The Printed Fabric Bee....Not So Late!

I'm catching up now to everyone else and getting ready to do my fabric for this month!
But now, I've got a series of photos to walk you through the latest one I've completed, for January! So the theme for January was turquoise and orange colours with Petroglyphs as the image theme. Well, since I live in the Pacific Northwest I decided to use art for this area and found a wonderful richness of images left behind by ancient people....check out this website: http://www.gabriolamuseum.org/petroglyphs.shtml
So here's how it happened....I found some fabric that was turquoise and purple and then forgot I had it...so overdyed some blue and got a nice mottled turquoise.

I remembered just the perfect stamp for a border image and when I found it, it had broken....so I carved another one....

Then I made four separate Thermofax images to use from the Petroglyphs. First there was the "Salmon", printed in a salmon-y red colour .....

Then came the "Killer Whale"...... chasing the Salmon!

And then "Dancing Man" and "Bear"

Now you can see the entire layout. I had fun, learned something about the culture of my local area and created some cool fabric!

Free Online Mini Workshops

Did you know that I have some online workshops, absolutely free? They are little tasters to give you some ideas and basic instructions in a couple of Surface Design techniques.
You've already seen how to make a print table here:

http://susanpm.blogspot.ca/2015/02/making-print-table.html

I also have another fabric dyeing demonstration using colour gradations here:



Did you ever think you could combine textile paints, foils and fusible web to create interesting patterns and textures? Well, here's another tidbit for you!



Interested in more? I have several exciting workshops scheduled this year, sign up for my newsletter and you'll be the first to know! If you are wondering about dates, check this out: http://susanpm.com/online-workshops/

How About Some Exciting Surface Design Workshops?

Surface Design Workshops are in full swing here in Victoria, BC with lots of creative designs and beautiful fabrics coming out of the studio!
I have two more workshops scheduled for this month and there's still time to register. You can get the full details here:
/http://susanpm.com/studio-workshops/


Colour Blocking
February 24, 2015  9:30-12 noon
Try screen printing with thickened dyes to create “colour blocking”! By using an open screen, with no images masked on the screen, students can achieve large areas of one or several colors that can mix and combine on the fabric. These fabrics are perfect to use in piecing, as backgrounds for appliqué or embellishments and clothing, Learn to use value in an important way by changing the dye pastes to suit your needs! this technique was featured in a recent issue of Quilting Arts magazine.
Fee includes all dyes and chemicals. Your supply list will be sent when registration is complete.
$60.00

Gelatin Plate Printing (with a Gelli Plate)

  

February 26, 2015   9:30-12:00 noon
Create amazing prints on fabric without a press by using a simple gelatin-like plate. Use stamps, art tools, bubble wrap, stencils and more for exciting mark-making effects on your “Gelli” plate. Printed fabric is perfect for small art, collage, cards and home decor.
Discover the excitement! Fee includes a 6″ x 6″ Gelli Plate to take home, plus all paints and mark-making tools, your supply list will be sent when registration is complete.
$60.00

Fabric Printing at Home Blog Hop

Are you having fun with the Blog Hop? I'll bet you have got some great ideas to play with on fabric? Maybe you've already started creating beautiful fabric?
Yesterday I pulled some kitchen tools out and laid paint onto a green fat quatrer, using some of my favourite printing tools - rolling pins and brayers!

My friend Jim likes to make things with his power tools, so he takes old wooden rolling pins apart and cuts cool designs into them. They are awesome on fabric! I also wind string around a brayer and print with that or put sticky shapes onto cardboard tubes and print with them....get the idea?

I use textile paints to have a lot of creative fun. How about you?
Would you like to win a copy of the book, plus.....wait for it......the fabric I printed?
Just leave me a note in the comments section and DH will pick a lucky winner on February 9th.
Remember, this could be yours............... once the paint dries!

 

PS. Watch the video on yesterdays post to see how to make a print table!

Tomorrow's Blog Tour stops by here:

Feb 8: Teri Lucas                                   http://terificreations.wordpress.com/

Making a Print Table

One of the most useful items in my studio is a print table, in fact I have several. One for large pieces of fabric several for small pieces of fabric and for my students and a few to take to workshops that fit into my suitcase.
I've given the instructions to lots of students and actually have the instructions here of the blog somewhere. But I thought it might be useful to have a short video for you.
So here it is, let me know what you think:

The Printed Fabric Bee.......late, late late!

Where did January go? I'm late getting my fabric done for the Bee exchange, so sorry everyone. So Lisa Chin has been patient and I will pop it into the mail first thing tomorrow! Lisa's chosen theme was Old World Maps and I'm quite pleased with my results. It didnt take long to make but quite a bit of waiting for paint and paintsticks to dry.
I used a piece of pale taupe fabric, thinking it looked a little old! Truth be, it was an Ikea curtain that I no longer used...
I traced a pretend coastline onto a folded piece of freezer paper because I needed to use both the positive and the negative image, you'll see why later....... Then I cut out the coast line and ironed part of it to the fabric:

 My next step was to use paintsticks and colour in the edge of the paper.

 Next was to stencil some ocean waves with indigo colour textile paint

 I took the freezer paper off.....

 And used the mirror image of the paper to cover up what I had just completed. Then used a map stamp and back textile paint. The green edge of the paper came from a piece that I had used previously.

So here is the final step, I drew around the coastline with a reddy brown marker to emphasize the edge. I think it turned out well. Now onto the next fabric for the Bee!

Fabric and Threads, Threads and Fabric....

Like most of you, I'm always checking out places to buy supplies and find items for my art work. Many of us shop at the local quilt shop for our fabric, books and notions, and its necessary to support our nearby businesses! Often though, I find that I need odd items or large quantities of certain things so my searches often take me further afield.
I buy my PFD (prepared for dyeing) cotton from a local wholesaler, I am probably their most boring customer as its the ONLY item I order from them....plain white! But lots of it!
But I find my other fabrics in a variety of other places.! When I was in Florence last fall I found a flea market and bought three yards of the most luscious linen that you can imagine! The shop had a huge roll of it, I should have bought more but had run out of cash...... I want to make something extra special with that fabric, I just havent figured out what!
I often find wonderful linen  napkins and tablecloths at thrift stores. It doesnt matter to me if they are a little worn and usually the damask pattern shows up beautifully once they are dyed. I did find a whole set of linen placemats stamped with an embroidery pattern (but never worked) and they took dye and paint so nicely.
A student of mine found a wonderful linen in the drapery department of a discount fabric store and it was wonderful when dyed. And there are often interesting remnants in a very chique home decor store here in town.
I often order some silk and blends from a dye supplier in the US, the price is reasonable and sometimes there's good rates on shipping.

Threads are somethimes a little trickier to find. I used to buy crochet cotton at the thrift stores but I found once it was dyed, tiny fibres tended to to slough off of the threads. Although tatting thread is usually a better quality, but I generally don't work that fine!
Last week I found skeins of a cotton and linen blend of knitting yarn that will be beautiful when its dyed and also a skein of rayon and cotton chenille yarn that I know will be simply gorgeous! I'm looking into ordering larger quantities of skeined threads (its a lot of work putting the threads into skeins for dyeing) and always on the lookout for other supplies of both threads and fabrics.
Where do you like to shop for your supplies??