Today's the Day

Well, it was going to be the day I worked on my quilt for Festival of Quilts but as the sun was shining I got side-tracked, as you do.  All that sunshine was an open invitation to do some sunprinting.  I had collected some gingko leaves while we were away last week (Oh yes!  We've been away.......again!) and sunprinting seemed ideal for a play.

I started out by preparing my surfaces, as in laid my fabric onto boards covered with waxed paper.

A good assortment of silk paints and a spray bottle of water to soak the fabrics with.  My initial inspiration was the leaves but I soon had lots of other ideas to play with. ( I also inadvertantly threw half the bottle of grey onto the floor and all over my chair!)

I spray soaked each fabric and then dripped the silk paints on and re-sprayed to spread the colour a bit more.  I decided to sprinkle sea salt on each piece too.

I used coffee stirrers, cotton reels and bottle bungs for this one to offset round shapes against straight lines.

Next, an assortment of keys,

Dried leaves and grasses from the garden,

and finally, the gingko leaves with a selectionof leaves and fern.  The very fine stem is Fennel and it gave a lovely scent.

Part way through they were looking promising,

It's very easy to get impatient and move the masks before everything has completely dried so I resisted the temptation to peak until the leaves started blowing off.

Reverse side above, 'right' side below.

I do like the marks you get on the reverse side!

Reverse of the stirrers and reels above, 'right' side below.

Reverse side above, 'right' side below.

 

Reverse side above, there are some lovely marks here where the salt has pulled the paint.

This above is the 'right' side and has some equally exciting marks.

Finally, the piece with the dried leaves, reverse above, 'right' side below.

Some of the finer elements have left some very delicate marks and I am pleased that in many instances the masks have retained some colour beneath them.  I still have to iron all the fabrics to fix the paint and then I'll probably think about them for some time before I actually get round to using them.  I have tried to link them with the colours I've used and have an idea or two lurking at the back of my mind for what I will use them for.  

I did get round to doing a little work on my Festival of Quilts entry and have bonded it lightly onto a felt backing ready for free machining.

The photo makes this look whiter than it is in reality as it has picked up on the gesso I used initially to secure pieces of scrim, newsprint, snippets of lace, broderie anglaise.  I intend it to be about the decay and deterioration of a building.  My difficulty at the moment is in deciding how to stitch it.  I have prepared a smaller sample to practice on but that will have to wait for a few days as life has to be lived.