Off And Running!

My three entries for FABRIC 2010 : Handmade Designs on Fabric for Quiltmaking are in the mail and on their way to Columbus. OH., and after a quiet but wonderful weekend at home with hubby, I was back in the studio this morning, chewing up the scenery.

First thing this morning, this large length of cotton sateen from my last batch of hand-dyeds...

... Got the flour paste resist treatment...

... And now waits to dry. It's destined for a textile paint crackle in a mid-ranged green. As is common when exploring a specific technique, I made a small but important refinement to my process this time with the use of a seventy-five cent plastic tool from the hardware store.

The lowly spackle blade shaved time off my flour paste resist application and gave me a lovely, thin coating which not only saved me on flour (because I didn't need as much to get full coverage), but should promote fine crazing that will look wonderful on the finished fabric. I won't know until much later if this is the last layer this fabric will receive or not.

Once the FPR was set aside to dry, I spent some time monoprinting with thickened black dye (sorry, no progress photos for those- I forgot to take them and now the pieces are wrapped in plastic and batching). I used a product called SuperClear, which is essentially pre-thickened print paste (water and sodium alginate mixed together), and wasn't entirely thrilled with it for monoprinting. It was too thin to really get interesting impressions but I think it will make an adequate-if not spendy- paste for deconstructed screen printing. I'll use the rest of what I have and then go back to making my own. 

Finally, to finish the day, I did some more monoprinting with Neopaque onto some hand-dyed pieces. These pieces are still in their "ugly stage" and will get more layers over time until they're finished. 

Nothing earth-shattering, but a solid start to developing themes for my Blurred Boundaries entry in July.

At the end of the day, despite the mess to be cleaned, a cluttered desk = a productive day and a good start to the week. 

The rest of the week promises to be as busy. Hope your week is everything you want it to be, too... happy creating!