More Stencilling!

There are certain names that I regularly return to in this blog. One of them is Melanie Testa, as you know if you've read my blog lately. Another name is Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin.

As soon as I finished my pretty purses I turned to another couple of projects that have been on my to-do list for a while. A couple of years ago I made myself a bandana according to the instructions in Chanin's book Alabama Stitch Book, but I've wanted to make myself a proper garment too. While I've been biding my time and soaking up knowledge, I've bought all three of her books, and have a whole Alabama Chanin library by now. I love all her books, and in the last one you get full-sized patterns for an Alabama Chanin wardrobe, along with instuctions, tips and inspiration. So the time is ripe to get started. I've also found it hard to just sit and watch while my friend Cheryl Razmus is whipping up garment after garment. Have a look at her gorgeous creations on Flickr.

I decided to start small and make a simple bucket hat and fitted top to try out the patterns before I embark on anything more complicated and time-consuming. So I dug out the good old 'Bloomers' stencil I used before for my bandana, and used it to print on the fabric for the hat

and for spray painting on the fabric for the fitted top.

The spray painting technique is what Chanin calls 'faded leaves' and the effect is created by spraying thinned paint onto wet fabric for a watercolour look. My paint didn't run as much as I expected, probably because the paint wasn't thin enough, or the fabric wet enough, but I'm pretty pleased anyway. I'll go for a runnier look next time. The main thing now is that I get an interesting fabric for trying out the pattern. I want to be sure of the fit before I invest all that effort into a more elaborate garment.

I'd just got rid of old, flaking nail polish when I got this new manicure. Oh well.

I didn't want to waste the paint that collected on top of the stencil so I flipped the stencil onto a piece of cotton and got this interesting texture.

I'm really exited about a new discovery I've made in the field of textile paint. Well, to be honest, I've known about these products for a long time, I just wasn't ready for them before now. I've mentioned the Finnish brand Emo Tuotanto's fibre reactive dyes before on this blog, but now I've also tried their mediums for printing on fabric. They have a thicker medium that is used for printing and a runnier medium that can be used for sun printing or spraying. The great thing about these mediums is that they come clear and you add the pigment yourself. So you can mix any colour you like in any consistency. I love it! Why haven't I used them before? (They also carry ready-mixed paints, which I have used until now.)

Liquid medium and print paste, along with liquid pigments to add to the mediums.

I realise that it might be difficult for my international readers to get hold of these products, but perhaps your own national brand carries something similar? Have a look around next time you are looking for textile paint! It's great fun to have the freedom to mix your own colours.

Thanks for visiting! To be continued... - Annika

Untried Thing No 3: Fabric Medium + Watersoluble Media

Here's my third and final Untried Thing for this time: combining watersoluble media with fabric medium on fabric. Again, my inspiration is Design Matters TV (DMTV), and I learned this technique from Linda Kemshall.

Combining fabric medium and watersoluble media such as e.g. watersoluble crayons and Inktense pencils can be done in different ways. In my library I also have a couple of videos where Kerr Grabowski demonstrates how to use on fabric what she calls 'fugitive media', i.e. media that wouldn't stay on fabric unless you combine them with some sort of binder. The difference between Linda's and Kerr's methods (at least in the videos I have access to) is that Kerr uses a silk screen to trap the pigments under a layer of medium, whereas Linda uses a brush. I want to try both methods, but I decided to start with Linda's. As I see it, if you draw on fabric and want to make sure that your marks stay exactly where you put them, you should use the silk screen method. However, if you want to blend colours on the fabric, you want to use the brush method. Also, with the brush method it is easy to limit the area that will be stiffened with medium to where the actual image is. With a screen the medium will also cover the areas around the image.

The technique is very straightforward. You draw an image on fabric, which has been stabilised with freezer paper, using some kind of watersoluble medium (pencils, crayons). When you're happy with the image, you apply fabric medium over it with a brush, covering the whole image and blending the colours. The medium will stiffen the fabric about as much as an ordinary fabric paint would. Here are my samples:

Inktense pencils

Neocolor II watersoluble crayons

Graphitint pencils

I haven't tried washing any of my saples yet, but I'll get to that too eventually. In Linda's tutorial she used Inktense pencils with good results.

I'm very excited about this technique as there is so much potential in it. Be still, my heart!

Thanks for visiting: I hope you too will be inspired to try this! - Annika