Play Day II

Peggy came over a second time, so we could print fabric, with the printing plates that we made. We started with an already dyed piece of fabric. I used a peachy/orange fabric and used the bird plate with dark blue paint, The opposites on the color wheel would give good contrast. Instead of putting paint on the roller and going over the fabric with the plate underneath, I used the roller to apply paint to the plate, and laid the fabric over it. I used the hard rubber brayer to press a good print, and it came out very sharp and clear, but reversed. The blue paint on orange fabric kinda sucked the color out of the blue, it was a bit dull/brownish, but I went over and added touches of the blue paint. I also dipped a bamboo skewer in metallic gold paint, and added long marks to the lines of the print, gold paint on rug grid was dabbed on as wings to the birds. It still looked a little dull, so I splattered some bright yellow specks overall. It looks very much "Folk Art" and 2 people said it looks like Egyptian Hieroglyphics. It is not really "My Thing" but I like the results, crisp clear printing, directional, and with contrast. The second piece I did was on a light green dyed background, with touches of yellow and turquoise. I used the rubbing plates of the leaves, that I had made with the wood filler from the stencils. I wet the fabric, and put wet paint on the foam roller, I rolled over the fabric on top of the plates. It gave a much softer/blended look, and I added green. I also printed in a darker green on top of the fabric, this was clear and crisp and added a definite pattern. Next was a layer of metallic gold leaf printing, and it still needed more, so a layer of turquoise Shiva Oil Pastel was rubbed on over the leaves. So I learned if you want subtle blending of your print use the paint wet with a foam roller, a hard crisp line is made when you put the plate underneath the fabric, with the paint directly on the plate. Layer-Layer-Layer! The more complex the fabric, and the more depth it has, the more interesting the fabric. Use subtle shifts in color, add a different color paint each time you print, and finish off with some shimmer, either metallic acrylic or the Shiva Oils. Peggy added birds and leaves to a dyed fabric that she had already stenciled. She added sunflowers and then edged the printed curly cues with gold Shiva Oils. She was still going to add other elements to the fabric, and either collage or applique on additional layers. She was also trying for more "Layers" to make her fabric interesting. I did one last piece with the alphabet again, it was printed on a dark purple and gold dyed fabric, it was a rich dark color, but I couldn't see myself using it. I added purple acrylic to the gold areas, and metallic gold paint to the purple areas. Also layers of metallic gold Shiva oils, and a bright frosted purple Shiva. It is a very complex piece of fabric, I don't think the richness of the colors photographed very well.