Discharge Monday

Monday was discharge day. Discharge with bleach. I used several blacks manufactured by different companies, my hand dyed fabric and commercial batiks. I wanted to see if there were any differences with the blacks and how the batiks and hand dyes would bleach out. I also used bleach thickener on some.

Below are some of my samples.

The top fabric was shiboried with a 50% bleach and 50% water solution on a Robert Kaufman black fabric. The bottom was taped with pieces of masking tape and sprayed with the 50/50 bleach solution using Timeless Treasures black fabric, this came out a peachy/cream color that I really like.

The left fabric was a hand dyed fabric that started out a very dark blue/green. I used a cut-out of a tree branch from a stencil I carved for another project and sprayed 50/50 bleach, water solution. The results really surprised me. The right was a hand dyed fabric that started as a red/violet. I used 2 TBS bleach thickener and 1/4 c of bleach and 1/8 c water, and sponged with a couple different pieces of foam sponges.

The left fabric was twisted in a swirl and squirted 50/50 bleach and water solution in the folds. This was an unknown black batik. The right was a Gee's Bend dark red solid that I shiboried with a 50/50 bleach solution. Another real favorite.

The left was a hand dyed fabric I squirted with yellow and blue dyes and swished around. I used a purchased stencil on it with thickened bleach. The right was a blue/green hand dyed fabric that I used a Clorox bleach pen on for water ripples.

These are commercial batiks that I used purchased stencils with bleach thickener.

After the fabrics bleached to the colors I wanted I rinsed in water, then put in Anti-Chlor solution for about 15 minutes, rinsed again and then machine washed and ironed.

I had a great time experimenting with this process and will do again later this summer.

Batik experiment

This past Wednesday my friend Martha and I tried soy wax batik. This was the first time either of us had done it.

We pre-soaked fabric in soda ash then used tjantings, empty thread spools, tjaps, luffas, and potato mashers to make our resist patterns. After the soy wax dried, we painted over the fabric with dyes thickened with sodium alginate. The fabrics were laid out in the sun to dry.

One of Martha's.

Mine.

Some of the fabrics were then reprinted with more soy wax and painted with a different color dye and dried again.

Martha's

Mine

Not always wanting white fabric showing, we tried previously hand dyed fabric. This gave a different starting point.

Martha's

Mine

At the end of the day we had some great fabrics. Will definitely do some more batiking before summers end.

Play Day Experiments

Last Tuesday I had a play day with some art quilt friends. Each brought some art supplies and fabric to experiment with paints, inks, fabric markers, stamps, stencils, etc.

I tried some Tsukineko spray inks, spraying around the negative parts of stencils. I used many different colors, some I borrowed.
Above is sage sprayed with lilac walnut ink.

Oregano with cornflower walnut ink.

Carnations with cherry blossom walnut ink.

With the exception of the bugs, the fabrics are different yellow/green hand dyed fabric. The bugs are light blue hand dyed fabric.

The next day I outlined my stencils with a Sharpie black ultra fine marker and put in details.

Moth with cherry blossom walnut ink.

I then painted the insides of the stencils with Tsukineko inks.

Morning glories sprayed with terra cotta walnut ink.

Iris with eucalyptus walnut ink.

I also played around with stamping using Distress Ink Pads. Wasn't too happy with the results of what I made but it gave me some experience using the stamps and ink pads and the fun of experimenting without feeling it has to be made into a quilt.

I'm very happy with how the spray inks came out and will continue with the other flowers and bugs next rainy day.