Painting Fabric over Gutta Resist

Today, as I was looking through my studio drawers for tea lights, I ran across water soluble gutta resist, small, squeeze bottle applicators and needle pointed plastic syringes.  Instead of starting the laundry as I had planned, I whipped out a 14”x14” piece of white cotton fabric, laid it atop a plastic bag to protect the work surface and tried to draw gutta up into the syringe so that I might be able to make fine resist lines.  

 Unfortunately, the gutta was too thick to draw up into the syringe so I set about making markings onto the fabric with the squeeze bottle applicator.  What started out as fairly thin lines became fat lines as the gutta resist “bled” into the fabric.  Any plans I had for creating a design that made sense flew out the window and then came the scribbling.  I figured that I might as well fill the space with markings.  What could hurt?

I then hung the fabric to dry.  After about an hour the gutta was completely dry. I lightly spritzed the entire square with plain water.  Next I applied a 1:1 ratio of Setacolor fabric paints and water with a 2” brush.  The first color I used was yellow and then applied Oriental blue in diagonal stripes that ultimately bled into the yellow, as I had anticipated it would do.

Painted Fabric Over Gutta Resist Hanging to Dry

I was initially disappointed with the image, probably because it did not turn out as I had hoped it would.  However, as the piece dried, I began to increasingly appreciate the randomness of the image.  Now I wish that I could be able to replicate this, although I know that will be impossible.

Here is a picture of the fabric after the gutta resist was washed out, dried again and then ironed.

Final Fabric from Gutta Resist, with Yellow and Oriental Blue Wash of Setacolor Fabric Paints

Revisiting the use of gutta as a resist has spawned new questions.  I am now wondering if the gutta could be applied over a stencil with a wedged make-up sponge.  Unlike the lack of flow control when using a squeeze bottle applicator, I pondering that the amount of gutta applied might be better controlled by using a small, dense sponge.  I have a few more 14” x 14” squares of cotton fabric just waiting for further experimentation.  Hmmmm.  Possibilities! Gotta love ‘em.

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

Birds on a Tin Tile Print

Through a Garden Fence

After attending a fantastic plein aire class on tin tile printing given by Teresa Shippy, I came right home and used a tin tile to make four prints using Setacolor fabric paint.  At another time I will post the process for this printing.  I then sashed each printed square with hand dyed purple fabric, backed each of the four center squares with batting so that I could make them dimensional, and then applied batting to the back of the entire top.  On the center stashing pieces I machine appliqued free form leaf shapes and auditioned petals for a middle medallion shape.

Life and other quilting deadlines intervened and almost 3 years passed before I revisited this creation.

While straightening up my studio in anticipation of a friend who will be visiting to quilt with me for a week, I came upon the Through a Garden Fence that I had started a few years back.  I had always envisioned putting birds on this quilt, so I dug out some white cotton fabric and painted birds on it.  After the painting was complete I pulled out tear away stabilizer and embroidery hoop and set about free motion machine "painting" a few birds.  I'm not certain exactly where they will be placed yet, but I may place one at each of the points where the four leaf shapes converge upon the center of the quilt.  Here are the birds...

There are a few deadlines that I need to meet in the next few months so I don't know when I will have the time to return to this work to actually quilt the work and to applique the birds, but I'm hoping to have it completed this year.  

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

Make Stencils from Hot Laminated Film

McGyvering Laminated Film into Stencils

Example 

Yesterday I needed to make laminated tags for a sewing machine that was going in for repair.  Didn't want to take a chance that any part would fall into a black hole of other machines.  As a result I had several pieces of laminated film left over after I cut out the tags.

What, oh, what could be done with these?  I hate throwing away anything that may serve another purpose.  After a couple of hours, the thought hit me that since the left over pieces were very firm, impermeable to water and also transparent, they might be able to be used to make stencils.

Tools and Materials Used:
- White paper
- Laminated film
- Craft knife
- Freezer paper
- Water
- Paper towel
- Fabric
- Iron

My first attempt at cutting a stencil from the film was to freehand cut a vine form.  The picture below is of that stencil.  Because of the glass like transparency and light reflection, I placed the stencil(s) on a black background, so they appear quite dark but at least they are visible.

Vine Stencil

Since the vine cutting was successful, and because I had a couple of larger lamination scraps, I drew a picture of a sun shape on white paper, placed it under a laminated piece, taped it to the paper, and started cutting the stencil.

Laying Laminated Sheet Atop Paper Pattern

Cut Out of Stencil and Paper Pattern

Because the edges of the stencil are almost invisible upon fabric, placement became difficult.  To overcome this difficulty, I put painter's tape around all front and back outside edges of the stencil.

Painter's Tape Put on All Outside Edges

In order to be able to know where the cut out began and ended, I placed a couple of small pieces of tape onto the stencil.

Final Stencil Ready for Painting

The colors I chose to apply with stencil brushes were orange and red.

Palette Colors

I started stenciling directly onto the fabric; however, when the fabric became wet with paint, it tended to distort.  After the first sun shape print, I ironed freezer paper to the back of the fabric to provide stability to the fabric.

Freezer Paper Ironed to Back of Fabric

The width of the freezer paper was wider than the fabric and tended to make the whole unit roll up.  A simple solution was to cut away excess freezer paper.

Excess Freezer Paper  Cut Away from Fabric

In order to keep the sun shaped prints aligned, I placed a ruler onto the fabric as a printing guide.

Ruler as Guide

Aligned Printing

Clean-up was a breeze with laminated film cut stencils.  I merely sprayed plain water onto the stencil and then used a paper towel to wipe off the paint.

Stencil Cleaned with Water and Paper Towel

 Finished Stenciled Fabric with Stencils Used

The "experiment" proved to be so successful that I am sure that I will be cutting more stencils from laminated film in the future.  Their ease of use and clean-up and their permanency will surely be a go-to stenciling method for me in the future.  I'm so certain of this that I have edged 3 additional left over pieces of laminated film with painter's tape.  They are ready to go when the muse visits again.

Laminated Film Prepared for Stencil Cutting

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved