Friday, July 3, 2009

Windows I Part 2

This part of designing is always fun - working with or creating fabric for the quilt. This quilt is using lots of neutrals or subdued colors which works with the imagery used. This is one of the few fabrics I didn't make or alter - a fairly "quiet" batik which I liked.
This next piece is a very coarsely woven silk originally bought to make a scarf. It ravels like crazy but the texture is great.
I have used 7 ounce single weave canvas from an art supply store for years. It's heavier than muslin but not too heavy for quilts. Being 100% cotton makes it receptive to dyes and anything else you want to do to it. The piece of canvas below was microwave dyed and then monoprinted. I found it in my stash. I love finding fabric I already have and can make a "dent" in my stash!
I also found some wool on left and silk noil on right. The noil was discharged with a stamp and discharge paste to give it more interest. The wool I'm not sure about but I like the color.
The next piece was a piece of batik (on right) which was good but a tad too light. I used Dye-na-Flow paint as a wash to darken it a bit and sprinkled sea salt on top while wet to create the mottled effect.
The next piece is canvas laid on top on corrugated cardboard. Using a brayer and textile paint, I ran the brayer over the top of fabric which imprinted the cardboard lines.
and always some stamping somewhere along the way.

For the next 2 prints - the windows themselves, I used a 300 count Egyptian cotton fabric. Actually, I bought a bed sheet using a coupon which made is less expensive than yardage and the added bonus of a higher thread count. The slicker the surface the better the quality of print.
The rocks below were printed on silk noil which is a very rough silk with an obvious slub. Sometimes I don't want the clean, crisp print look but a more textured surface which this kind of fabric can provide.
This image was also printed on noil as well as the Egyptian cotton.
This next image - a cropped area of the main full window is the original print; you can see the quality of the print I get on fabric by the printed fabric right below using an Epson C-88 and Durabrite Inks.

It's hard to tell but this image of the window is printed on gauze.
Preparing fabric sheets for printing is time consuming so I try and get as much on a sheet as possible. I have to do each image separately and do a little math to make the next one fit, but it's really quite easy. These images are on gauze
and these are on noil.
Excited to start playing.

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