Hand painting on fabric
Having read Gwen Hedley's chapter about printing and looking at her wonderful results I want to try painting with bleach.
I put black poplin into a 26cm hoop and used a 3 parts bleach to 1 part water. First I tried spraying from a toothbrush and got one or two splodges and a fine spray that covered most of the material. I then dipped my stencil brush into the bleach and placed it at random on the fabric. I followed up with a variety of brushes held both flat and end on, a feather and a fine brush with which I painted lines. I finished by using an eye dropper.
As I write the bleach is still working:
I've no idea what outcome to expect but it begins to look a bit like the view from Starship Enterprise.
It's making me think that using painted bleach shapes will be a good way to get colour introduced onto a dark fabric. I've washed and dried the fabric and I have a wide variety of colours from almost white (the dropper) to vague beige marks made by the feather. I think the variation is due to the amount of liquid that went on to the fabric because the solution didn't change.
I went on to use fabric paint in some of the light marks; others I left pale and faint.
I found the paint differed in density. The blue and pink seemed quite watery and it was easy to make sure the shapes stayed splash like. The yellow was thicker and less forgiving.
My course notes encourage me to consider making a background for printing or stencilling. I think the same idea could be used to embroider on as well so I've taken a picture of my garden done by a friend on an i Pad and transferred the basic idea onto fabric with my paints.
I went on to use fabric paint in some of the light marks; others I left pale and faint.
I found the paint differed in density. The blue and pink seemed quite watery and it was easy to make sure the shapes stayed splash like. The yellow was thicker and less forgiving.
My course notes encourage me to consider making a background for printing or stencilling. I think the same idea could be used to embroider on as well so I've taken a picture of my garden done by a friend on an i Pad and transferred the basic idea onto fabric with my paints.
This taught me a lot about the amount of water that can be mixed with the paint and the way it spreads (or not). I wanted more of a wash effect but the paint was just too thin and there was much more resistance from the fabric than I'm used to on paper.
I think that once again I've attempted something too complicated for my skill level and I really wish my painting was better.
Hedley, Gwen, 2010, Drawn to Stitch, Batsford, London
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