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Playing with Spray-On Fabric Dyes

by guest blogger Christine Predd (originally published 15 June 2009)

Several days ago I purchased some spray on fabric dyes at Hobby Lobby . . . I think they were sold for tie-dye projects, althogh I was planning to use them to dye some fabric for my art quilts. I live in a ranch style condo and only have a small patio, not a lot of room for serious fabric dyeing. This sounded perfect for my situation. I only bought the primary colors, hoping to create new colors as I used them.

The sun was shining today so I decided to get started. I cut two pieces of PDF fabric, 22 inches square or so. After laying one piece on a drop cloth on the patio, I proceeded to use some photo matting as my stencil and begin spraying on dyes in different places with the matting in different position. See the photos below.

I started with the yellow dye, then went to trying the blue dye. I kept changing the matt directions and colors as I went along.

After doing this for several times I ended up with the final piece you see here.

I like the distinct edges and the overlapping shapes. I did this piece without using water at all, only the dyes.

Next, I decided to take another piece of PFD cotton and first spray it with water then randoming spray on the dyes. I also added extra water then held up the fabric to allow it to drip down through the colors and create different effects. I call this piece the watercolor effect. Such a different image now……..no distinct edges, and a lot of color blending occurred.

I plan to use each of these pieces in an art quilt at some point, but I’m not sure just how yet. I may do more surface design, such as stamping or photo transfer on them before I decide. The dyes were set with a hot iron, they can also be set by putting the fabric in the dryer. I have dyes left over……….so I think there may be more experiments in store for me! Try it!

About Christine

Christine Predd has been quilting since 1986, and began art quilting in 2001. She lives in Indiana half the year, and on Anna Maria Island in Florida the other half. Her blog “Quilting on the Edge” can be viewed at http://www.christinepredd.com, where she writes regular commentary on her creative experiences, and sometimes makes small quilts to accompany her writings.

Letting go of old ways of doing things and allowing the process to guide you isn’t always easy and working with a simple design and only one color really challenged me to stay focused and allow the color and design to share equal space. It was very tempting to add other elements and colors as I normally would, but I resisted the temptation and I simply love the results!

I used machine embroidered fabric paper for the cover because it’s strong yet flexible, and then painted it with a burgundy red and added some gold highlights. I can’t wait to do some more!

by guest blogger Katherine Sands (originally published 21st April 2009)

For me, the creative life is a journey…and I learn and see so many interesting things along the way!

Some artists are able to plan ahead; I love their work and their process, but that doesn’t seem to be the way I work. I am a fly-by-the-seat-0f-your-pants serendipity kind of gal. Too much planning and I would probably be bored. A case in point…since a larger, new art quilt I had done didn’t fit the size requirements for an upcoming arts council exhibit, I decided to start a new piece of art. I was on a deadline, so I decided to keep it simple. I pieced and quilted it, using simple hand dyed fabrics and one black and white screen printed fabric. I didn’t quilt it all over, but left areas that were not quilted which “poufed” a bit.

At some point after the work was done, I decided I wasn’t happy with it. It was too one-dimensional; it needed more depth. I painted a diluted layer of black paint over it…but was still dissatisfied.

At this point, the adventure was still good, but getting a bit scary. I decided to “whitewash” it a bit with gesso. I like to use white artists’ gesso to tone down colors. The whitewashing effect is great for a background. In this case I was just going to (gulp) add the gesso sparingly. I rolled it on with a roller in a hit and miss style. My intention was not to completely cover the quilt, but to add highlights.

Hmmm…the gesso was interesting…I liked how it hit and accentuated the unquilted spaces. After considering it for awhile, I decided it still looked unfinished. I didn’t like all that white. This was a good time for panic..what could I do to change it? It had way too much white and it was too late to start another piece. This one would have to do, but it needed something…

I have been using paintstiks for a couple of years. Shiva oil paintstiks are oil paints in solid form. The paint doesn’t spread like a liquid paint does; it stays where you put it. This solid characteristic of oil paintstiks is good for hitting the raised areas of quilting. I decided to go with these, adding color to both the red and blue-green areas of the quilt. Now I’m pleased with it. I do feel this was a lesson that nothing is unredeemable and maybe one needs to just keep going and searching until the answer comes.

Weathered Places 32″ x 30″

About Katherine

Katherine has been quilting since 1994 and doing surface design on cloth since 2001, continually adding more techniques to her experience. Working from home, she maintains a website at www.mywildflowerdesigns.com and www.katherinesands.com. She blogs on her Art Journal at www.katherinesands.wordpress.com. She teaches dyeing, discharge dyeing, dye painting, machine quilting and other surface design techniques. She is an Illinois Artisan and arts council member and regularly displays work in the Illinois State Museum shop as well as arts council venues and other galleries. She is a member of the Surface Design Association (SDA), Professional Art Quilters (PAQA) and Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA).

I like to use fabric paper for my journal covers because it always has lovely texture and color and makes a strong usable cover, and this month we’ve been making fabric paper over at the Free Lunch Cafe so I used a piece of the fabric paper I made as a sample for this class. The fabric paper itself is kind of ordinary but is a great piece to demonstrate just how you can make something beautiful and extraordinary out of something fairly plain and ordinary.

Please enjoy this short video on the making of “The Fairy Tale Journal”.

Note: If you’re reading this post in an rss reader you’ll have to click through to view the video.

The purse is a super quick modular pattern I designed some time ago that goes together really quickly and I’ve made a number of these purses over the years in different colors with different inset panels and closures. This one is made using a lovely batik fabric in shades of blue and black; casual and smart.

Not that I’m short of a yard or two of fabric, but I wanted a really nice tote to carry around my quilt samples, so I dug through my “special” box of fabrics and pulled out this beautiful handpainted batik art panel which was just the right size. I’ve collected quite a number of these beautiful panels over the years at various quilts shows and have them stashed away waiting for just the right project. If you’re looking for something similar, you can pick them up online at Batik Tambal and also Indonesian Batiks. I think the tote is quite eyecatching and I’ve got lots of panels left over … hmmm how many totes does a girl need?

Please excuse my mess as I do a little housecleaning on the blog.

If you’ve visited here within the last couple of days you’ll notice that I have a brand new home page and a brand new main menu system which I hope will make it easier for you find stuff because … I’ve just relocated all the old posts at Inspire! and included them here at the Creative Textile & Quilting Arts blog.

This means that there are now hundreds of new posts containing a huge range of information from tutorials to free stuff to beautiful images for inspiration … all in one place for your convenience.

It also means that there are a few broken links so please bear with me as I clean house and fix it all up for you.

In the meantime please use the new menu system located on the top green panel of this page, and begin your explorations. Have fun!

Photo courtesyDanBrady

Today I’ll start with Priscilla Kibbee who has got just one of the most fascinating blogs I’ve come across. Priscilla shares lots of beautiful photos and details of her textiles, travels and friends, as well as her wry humor.

If you love molas, she has lots for sale so go take a peek and grab one before they’re all gone.

And while you’re there, be sure to check out the beautiful Nepalese puppets – not for sale, but none-the-less exquisite!

And what’s this? It looks like someone actually has a larger stash of fabric than me. I bow to you Priscilla.

And many, many photos of her incredible travels. I just love doors, or maybe it’s the secrets behind them.

So grab a cup of coffee and go spend some time visiting Priscilla Kibbee’s Blog, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it a lot. Thanks Priscilla for sharing!

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard about, read about, or been asked about, ways to remove fusible webbing and icky stuff from your the plate on your iron.

Do yourself the biggest ironing favor you can ever do – invest in an iron with a teflon plate. Nothing sticks to it and I mean absolutely nothing! I’ve tried it all. And if you can imagine the sorts of things I play with on a daily basis then you’ll realize that this is no small claim. (And no, I haven’t tried it on the cat yet.) These irons cost no more than an iron with a standard plate and will save you hours of aggravation trying to clean the gunk off.

So next time your iron dies, or you kill it accidentally on purpose, run to your nearest store and grab one – you’ll never look back.

Turns out that there is a whole doodling subculture called Zentangles. Who knew?

As a strong advocate of spending at least 15 minutes per day feeding your creative soul, this is simply a great idea because these little doodles only take approx 15-20 minutes each to do.

There’s lots of information about Zentangles on the Zentangles Website, so get creative and get doodling!