Using typical British understatement, weather-wise this summer has not been one of the best. However a few weeks ago, we had three or four days sunshine in a row. It was lovely. I got out in the garden to pick fruit and do some tidying up, whilst trying to avoid being water bombed by the children. It was only on the final day of sun that I remembered I had wanted to try out some sun dyeing of fabric.
I quickly covered some trays with cling film and got out the fabric paints. I had been musing ways of getting my figure shapes onto the fabric and in the end covered the paper figures with parcel tape to stop them soaking up the paint. As well as the figures, I added some stones.
The taped figures worked well and left a strong impression, particularly on the blue paint. I think the mottled effect on the blue is because I used freezer paper for it. I discovered I had to be careful where I placed the weighting stones so that they didn't cast shadows. The fabric now needs to be ironed to heat set the paint and then washed to remove the sand. The sand from our sand pit has got everywhere this summer and the fabric currently has a really grainy feel.
Now I've just got decide how I use it. Any ideas?
2 comments:
You might try hand-stitching echoes of the shapes, or perhaps combining them with applique or sheer overlay and stitch... Just some thoughts. That blue one is particularly lovely, and I like the texture invoked by the mottled effect. :-)
Lovely results. I think it depends on their size as to whether they become part of a larger piece. Darn it, missed the sun which disappeared from here after FOQ!
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