Yesterday I made a short video on Mark Making using a straight edge such as a credit card or scraper. It was the start of a series that I hope will illustrate the simple yet effective ways to incorporate line, pattern and texture into our work.
Do you love dyeing fabric? Are you looking for a new way of creating luscious colour that changes across the surface, almost by magic? Curious about screen printing?
Then sign up for my Colour Blocking Online Workshop that begins on August 4th. In this workshop you will learn all the necessary steps to make amazing fabrics that will inspire you to create wonderful art.
In this workshop you will have a 45 minute video lesson (that you can download and watch forever), a printable PDF with all dye recipes and step by step instructions. In addition you'll be able to leave questions and comments on the password protected webpage. There is a private Facebook group to join, if you wish where other students share photos of their work and talk about their Colour Blocking projects.
So what is Colour Blocking? Its a way to use thickened dyes as a base for printing with a silk screen. Thickened
dyes do not change the hand of the fabric, allowing the fabric to remain
soft and supple despite repeated applications, plus thickened dyes are
transparent, so layers of dye will change intensity, value and colours,
giving the artist a wide range of possible uses for their created cloth.
I’ve been using thickened dyes for several years and love to screen
print with them in a technique I call “colour blocking”. By using an
open screen, with no images masked on the screen, I can achieve large
areas of one or several colors that can mix and combine on the fabric.
Students sometimes ask about fabrics....they wonderful part about Colour Blocking is its versatility1 You can use any fabric that works with Fibre Reactive dyes, so think of cotton, linen, hemp and silk. In fact any natural cellulose based fabric is perfect! Can't decide? Then why not layer some fabrics on top of one another! There's so many great effects that you can create with this technique, its not surprising its one of my favourites!
Are you thinking this is for you? After you register for the workshop, then check out my free video on making a print table, you'll need one for the workshop. You can get the video here:
Can't wait to get started? If you are a Quilting Arts magazine subscriber, then my article about Colour Blocking appears in the October/November 2014 issue!
I'd love to have you in my workshop, so sign up now and be one of the first to learn Colour Blocking!
You can get the supply list when you register and be ready!
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:
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/
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:
