Printing with acrylics on paper and fabric

At February's meeting we experimented with printing on paper and fabric using simple shapes. Here are some examples from around the room (in no particular order):

Do bring anything you make from your printed pieces along to a future meeting, we'd love to see them.

Karen

Transfer prints from September's meeting

As promised, here is another instalment from the backlog of photos I have taken at recent meetings. This time it is painted papers, printed fabric and stitched pieces produced as a result of September's meeting. Thanks to Ann for leading the session.

Painted papers

Some people ironed their papers onto fabric on the day

Helen and Liz had already stitched into some of their fabric

Thanks for visiting. The next photos will be from October's 'Beyond Celtic' session.

Dyed fabric from July's meeting

Apologies to anyone who has been looking for posts about the group, but you'll be pleased to know I've got lots of photos to share with you. The first ones show some gorgeous pieces of dyed fabric from July's meeting. Thanks to Leah for bringing along the dyes and leading the session.

Notice the lovely orange bag in the middle of this last picture.

I'll post some more in the next few days on the transfer dye session at September's meeting.

Stitched resist from June's meeting

The last meeting was an opportunity for us to prepare fabrics for dyeing in July. I described some techniques that I had been trying and showed my samples, which can be seen below.

I used two different approaches in producing these samples:

* hand or machine stitching, then drawing the fabric up tightly

* dense machine stitching which did not need to be drawn up

The first sample shows hand stitching, in lines, in a block and to outline shapes. The four lines at the bottom are running stitches through one, two, three and four layers of fabric. I used polyester thread double for the stitching.

I started pulling up the threads with the nested squares on the right and I definitely got better as I progressed, because this part did not come out well but the other areas were better.

Here are the results for the parallel lines at the bottom.

And here are the results for the top portion.

I also had a couple of samples using machine stitching, where I had loosened the top thread so I could draw up the stitches. Both used parallel lines of stitching, like this.

This first sample is a bit patchy, the gap is where the thread broke as I tightened it. (I used the same polyester thread as for the hand stitching.)

For the second sample, I used a thicker (quilting) thread in the bobbin, which meant that I didn't have any breakages.

The second approach was something I'd heard about at a show last year and wanted to try for myself. The idea is that stitching will block the dye from fabric covered by a close zigzag or other dense stitch patterns. I tried two stitches in these three samples, in which I pleated the fabric before stitching through all the layers. The stitches are all close zigzag except for the thinner lines in the middle sample which use a stretch stitch. This was an easy way to get a repeat pattern.

The straight lines came out rather faint, but the others worked better. Here are the results.

Finally, I tried stitching a pattern through a layer of fabric on top of wadding. I don't have a picture of the stitching, but here are the results with the wadding on the left and the fabric on the right.

For more ideas, see the blog 'And then we set it on fire', where October 2014 was devoted to stitch resists.

Photos from October's meeting

Hi everyone,

Here at last are the photos I took at our meeting in October and my results from the rust dyeing.

First of all, some from the show and tell.

Phyl's finished piece using the fabric Leah dyed for the group. I have to admit, I've not decided what to do with mine yet. Has anyone else made anything with their piece?

Then some sun dyed samples from Lis. The piece top right is cyanotype which was left in water for several days and came out brown instead of blue.

And a batik piece from Phyl from earlier this year. Mine faded quite a bit, but this piece has really kept its colour.

For the activity, Leah brought along ferrous sulphate, tea and soda solutions for 'alternative rust dyeing'. To start off, Julie showed us some pieces she had rust dyed at home, which she had produced by tying the fabric to a rusty metal drum (note the string marks). This is usual way to rust dye, but it can take days for rust to transfer to the fabric.

Then we all tried not to make a mess as we added solutions to fabric in different orders and amounts. The last photo is of my fabric from the meeting. I got a good range of shades, which was a pleasant surprise as I had little idea what the result would be.

In two weeks time we have a workshop with a visiting tutor to learn nuno and 3D felting. Please let Lis, Liz or myself know if you will be coming to the meeting.

September meeting cancelled

As only a few members of the group were free for the September meeting, the next meeting will now be on 19 October when Leah will be demonstrating rust dyeing using ferrous sulphate (hope I've got that right). A requirements list will be circulated before the meeting, as usual.

See you in October!

Batik at June's meeting

Here are a few shots of 'work in progress' from June's batik workshop.

I shall look forward to seeing all of these after the wax has been removed.

Dyed fabric from April's meeting

A few photos from last Sunday's show and tell. First, some interesting textures from ice dyeing.

Second, a lovely palette of colours.

I'll post some photos from the batik workshop in the next few days.

May meeting - fabric dyeing

Apologies for the two month break in posts. First we had to cancel April's meeting as not many people were around so close to Easter, then I was on holiday in May and missed the meeting. Thanks to Lis for sending me the following report on the tray dyeing.

Leah has dyed large pieces of poplin delphina for us to have approximately 1m sq. each to see what we can do with it over the year. 

She started with soda soaking, then roughly pleated the pieces and put them in the tray - the ends were squidged as the pieces were too long to fit.

Royal blue, a touch of golden yellow plus water were poured under the fabric at one end. The tray was tipped to let the colour flow down the back of the fabric. The top end was squidged to absorb more dye.

Golden yellow,  magenta, dark brown and water were poured on top of the fabric at the other end and the tray was tipped again.

Golden yellow and water were added to the top of the fabric in the middle.  The dye was squidged and spread in from both ends.  More green was added to the top (blue) end and more yellow added to the centre.  Leah squidged and spread the dye from one end to the other and made sure there were no white sections before then leaving the tray to stand.

This is the final photo. I can't wait to see the finished piece at the next meeting, when we will also be having the batik workshop that we have been planning for several months.

March meeting - Silk paper from cocoon strippings

At next Sunday's meeting we are going to have a look at the process of making paper from silk cocoon strippings. 

The paper produced can be thin and delicate or quite thick and sturdy and can also have things embedded in it. It can be coloured or painted, cut up or stitched into - Leah mentioned 3D objects but that's an area to experiment with!

Julie will bring the supplies we need to make the paper and a selection of things to include but if you want to bring your own choice of things - again it's something to experiment with, then small, non-bulky items are easiest. 

Things to try might include: 

snippets of fabric - your choice of colour and material! 

threads, yarn, wool tops, angelina fibres etc

small pieces of interesting coloured papers, labels, newspaper text or pictures

plant material such as petals and small leaves

glitter or sequins

herbal teas (red berry types) can produce interesting textured surfaces with a hint of colour

 - anything else you want to try - but bear in mind that part of the making process is spraying with water and then ironing (flower petals for instance will change colour because of the heat of the iron, plastics will melt!).

If you have an iron that you can bring then that will cut down on queuing time, similarly if you have any sort of water spray, plant mister or a re-cycled well-rinsed spray bottle then bring that too. Don't worry if not, we can always share.

Paper making in this way is quick and easy, Julie will demonstrate how to do it and then you can spend as much, or as little time as you like experimenting with the process. If you want to you can bring other sewing projects to work on too.

As always we will have a shared lunch and a 'show and tell' session!

Please let Julie know whether or not you are able to come.

See you on Sunday.

February meeting - Using sheers revisited

After the last session on using sheers, I continued experimenting with nylon organza and the soldering iron and will be able to demonstrate a few alternative ways of using this fabric along with other fabrics. I will bring examples of combining the organza with acetate, wool felt, devoré velvet and satin, as well as using layers of nylon alone. Feel free to bring other fabrics to experiment with.

Suggested requirements:

Sheer fabrics. I will bring nylon organza, but you might want to use silk, fine cotton or something else.

Thicker fabric to use as a background (if required). White fabric will give a pastel effect (see example above), while coloured fabrics will modify the colours of the sheer fabric.

If you have them: Soldering iron, heatproof surface, metal ruler/straight edge.

Thread for hand or machine stitching.

Sewing kit and/or sewing machine.

As usual, please bring along something for a shared lunch and things for the show and tell.

November meeting - Dyeing our stitch resist pieces (and anything else)

At our next meeting on Saturday 16 November, Leah will be bringing along dyes and soda solution so that you can dye your Shibori pieces. She will also demonstrate how she uses perspex plates to form resists (as in the example below) and we can also try wrapping cloth around a pole to create a resist. 

See the 'And then we set it on fire' blog for ideas:

 

http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/shibori-folding.html

 

http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.co.uk/2013_07_01_archive.html

 

It will also be an opportunity for you to top up you stash of hand dyed fabrics. Leah will be bringing the seven basic colours (Royal Blue, Turquoise, Magenta, Scarlet, Golden Yellow, Acid Lemon and Black) and will also bring Rust, Petrol Green and Indigo. She will bring soda solution as well as a soda bucket if you want to presoak any of your fabric. There will be a charge of £4 for dyes and soda on the day, in addition to the usual £5 meeting fee. 

Please let Leah know if you will be attending so she knows how much dye to prepare.

Below is the list of things you will need to bring -

 

Salt solution – dissolve 500g of the cheapest table salt you can buy in 2 litres of water. You’ll need to use fairly hot water to get all the salt to dissolve. Empty 2 litre soft drinks bottles are ideal for storing the solution.

Fabric – procion dyes will only work with cotton, silk or viscose. Unless the fabric is sold as ‘prepared for dye (PFD) you will need to put the fabric through a hot wash to remove any dressings. Even with PFD fabrics it is worth checking how easily they absorb a drop of water, it should absorb instantly – if in doubt pre-wash the fabric. How much fabric you need will depend on what you want to do but you can easily dye 5+metres in a day. Don't forget the fabric you stitched in preparation at the last meeting.

Large plastic sheet, an apron or wear old cloths and rubber gloves – procion dyes will stain you and more importantly will stain the floor and we don’t want any accidents!

Plastic poles and string if you want to try that type of resist.

A range of plastic cups and spoons for mixing the solutions as well as plastic bags, trays or a bucket to carry your wet fabrics home.

Lots of containers for dyeing the fabric in depending on what you want to do – plastic freezer bags for dyeing ‘solid’ colours, empty plastic pots for layered or parfait dyeing, trays for dyeing large pieces of fabric and for dyeing threads. Use old yoghurt pots, ice cream containers, soap tablet boxes etc.

Kitchen towel for mopping up.

Scissor for cutting fabric and a marker pen for labelling fabric / freezer bags.

Notebook to keep track of what combinations of dyes you use.

We’ll have a shared lunch and show and tell as per usual.

October meeting - Shibori Stitching

Our next meeting on Sunday 20th October will be lead by Lis Binns and will be on Shibori. 

 

Shibori is a method that uses stitch as a resist to create wonderful patterns when you then dye the fabric. Traditionally it is associated with indigo dyeing but can be used with any liquid dyes. We will be doing the stitch part at the next meeting and the dyeing part in the November meeting.

You will need:

 

Fabric - As we will be using Procion dyes in November you need to work on cotton or silk. Please prewash your fabric if it is not prepared for dye. A slightly open weave, such as in calico, is easy to work with. Dense weaves such as poplin will be difficult to sew so best avoided.

Sewing kit – You will need strong thread, needle, and scissors.

Other stuff – a fabric marker that washes out. If you have circles or other shapes to use as a template then bring them along. Or bring card, pencil and paper scissors to make them on the day.

 

We’ll have a shared lunch and show and tell as per usual. If you have done any Shibori in the past and have samples you can show please bring them. 

Please let Leah know if you will be attending.

September meeting - Playing with print

At the next meeting on 21 September, we’ll be investigating the different materials that you can use to make printing blocks. Leah will also bring along some acrylic paints and fabric medium so that we can try printing onto paper or cloth. Depending on the materials used you can make blocks that will last for years and can be used with acrylics, screen printing inks or thickened dyes.

You will find it helpful to bring along a design source to inspire you ... a photo or an object that has strong and interesting lines. 

 

These were based on paintings by Hundertwasser and were made using sticky backed foam and offcuts of mount board.

Please bring along -

• Anything you can find that can be used to make a print block! This list is not exhaustive but ... commercial stamps and blocks, lino sheets (or the softer plastic pieces sold as safer alternatives) and lino cutters, foam sheets or thick cardboard that can be cut and mounted, old packaging such as polystyrene or foam inserts, polystyrene circles from pizzas can be drawn into with an old biro, potatoes(!), offcuts of wood and a glue gun if you have one, interesting shaped items like buttons that can be stuck to a cardboard mount, string of different thicknesses that can be wrapped round a roller or glued to card, foam rollers that you can cut a design into the surface ... Or any other ideas you have!
• Thick card or similar on which to stick combinations of 'bits'.
• Pencils, ruler, scissors and craft knife or other cutting tools, glue such as PVA or double sided sticky tape to hold things together.
• Some old newspapers if you are going to use your blocks to print on the day or a print board with a cloth cover – you get a better print if your surface is not completely hard.
• Paint brushes, rollers or sponges for applying paint. A piece of plastic or an old dinner plate to use as a palette.
• Acrylic or fabric paints – Some acrylics and fabric medium will be available if you want to print on cloth but only a limited range of colours, so if you have any please bring them.
• Plastic cups and spoons to mix acrylics / fabric binder etc.
• Paper or cloth to print on. If using cloth you will need to pin it to your print surface or bring duct tape to hold it down. As we are using acrylics you can use any type of cloth – maybe you could overprint some hand dyed fabric from a previous session? Although you can print onto cheap copy paper to test your block you generally get more interesting results by printing onto paper that is a bit heavier and has a bit of texture.
• Old clothes if you’re messy!

As normal we will have a shared lunch. We’ll also have a show and tell so please bring along anything you have been working on that you’d like to share – it doesn’t just have to be stuff done in one of our workshops.

 

Please let Leah know if you’re coming to the meeting.

I hope to see you on the 21st.