Wednesday, January 20, 2010

That dotty pattern

I told you I'd tell you how I got that dotty pattern on the fabric for the 2nd Birds Eye View piece. Have you ever done a rubbing? You can transfer the design from anything with a raised pattern, onto paper or fabric, by putting it under the fabric and then rubbing across the top with a crayon or pencil. It is a great way to create pattern or texture.

I had an idea that I wanted to add some simple texture to my green fabrics and started searching around the house for something to rub that would impart a random pattern of dots and came upon this piece of fabric. Do you know what it is? It is fabric with little plastic nubs that is made for the feet bottoms of children's pajamas, so they are not slick. It has been in my stash, probably since my children were toddlers! It seemed like it might be perfect for my fabric. What I really liked was that the dots are not lined up in even rows, so it really is a random-seeming pattern.


I glued a piece of the fabric to a piece of foam board to make a rubbing plate for myself.


The lighting in my studio makes this look pink. It isn't. It's white, but it wouldn't matter what color it was.

I laid my green fabric on top of my rubbing plate and gently rubbed using my Caran d'ache watercolor crayons.


These wonderful crayons go on like regular crayon, though a little softer, then when you hit them with water, the color blooms and they are like water color. I generally paint over them with diluted acrylic medium to both release the color and to make them permanent on the fabric.



I varied the color by going over different areas with different crayons.

9 comments:

  1. Thank you. I believe there's some of that fabric in my children's clothing making stash. My guess about what you had used to get that texture was by rubbing a basketball.

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  2. A clever method! This stuff would also make a good printing material, I guess.

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  3. Don't forget to save me a piece!

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  4. Don't forget that rubber stuff that is used as drawer and shelf liner. It would make a great texture.

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  5. Love it! Great idea for great texture.

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  6. !!I had a little tin of these with me at the office last night and scribbled away on a scrap of white paper. In a bit, I'll approach with a wet brush and see what happens.

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  7. Like the new look very much. Easy on the old eyes for reading as well.

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  8. So, so clever! I've to scout around the house for textures now...

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  9. Terry thanks for sharing your texture. I recently started playing with my watercolor crayons...too much fun. Does the acrylic medium change the hand of the fabric when it is time to quilt?

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