Painting and printing fabric.

I've been having fun with my new printing blocks and fabric paints. This shows the first colour added to the vine leaf block on to a piece of calico. I shall be overprinting this with another, darker colour.

These are the new fabric paints from Colouricious. I used these neat, mixing three colours together, sponging them onto the fabric. Great fun. Next time I shall try them with a little water added, just to see what happens. The containers make it really easy to get just the right amount of paint. There is a little hole in the top and its easy to get just the right amount. Such a good idea.

The completed fabric is still really malleable, a little stiffer than I am used to. I will still be able to sew through the fabric and overprint on it. I was wondering about discharge printing using the new blocks but this will have to wait for a change in the weather. It has been far too cold and wet outside today.

I decided to cover my work top with paper this time. This way I get to the use the paper as end papers for my home-made books or in my sketchbook. Yes, I do have one on the go at the moment. I shall show it to you another time.

This time, my trusty Setacolor Opaque fabric paints. I water these down a lot, so the paint goes a really long way.

This is the completed fabric. It is softer than the Colouricious fabric paints, but then I did water the paint down a lot. (Probably about four or even five parts water to one part paint). The Setacolor is really thick and gloopy when it comes out of those small bottles, which can be a bit of a nuisance if the bottle is newly opened, or the paint has hardened a little.

I shall definitely use paper again. Such fun.

Simple fabric printing.

My colour palette for today.

My water pot, an old mug. Did you spot the mistakes? I forgot to wash it out first - it usually holds my pens. Oops! I also forgot to clear a space around my work. Luckily nothing got damaged this time... But I did forget to remove my best cutting mat. It won't be damaged, but might have turned an interesting colour.

My first colour. I am using a scrap of old tea towel to print with. The tray originally came as part of one of those packaged meals. I have added quite a lot of water to this paint since I want it to really soak into the fabric.

As you can see, not too much of the fabric paint is needed.

My fabric is a loosely woven cotton. I would describe this as "cheesecloth". The fabric needs to be stuck into position using masking tape. The table needs to be covered to avoid staining.

This is some more Setacolor being added, just a small dollop. One of those small tubs (45ml) goes a long way.

I have deliberately not mixed thoroughly, but have added more water and will print with the mixture looking like this.

The reason being that I can get some wonderfully unexpected effects like this one above. The two greens have not mixed together and I get pure colour.

I am now going to add in the red.

I love the colours in the mixing basin.

This is the completed cloth, still wet.

Yes, I used every scrap of the Setacolor mixture.

This is the washed cloth, it is rather interestingly stained. I shall use it again.

Talking of stains, I should own up and mention that the nails of my right hand are currently slightly yellow. One thing I keep forgetting to use are gloves................

The fabric I have printed today - it is still damp as I write - is intended for a new round robin I am taking part in. I intend to overwrite the piece with words linked to Books. Whether this piece of fabric will be good enough for this purpose is another matter. I shall have to wait until it dries.

Thanks for reading my Blog. Please let me know if you have found this post of interest.