Thursday 10 October 2013

Playtime!

You may be aware if you are a friend on Facebook that we've been away again!  This time to beautiful Scotland but I'll come back to that in a future post.

I think it's time I included something creative on here so I'll share with you what we did on our once-a-month play day yesterday.  Four of us have just started getting together to share techniques, ideas and inspirations and so far have explored discharge printing and printing with Inktense bars and pencils.


Using a home made screen (from a picture frame and voile) I laid the screen down onto a sheet of freezer paper (not the waxy side) and sketched with the oilbars keeping the idea of the sea in mind.


When I picked the screen up, as expected, loose colour from the bars had dropped through.  I sprayed these with water to dissolve the pigment and took a direct monoprint.



This is the print on cotton, it is a little stronger in real life.  What I particularly liked was the subtle specks of colour from the waterspray on the edges.

Turning to the silkscreen I pulled the first print onto Evolon with a layer of organza on the top and with a stencil between the screen and the organza.  Initially we used printpaste to pull the print but by the time we had washed that out it left a very pale print.  Evidently the paste puts the pigment into suspension instead of releasing it into the fabric fully.  I decided not to rinse my prints out as these early prints will probably go into my sketchbook for future reference.

This above is the organza print and below is the print on evolon


 If I had taken more time and care I could have masked out the hard outlines but the prints in themselves are exciting.  We were thinking of other ways of getting this effect of colour gradations with printing and couldn't think how else it could be achieved.

Just a belated word of warning, Inktense bars will stain your screen so don't use your best one! 


I made this print over earlier prints that I had made with Dionne Swift. I used a stencil based on the London streetplan by ArtistCellar Stencils.


And of course, I also had the positive print from the map stencil.

As I said earlier I havn't washed my prints out as I would expect to lose too much colour.  Apparently you can use Aloe Gel or even sanitising gel to pull the prints so I will have another try with one of these and see how the colours hold up.  It will be interesting to experiment with other watersoluble media too.

As well as having a play day I have been busy making a baby quilt for a friend who is expecting later this year.


I am really pleased with this quilt and as it is made from a panel it went together relatively quickly.  I added a border to square it up (not that it is very even) and patched together a backing.


The panel is by Hoffman fabrics but I can't remember where I got it from or what it's called.

I've also done a workshop recently and made a sewing roll, although the method could be adapted to a roll for any number of purposes,

Well, that's enough for one post. See you soon!



10 comments:

sharon young said...

Love the results from your printing session, the sea foam effect is gorgeous. Thanks for the technical detail too.
The baby quilt is just soo...... Lovely. And the sewing roll is definitely a must have, love the fabric.

Sandra Wyman said...

Love the printing results - must try (when I have a few spare hours and some inktense bars - which may not be for a while!)

pam said...

The printing looks great you have loads of patience - love the sewing roll as well very useful.

Heather said...

A lovely creative post Julie. I love your makes and the results of your printing session are beautiful. I believe the colour from Inktense bars is set with heat, so just by ironing your prints the fabric should then be washable.

ju-north said...

You've done all that - and been away!
Great results as usual Julie. Must admit to a slight feeling of envy when I saw your Scotland photos! We're booked in for next year which seems a long way off now.

Jill said...

Love the prints Julie. I've drawn onto fabric with Inktense pencils and blocks and once they have been wetted they have become permanent and taken a bit of rough washing - as an experiment. There was a little bleeding of the colour when first made wet when I went over my drawing with a water brush, so it would be worth experimenting with your printing..

Peneller said...

Lovely prints Julie. Must get my Inktense bars out!

Maggi said...

Fantastic results Julie. I particularly like the prints on the Evolon and the organza that was overlaid. There is obviously so much mileage in this technique - one to add to my 'to do' list!

Your friend should be delighted with that quilt, so colourful and pretty. A very nifty sewing roll too.

The Crafty Mugwump said...

Mmm... Inktense bars definitely on my Christmas list. Great work Julie.
Missing our Ullapool trip but glad you enjoyed Scotland, the perfect time to be there.

Mrs Moog said...

I love your printing, Julie it really is evocative of the sea and I love seeing your process.

The baby quilt is gorgeous and I'm sure will be loved and treasured by your friend and her baby :)

The sewing roll is a great idea - that would also make a good knitting bag for little things like socks.

xx