Stencils
This is a stencil I made for a previous exercise.
I snipped part of it then repeated the pattern.
This is more complex than I feel I want to undertake just now so I'll try to simplify it. I also turned it round.
The original idea was from some ethnic Fijian fabric which metamorphosed into my drawing and then my first stencil. Each time inaccuracies have been magnified. I tried to tidy this up by regularising the shapes but it looked so wrong I abandoned the idea.
I did this on really stiff card and it was tough to cut hence the further limits I placed on the pattern.
I decided to use the serendipity calico to print this; it's my first try with fabric. The stencil is A4 size and I repeat printed almost four times on my cloth and it worked pretty well. On the early stencil and the snip/repeat the negative images were very evident. On this print they have almost disappeared.
It still looks like an ethnic, rustic design which is probably fortunate as there's a bit of leakage. Overall I'm quite pleased with this. I just have to wait a week for it to dry but I never was that keen on ironing anyway.
I'm going to return to my Fijian manipulation and try to mask off some of the shapes. It will be tricky because if I'm not very careful it will fall to bits. It will be a challenge.
Here's the starting point:
I just couldn't visualise how this would work. After my experience of trying to print on darker coloured fabric I thought it would be hard to print red or yellow on black. So I took the black away (well almost):
Now I can see how it might work.
I cut the stencil and did two. The idea was that as it was going to be delicate I'd do the colours separately. What I didn't anticipate was the difficulty of lining them up. After I had done the red I tried to do the yellow by placing the new stencil over the red but I just couldn't get it exact enough so I had to reuse the first stencil and cut out the yellow. This left a very thin piece of white card that seemed to be constantly on the move as I worked.
I used Giotto Decor fabric paints (like felt tips) and the result is not nearly as crisp as I'd hoped. To some degree this is for the reason I outline above but some is the result of the challenge that cutting a smooth curve presented.
I love the shape; the red reminds me of a celestial trumpet.
I have some Markal crayons that I've only used once so I thought I try these with the same image.
This was much harder to execute. The crayons created quite a bit of drag and the delicate nature of the shape means there is some bleeding of the colours into the white. That said the colours although they are both cold work quite well together and the sheen is lovely. I think I got used to the computer generated image being precise and once I got over the inevitable change I think I rather like it. (I've since read that it is a good idea to use sticky back plastic as the stencil material when using Markal Sticks).
At last I've got to town and bought some sticky back plastic and it has worked much better. However, it was still a really hard shape to cut smoothly and it was well nigh impossible to stop the stencil sticking to itself!
I used masking tape to make this pattern. It is felt tip on sugar paper. The background colour is a bland mustard yellow and the felt tips changed significantly when I applied them. With some more time this could be developed into something more intricate.
I'm going to return to my Fijian manipulation and try to mask off some of the shapes. It will be tricky because if I'm not very careful it will fall to bits. It will be a challenge.
Here's the starting point:
I just couldn't visualise how this would work. After my experience of trying to print on darker coloured fabric I thought it would be hard to print red or yellow on black. So I took the black away (well almost):
Now I can see how it might work.
I cut the stencil and did two. The idea was that as it was going to be delicate I'd do the colours separately. What I didn't anticipate was the difficulty of lining them up. After I had done the red I tried to do the yellow by placing the new stencil over the red but I just couldn't get it exact enough so I had to reuse the first stencil and cut out the yellow. This left a very thin piece of white card that seemed to be constantly on the move as I worked.
I used Giotto Decor fabric paints (like felt tips) and the result is not nearly as crisp as I'd hoped. To some degree this is for the reason I outline above but some is the result of the challenge that cutting a smooth curve presented.
I love the shape; the red reminds me of a celestial trumpet.
I have some Markal crayons that I've only used once so I thought I try these with the same image.
This was much harder to execute. The crayons created quite a bit of drag and the delicate nature of the shape means there is some bleeding of the colours into the white. That said the colours although they are both cold work quite well together and the sheen is lovely. I think I got used to the computer generated image being precise and once I got over the inevitable change I think I rather like it. (I've since read that it is a good idea to use sticky back plastic as the stencil material when using Markal Sticks).
At last I've got to town and bought some sticky back plastic and it has worked much better. However, it was still a really hard shape to cut smoothly and it was well nigh impossible to stop the stencil sticking to itself!
I used masking tape to make this pattern. It is felt tip on sugar paper. The background colour is a bland mustard yellow and the felt tips changed significantly when I applied them. With some more time this could be developed into something more intricate.
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