and have fun!

On this piece I painted the fabric with Colour Vie pigments.
While the pigment was still wet, I used the eraser stamps
to remove pigment colour.

Here I painted the background colour, then printed with
the different eraser stamps.

For this napkin and placemat I used the eraser end of a pencil.

Student work: by Linda Wells.

Extraordinary Prints from Ordinary Objects - D

D is for Discharge!

I stencilled this fabric. (Not all fabrics discharge to white). 

Discharging Is the fancy name for removing colour form dyed fabrics. 

The regular household chlorine bleach works well on all cellulose fibres

(cotton, linen, rayon, bamboo etc), but will cause discolouring and deterioration 

in most other natural fabrics. Not all dyed fabrics are in fact dischargeable - 

it all depends on what kind of dyes have been used to dye the fabric originally. 

If you dye your own fabrics, any fibre reactive dyes will discharge beautifully. 

The variety of techniques you can use for discharging are almost endless. 

In fact a lot of the tools that you use for adding colour to cloth can also be used 

to remove colour!

Once the dark fabric has been discharged, you need to rinse and neutralize the 

bleach - in order to stop the bleach from eating holes into your fabric. 

The same goes for any tools you use - bleach is notorious for consuming brushes 

unless they have synthetic bristles.

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/neutralizingdischarge.shtml is a great site for this info. 

On this fabric I used a brush to discharge the black.

Pole wrapped and discharged to a lovely rich brown.

I screen printed the discharge paste onto silk noile
using Rongalite (which works on silk) instead of bleach.

Colour Vie pigments do not discharge, but can be added
afterward for layering and added surface details.
www.colourvie.com

For the black silk crepe de chine scarf I added
colour Vie pure pigment to the Rongalite
discharge paste, so that colour was added at the
same time as the black silk was discharged.

Dorothy Caldwell uses bleach discharge in her fabric pieces.
www.davidkayegallery.com/

Detail showing Dorothy's stitching and patching.

Extraordinary Prints from Ordinary Objects - C

C is for Credit card!

The raised areas will dry flat and dark.

Credit cards a good for many things, like shopping,
but more importantly: PRINTING! 

Your old credit card or any bit of stiff plastic or card can be used.
1. Using pigments, paint your fabric in a pale colour
    Colour Vie is ideal (www.colourvie.com)
2. While the first coat is still wet, paint over it with a darker hue.
3. Use the credit card to remove some of the top layer of colour.
4. ENJOY!

I scraped off the top layer using an old credit card

Possibilities are endless

Here I used the bathmat technique, then the credit card

Student work

Extraordinary Prints from Ordinary Objects - B!

B is for Bath-mat!

Second week of printing the alphabet - and B it is!

Scraped (top of mat) and dry brushed using the back of the mat

1. Take  your lowly dollar store bath mat - or a fancier one. 

One of my students once brought in her wedding gift bat mat - great pattern!

2. Using pigments (I favour Colour Vie), paint your fabric in a pale colour

3. While the fabric is still wet, paint over the first colour with a darker hue.

4. Slip the bath mat under the fabric

5. Using a scraper of some kind (I like dry wall smoothers), 

scrape off the top layer of pigment. 

The suction cups on the mat were put under the fabric and dry brushed
using metallic pigment

A different kind of mat, scraped

Metallic gold added to the  scraping

Student work

This technique and several others are described in  my Instructional Guides 

“Creating Textures” and “Creating Textures: Soft Textures”. 

Mention “Bath-mat” and receive a special price of $12 (+ shipping and tax) for both guides. www.colourvie.com

Extraordinary Prints from Ordinary Objects!

A is for Apple

This Fall I have been very excited to be teaching a bunch of workshops 

and meeting wonderful, creative people all over Ontario. 

Since I had to spend so much time out of town, this means that there are 

no workshops in the Colour Vie studio until some time after the New Year.

 (I will let you know as soon as I have the Spring 2013 Workshop dates available)

Meanwhile I decided to share some amazing prints and how they are produced 

with you. 

My intention is to publish a different print every week, 

so keep checking back to catch the latest fabric print news!

For some structure and to challenge myself I decided to “print the alphabet”

starting with A.

A is for Apple!

- Cut an apple in half

- Allow the halves to dry out cut side down on a paper towel for a few minutes

- Mix the pigment colour you want to print with

  (What can I say - I am partial to my Colour Vie pigments:) www.colourvie.com

- Make yourself a stamp pad from a piece of medium density foam

  (or apply pigment with a foam brush)

- Ink up the apple and print away!

On this piece I used pale green pigment and metallic gold pigments.

 I painted the fabric first, then printed with pewter and gold metallic pigment

Student work

Fibre Content at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre

If you didn't make it to the Fibre Content Exhibition at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, you can take a virtual tour PLUS watch interview snippets with some of the exhibitors on youtube. Just click on the following links:

http://youtu.be/xICHha9-lY4

http://youtu.be/obTeoPF92sg

http://youtu.be/z84JUEV7kIM

With Tove Rees and Maggie Vanderweit in front of Maggie's exquisite quilt "Bedolina Threads".
And yes, it was a very rainy day.....
Photo by Bev White