Using Gel Medium to Block In a Silk Screen

Just found this little tutorial in the on-line Art Trader Magazine about using gel medium to block in a silk screen.  I believe the author called it Guerilla Screen Printing.  http://www.arttradermag.com/how-to/guerrilla-screen-printing/  I'll write a follow-up on how well this works once I have tried it.  Would like to include pictures here, but don't want to infringe on a copyright.

Flight - A New Art Quilt on Etsy

Flight

If you follow my blog you will notice that this piece started a few weeks ago with the background.  The next stepo was the silk screening of the bird figure.  After I discovered that I could apply handwriting without "bleeding" on the fabric, this work developed.    It can also be found on Etsy at:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/81239864/flight-art-quilt-wall-hanging.

Close-up of Silk Screened Bird and Apple Stamped Circles

 Full View of Front

 Close-up of Stylized Sky Elements

Close-up of Handwriting 

Full View of Reverse 

Close-up; of Reverse 



Tea Bags, Checkerboards and Birds - The Final

The blue jay is finally finished.  Because the bird became somewhat lost on the busy background of squares, I drafted a circle around it and then filled it in with Jacquard luminescent textile paints to provide a contrast that would make the bird stand out.  Satin stitching around both the circle and the tea bag was done to provide a unified focal image.  The borders and reverse are made from a hand dyed fabric.  Since there was only a little of the hand dyed fabric left after the borders and backing were done, the hanging sleeve needed to be pieced.

Now, it's on to working on a piece with some writing on it...

Finished Tea Bags, Checkerboards and Birds

Close-up of Bird and Circle

 

 Reverse

Label

Reverse - Close-up of Quilting

Sleeve

Close-up of Stitching around the Jay

Writing on Fabric

Writing on Fabric with Plaid's Tip-Pen Essentials

Finished writing

I have been experimenting with various methods of adding the written word to fabrics, but until now, the results have been sketchy to say the least.  Recently a friend let me use a product that she had not yet tried and I believe it is going to offer some reasonable results.

As a trial, I stretched a scrap swatch of nylon voile into an embroidery hoop and elevated the hoop a bit to keep the paint from seeping through the fabric and smearing.  I then squeezed some plain acrylic craft paint into one of the smaller bottles, screwed on the plastic applicator tip and then screwed on one of the metal tips.   I then began writing--something...anything.  Before me was a partial dictionary definition of the word, "art", so that is the reason behind this.

This is the Tip-Pen Essentials product by Plaid that I used.

 Here is everything that is included with the product.

There were 3 plastic bottles with plastic applicator ends and caps

and several different sized, metal applicator tips.

Close-up of applicator tips

Voile swatch stretched in embroidery hoop.

The ease of application and the results are now leading me to search on-line for this product so that I can return the applicator to my friend.  Presently I have a silk screened piece hanging to dry and am planning on adding writing to it.  I'll put it on the blog for your review whether or not the results are successful.