Last month Terry and I were busy printing and dyeing fabrics ready to make up our fabric packs for sale at the various shows we shall be at through the summer, and this month Inspiration to Stitch students were enjoying the process too!
As well as using flour resists for pattern making there was soya wax too. The wonderful thing about using soya wax as a resist is that there is no tedious ironing between sheets of newsprint to remove the wax - it simply washes out!
You can print with anything that has a big enough pattern on it to show up through flour paste or wax - we love potato mashers for flour and have quite a collection, but everything from forks to bent wire shapes to cookie cutters and cardboard tubes work well for both techniques and of course traditional tjantings can be used for wax. Just remember the wax is hot, so be careful with plastic, and utensils should not be used for food afterwards.
The imperfections which give the character and personality to these pieces come from the drips of wax that are unavoidable without taking a huge amount of care - and we're always too impatient for that!
Once the resists have dried it's time to bring on the colour...
You can print with anything that has a big enough pattern on it to show up through flour paste or wax - we love potato mashers for flour and have quite a collection, but everything from forks to bent wire shapes to cookie cutters and cardboard tubes work well for both techniques and of course traditional tjantings can be used for wax. Just remember the wax is hot, so be careful with plastic, and utensils should not be used for food afterwards.
The imperfections which give the character and personality to these pieces come from the drips of wax that are unavoidable without taking a huge amount of care - and we're always too impatient for that!
Once the resists have dried it's time to bring on the colour...
We're using Procion dyes thickened with Manutex paste which gives a great consistency for printing and scraping onto cloth with a our favourite tool - the trusty credit card! We like to mix the colour as it goes on to the fabric - possibly another 'imperfection' for some - but this gives great texture to the fabric.
Thickened dye is good for screen-printing with traditional screens and Thermofaxes too - but that's the subject of another post!
bye for now
Hazel & Terry
Thickened dye is good for screen-printing with traditional screens and Thermofaxes too - but that's the subject of another post!
bye for now
Hazel & Terry
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