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| Markal and stitch over a Gelli Plate Print |
One of my favourite colouring tools for fabric is Markal paintstiks. They are oil based and are
very opaque, so can be used over any colour, unlike dye or Inktense. They come in both matte and iridescent which
is a bit pearlised or slightly metallic.
Now I don’t do glitz, but for some reason, I love the iridescent Markal –
they just bring a bit of a lift to the work. Note: Markal and Shiva are the exact same things.
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| Some of my Markals and short stencil brushes |
I recently wrote a how to use Markals with stencils, which
is in the current edition of Popular Patchwork.
This is an abbreviated version of what is in the magazine.
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| Markals in Popular Patchwork |
You will need fabric, stencil, Markals and a short stencil
brush (a toothbrush is perfect).
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| My Markal Equipment |
1.
Make sure that you have your table covered as
Markals are very permanent!
2.
You need your fabric to stay put, so tape in
place or use some spray baste, like 505.
You also need to hold your stencil in place over the fabric the same
way.
3.
As the paintstik is oil paint, it will form a
skin, which you have to remove to get to the paint, either by rubbing with a
cloth or cut off with a knife.
4.
Load your brush with paint and apply to the
fabric in circular motions.
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| Adding the Markal through a paper stencil |
5.
The colours blend really well and I often add
several colours in a piece. Some people
will blend the colours before apply to the fabric, I prefer to mix on the
fabric so the blend is not too perfect.
6.
Leave to dry – be patient it takes a long time,
like several days. Once dried, iron the
fabric between two layers of baking parchment to make the paint totally
permanent.
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| Hand cut paper stencil |
You can use bought stencils or cut your own. I use both – I like the bought ones when it
is something I couldn’t cut myself and The Crafter's Workshop ones have
generous use policies, so I don’t need to worry about breaking copyright. My own, I cut from heavy photocopy paper with
a scalpel, normally through two layers so I have a spare version. I have used freezer paper as it is good for positioning
as you can iron it on to the fabric.
However, to my cost, I discovered that it does not peel off wet Markal
paint – only use on bare fabric!
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| Markal on top of hand dyed and pieced silk |
There are lots of different ways of using Markals, some more
subtle than others, perhaps that will be for another blogpost.
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| Stencilling through some sequins waste |
