Printing on Fabric Class

Debby sharing how to achieve the prints in her samples

Explaining about a glue resist

Yesterday, I had so much pure fun painting on three pieces of 12 inches by 12 inches of white on white fabric! The class was part of Saturday Workshops which the Clark County Quilters guild puts on each year. The classes are reasonable--$10 for a half day/$20 for a full day. The teachers volunteer their time so the class cost goes to the rental of the facility. The teachers may have a supply kit fee for materials that they provide. My kit fee for the painting class was $8. Besides learning new techniques and improving your skills, you get to meet new friends and catch up with friends you haven't seen in a while. The Linus group puts on a lunch for $8 so you don't even have to pack that!

Paint pallet, some tools for texture

The example

My sample

Debby taught the painting class. She spent 35 years teaching art to high school students. She has taught at Saturday Workshop for a number of years. In past years when I popped in to see what was going on, people were having fun and they were creating wonderful artful pieces. This was the first year that I was able to take her class as I was involved in the organization of the workshops which precluded me from participating. Debby made it easy to follow along and provided the perfect amount of encouragement. I strive to make my classes as organized, welcoming, thoughtful and fun as she makes hers.

Sponging paint

I LOVED every moment of class. This is about my fourth experience with fabric painting. I see lots more paint playing in my future! I like that she showed samples and talked about how to achieve the results. I LOVED that we used simple inexpensive tools--like a sponge, parts of a cereal box, a paint brush, a meat tray, a paint brush handle end, an unsharpened pencil to create texture.  We also used PVC pipe, masking tape, crayons, rubber stamps, rubber bands, unvalidated credit cards, plastic forks and Dollar Tree store hair gel!

Some of the techniques went quickly. Some took more time. To dry our fabric, we used a hair dryer and once the fabric was damp, we finished the drying process with the iron.

My second sample

We mixed the acrylic paint with the hair gel and then brushed it on the fabric. While the paint was still wet, we pulled the fork and/or the cardboard scraper though the paint. We achieved the skinny lines by pulling the edge of a credit card through the paint, then stamping it on the fabric.

The unsharpened end of a pencil become the round dots and the end of a paintbrush handle became the tiny dots in my sample. I must try this technique with the grands as they would have fun creating the swoosh of color and following up with the scraping and dotting!

To set the color, we ironed the fabric between a couple sheets of parchment paper. The fabric has a nice hand to it and isn't stiff. I LOVED seeing everybody's work. Each piece was totally unique and absolutely wonderful.

We added water to the paint so that it was fluid and painted that on the fabric. We used a hair dryer and then an iron to dry the fabric. Next, we tore strips of masking tape and placed that on the background. This took some time to place and then ensure  that all the edges were securely on the fabric. The next step was to sponge paint around the tape.

Shibori piece drying

I liked how Debby encouraged us to use a variety of colors. My background was red, orange and yellow as I used the same paint palette. I sponged with teal, medium green and dark green. We dried it with the hair dryer. We stamped images on the piece. We removed the tape and stamped more images on the piece using metallic paints. We placed the fabric over a textured and used a crayon to rub on the stamp which added texture.  Finally, we used puff metallic paints and added a little more dimension. My piece looked batik-like!

Block printing example

Stamp made from a meat tray

For our third sample, we created faux shibori using a piece of PVC pipe and rubber bands. I wanted to try to make a primarily orange fabric with brown spots. I used that same red, yellow, orange palette; but added in some purple because when you use colors across the color wheel from each other you will get brown. I had a hard time getting the paint into the folds of the fabric so I won't be at all surprised that when this is dry, there will be large spots of white. Debby says with this technique, you get what you get! I also think the grands would have fun drenching the fabric with color for this technique.

For our final sample, we created a printing block from a meat tray. We etched textures into the styrofoam with a ball point pen or pencil. Using double stick tape, we placed several of these on a piece of cardboard and used that as our stamp. I created the stamp; but, I didn't stamp with it. We did all these techniques in three hours and it was totally FUN! Thanks Debby for the great day!

If you happen to be in the Vancouver, Washington area April 7, 2018, Debby is teaching a class "3-D Whimsical Cottages.  Class fee is $60; supply fee is $7. Class supply list is here. Contact Wilma Scott here to register.