Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Experiment


I should be doing laundry, but I have been working too hard lately and haven't had enough creative time for sure, so I took a couple hours today to experiment with monoprinting on fabric. It is the big thing, it seems. Everyone is taking workshops and classes. I haven't taken a class. As is usual for me I just forge ahead and try a thing. I would probably save myself some money and aggravation if I took a class and learned the "tips and tricks" part at the very least.

I took my newly purchased sheet of glass out on the patio, along with some acrylic paints, medium, brush, water and some homemade tools (comb bits and such). I painted medium and paint all over my sheet of glass, drug my combs though and then lay the fabric on top. I used my trusty rubber brayer to roll the fabric smoothly and firmly into the paint, then lifted the fabric to see what kind of pattern I had. I tried sprinkling some salt on some of them--didn't do a thing.

I laid the fabric out on the grass to dry. It certainly isn't as dramatic as the pictures I see of people's brilliantly hand-dyed fabrics flapping in the breeze, but it is what I was after. I wanted some subtle pattern and tone that I can paint into later. I'm looking forward to fooling with them some more. But first, the laundry...

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:12 AM

    I like those combed pieces very much! One thing I like to do with monoprinting is to put a drawing under the glass, and "copy" that in paint then print it - sometimes I deliberately distort the fabric with the brayer as I roll it over.... it's all experiments!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the tips, Caitlin. I'm looking forward to trying some other things.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I, too, like the combed pieces.This is something I would like to try "someday".

    ReplyDelete