Monday, May 3, 2010

Off And Running!



My three entries for FABRIC 2010 : Handmade Designs on Fabric for Quiltmaking are in the mail and on their way to Columbus. OH., and after a quiet but wonderful weekend at home with hubby, I was back in the studio this morning, chewing up the scenery.

First thing this morning, this large length of cotton sateen from my last batch of hand-dyeds...


... Got the flour paste resist treatment...


... And now waits to dry. It's destined for a textile paint crackle in a mid-ranged green. As is common when exploring a specific technique, I made a small but important refinement to my process this time with the use of a seventy-five cent plastic tool from the hardware store.


The lowly spackle blade shaved time off my flour paste resist application and gave me a lovely, thin coating which not only saved me on flour (because I didn't need as much to get full coverage), but should promote fine crazing that will look wonderful on the finished fabric. I won't know until much later if this is the last layer this fabric will receive or not.

Once the FPR was set aside to dry, I spent some time monoprinting with thickened black dye (sorry, no progress photos for those- I forgot to take them and now the pieces are wrapped in plastic and batching). I used a product called SuperClear, which is essentially pre-thickened print paste (water and sodium alginate mixed together), and wasn't entirely thrilled with it for monoprinting. It was too thin to really get interesting impressions but I think it will make an adequate-if not spendy- paste for deconstructed screen printing. I'll use the rest of what I have and then go back to making my own. 

Finally, to finish the day, I did some more monoprinting with Neopaque onto some hand-dyed pieces. These pieces are still in their "ugly stage" and will get more layers over time until they're finished. 




Nothing earth-shattering, but a solid start to developing themes for my Blurred Boundaries entry in July.

At the end of the day, despite the mess to be cleaned, a cluttered desk = a productive day and a good start to the week. 


The rest of the week promises to be as busy. Hope your week is everything you want it to be, too... happy creating!

11 comments:

Robbie said...

I really like all three pieces but the red and gold'ish' mono printing pieces are great!

Cate Rose said...

I especially love that last piece, Judi!

laura west kong said...

They're all fabulous, but I love the middle one best!

Jan said...

I don't know how you achieved the monoprinting pieces but they are marvelous. Good work, keep it up.

elle said...

And you really are happily creating right at the heart of things. I 'see' you in that glass globe. And you have lots of yummy things swirling around you. Too much fun!!!

Judy Alexander said...

Great work. Love the last one.

Anonymous said...

OOH...that last piece is my favorite. Using the spackle blade a great idea..thanks for sharing. Hope you continue to posts updates to QA list. They remind me to check out your latest escapades.

Anonymous said...

Question: Have you ever thought of laying flour paste covered fabric outside in sunny location to speed up the drying process. I have a great open deck location that I would like to try this in...if it ever stops raining here in NW FL. Just wondering if you can think of any problems I might have before I try this out.

carol ann perkins said...

Hi judi
I love the orangey one with the black skwiggls I would love to see the crackle piece. When it's done.

Leslie Tucker Jenison said...

Flour paste is my favorite crackle resist medium. These are beautiful pieces of cloth!
Leslie

Darcy Berg said...

Very cool. I like all your pieces and can't wait to see more!

Darcy Berg
www.darcyberg.com