Sun Printing

Following on from all the dyeing I decided to have another go at sun printing.  If you click on the label 'sunprinting' in the side bar you can find previous posts that I've written about this.  The most recent is here.

Last time I sun printed with silk paints but this time I had bought some Pebeo Setacolour Soleil paints which are purpose made for sun printing.  You can also use silk paints or acrylic paints watered down but the acrylic paints will make the fabric a bit stiff.

I chose mostly cotton fabric but also some old sheer curtains which are probably made of nylon of some kind.  I soaked all the fabric in water and then wrung it out well, as opposed to just spraying with water as I did last time.  The important thing when sunprinting is to have everything you are going to need close to hand as you need to place your masks on the fabric as soon as you have applied the paint.  

I diluted the paints very slightly in the pots on the right and also mixed one or two colours from the bottles.  The Setacolor didn't have any instructions about adding water.
 

I laid waxed paper over boards and then put the damp fabric on top and applied the paints with a large brush.  I then grabbed all manner of flat-ish pieces and some fennel and ferns from the garden and then carefully carried the boards outside.
 

 I read on the bottles that you could apply resists to the fabrics just like you do with dyeing so I rolled a piece of fabric around a long strand of cotton lace and tied it up in a doughnut, applying paint as I went.  I also flag folded some fabric and applied some small bulldog clips. 

Just like with dye I scrunched up cotton and nylon fabrics in a cat litter tray and applied paints to that.

Perversely it wasn't a very sunny day but it was warm and the fabrics sat outside to dry.  The doughnut and the bulldog clipped fabrics took 2 days to dry completely.   It is important not to move any of the masks until the fabric is completely dry.

Now for the unveiling!

This section above reminds me of a gas cloud in space and I would love to attempt this on a larger piece of fabric.
 

The fennel has made some beautiful soft marks that contrast with the hard lines of the rings.  

This is the nylon curtaining that was coloured in the tray along with some cotton that I seemed to have missed photographing (I'll come back and amend the blog with some photos of that).

 This is the fabric folded and clamped with bulldog clips and I got some bonus rust marks too!

 The two images above are the doughnut ring and there are some very exciting marks in this fabric.  The second photo is the reverse of the fabric.
 

This is the reverse of the ring-printed fabric together with the lace that was in the doughnut. 

I don't have a clue how I will be using these fabrics but for the moment I am enjoying the marks I've achieved.  I think if I had done the printing on a proper sunny day I would have got much stronger marks as the reaction would have been quicker.  The best part of using the special paints seems to be that the fabric is still lovely and soft after the printing and ironing. (Yes, you need to follow the instructions on the bottles and iron the fabric thoroughly to set the colour).