Tag Archives: fabric painting techniques

Painted Fabric – Cardboard Resist

This is the first cardboard resist piece I made, it was made on a painted (light wash) piece of fabric and I used two colors for the design. Read on to find out more and for the How-to video see below.

For this next piece I left some of the backside tip fabric unpainted (no yellow), once dry and pressed I painted orange dots to the centers. I didn’t like that result, they felt too deliberate. The holes were in a tighter placement and I don’t think the overall results were as good, BUT maybe it’s just the colors; I think these colors would have been more striking on a white background.

Below is the only piece (so far) painted on white fabric, the picture doesn’t show how pretty it really is. I forgot to take a photo before I cut some pieces out, that’s the photo-shopped out white areas.

The next piece didn’t go as I had hoped. I started with a piece of rope wrapped fabric in green (more about that in a future post). I used three colors on the green background, which was an okay idea, but again the holes were too close. I’ve concluded that there needs to be more fabric and space between the holes.

  • black paint at edge
  • yellow paint on tip
  • flipped it and painted third color
  • back dry, not pressed
  • front dry, not presses.
  • front pressed, can’t really see the centers.

I did use the the above fabric but it doesn’t look anything like it did after painting. In my previous post I share the crackle/crinkle painted fabric and said I’d try to share an artwork using that technique and this newest paint technique. Here it is… Mixed media collage, raffia, coffee filter, and hand painted fabric. I may talk about the background wall fabric in a future post.

Untitled. Approximately 15.5″ x 11.5″

I learned more… One – I wanted the vase to be shiny so I painted Mod Podge on it, when it dried it was shiny BUT the crackles and crinkles were no longer visible. And two – Dry Mod Podge is really hard to wash out of fabric! I ended up flipping the fabric over and that worked fine, it’s actually darker than it appears in this photo.

After painting a few pieces I have more ideas for using this technique. If you paint fabric using any of these techniques I hope you’ll share your results.

Stay tuned for the next sweepstakes/giveaway announcement.

It’s a Fabric Wrap

I have painted pole wrapped fabric, and dyed a wrapped rope, and I’ve never been disappointed with the results, there is always something good that can come from them.

A few things to keep in mind – Traditional pole wrapping, Arashi shibori, is not what I’m doing. I use paints and don’t follow the correct wrapping and stringing process, so I realize my results will not look like the real thing. Paint stays more on top, whereas dye bonds and soaks through the wrapped layers.

I recently used rainbow colors and instead of my usually 4″ ABS pipe, I used three PVC pipes taped together, making a triangle. Here are pictures of the process, the result, and some finished works.

  • Spring and wet cotton fabric
  • Starting to wrap
  • Tie off the string
  • wet fabric and string compacted/pushed down to the pole.
  • Using a brush
  • Using a bottle
  • Remembered that I have foam pole holders for my larger pole.
  • Placed paper towel under pole. Placed outside to dry, I rotated it once in awhile.
This makes me think of the lower leaf filled branches of a tree. May have to try that all in greens sometime but turned it looks like fish. It’s like finding images in the clouds!

I usually put fabric under to catch the drips but this time I used several paper towels.

First paper towel caught the most, of course. This will be fun to use in collage.
  • Drift and Flow
  • Up Stream Photograph on Fiber series piece
  • Balance and the Brass Ring has the dyed rope wrapped fabric…
Dye does give a richer, more even, and more beautiful result. Paint is just easier for me.

Have you made any pole wrapped fabric?

Next time I’ll share at least one other painting on fabric techniques. Thanks for stopping by.

First Responders and a Winner

Visions Art Museum had a Call for Entries with the theme First Responders. This exhibit will be online only and I haven’t heard yet if my piece has been selected, I’m sharing it here.

I had many ideas but I got a late start so I went with the simplest one. It’s only about 15″ square, which was doable for me even though I’m rusty. The first image I shared on my previous post, it is fused without the vessel. If you follow me on Instagram you may already know what the surprise vessel is.

The quilt sandwiched and the vessel being auditioned in this quick shot with poor lighting.

I had the idea of using a mask for the vase/vessel long before the main design. In making the vessel I discovered that a (too) hot iron would melt the mask more than I had anticipated. Thankfully, I had it sandwiched between parchment paper. I actually like the “aged” look it gave the mask. I removed one ear strap and used the other as the bottom edge and feet. I used embroidery floss with a close blanket stitch around it for a bit more interest.

I free motion quilted/thread played, echoing the flowers and greens, and wrote “Thank you First Responders.” The writing is subtle, I didn’t want it to be the first thing the viewer noticed. I quilted green in the center of the yellow flowers later.

I make tiny double layered binding with butted corners, it’s not fast but it is still my favorite way to finish any quilt. Knowing that my hand is not 100% yet I didn’t want to try to stitch through my usual painted fabric so I used a softer, thinner fabric (white muslin, I think) and painted two pieces.

Wet binding fabrics.

Another favorite thing is to “break” the binding where the quilt design has an obvious break – in this quilt it is between the table top and the main design. I got the fabric wet and used an old vinyl shower curtain under it. I laid and smoothed the fabric out and then painted it; one to contrast with the main area piece and the other to mostly match the wood-look table top. Then I crunched the wet fabrics lengthwise to give some added interest.

I rush dried this pieces, which means I let them be for a short time and then heat set before rinsing them out with water to remove any paint, then squeezed as much moisture out and ironed them completely dry. They really lightened up.

Dry and ready to be made into binding.

The vessel was stitched on after the binding was finished.

I always add side binding first then leave a one inch hang over on the top and bottom binding edges, which gets trimmed down. The already cut fabric pieces I painted were almost too short, so in this photo I was just checking by laying them in place… Machine stitched the side bindings first. I love those clips, they hold the binding for the hand stitching with no more pin stabs!

I’m please with the finished piece which I’ve titled – Mask for Them. The exhibit should be online beginning May 3, 2021, with or without my piece I’m sure it will be a great exhibit. VAM has wonderful online shows, events, and activities.

Thanks to those of you who entered for a chance to win the Painted Tree fabric… Congratulations to Karen G, you are the winner! Please email your mailing information.

I hope you’ll stop by again for more fiber/mixed media art and a May giveaway.

Coloring Fabric and Giveaway

Some of you know that I’m a quite a fan of Caran D’ Ache Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels. If you’ve taken my leaf painting class you may already know how fun these wax pastels are to use on fabric. I have used them in some of my videos and lessons.

Recently I played around and made a few pieces of fabric. I have to add that even though we get an average 266 sunny days a year here, I picks a gray day to color these fabrics. I mention that because had I been able to set the pieces in the sun I would have gotten different results; drying faster, maybe lighter finishes, better sunprint type results, and more pieces of fabric. Still, it was a lot of fun and for the most part I’m pleased with the results.

I’ll be giving these pieces away (one fabric packet) in a random sweepstakes drawing – See below for entry information.

I’m working on top of a piece of plexi-glass (acrylic sheet) so I have a hard, slick surface that I can move around as needed. Actually pieces may look slightly different in person and they are approximately 11 inches on the shortest side. Please excuse any light glare.

  • Pastel rubbed on dry plexi-glass.
  • Pastel sprayed with water then fabric set on top of it.
I rubbed more pastel under fabric and sprayed water on top then let it dry.
  • Found mess packing paper placed under fabric
  • Dry fabric rubbed with two different green pastels for a textured look.
  • Sprayed with water and rubbed more pastel across.
  • Pulled paper out, stretched it and placed on top, set the paper covered fabric under a lamp for a “sun print”.
Finished piece
  • Wet fabric on wet plexi and dragged pastel across causing ripple marks in the fabric
  • This is the rippled fabric, next add splatters
  • Get the round brush and pastel very wet then drip and flick the wet pigment off of the pastel onto the fabric.
  • Finished pieces with ripples and splatters

This is my favorite result but sadly the finished photo isn’t very good…

  • Black pastel and wet fabric to make gray wrinkles
  • Scribble on the plexi and use the wet fabric to mop it up. Cover fabric completely with pastel.
  • Squish the fabric up for drape type wrinkles
  • This is the fabric dried and pressed completely flat. It is actually a nice gray color, photo doesn’t do it justice.

I can think of many ways to use these little fabric pieces and I’m sure you can too.

Sweepstakes/giveaway begins February 10, 2021 and ends at 9pm (Pacific Time) February 16, 2021.

To enter: You must live in the US only (no international entries). One entry per person. Leave a comment stating that you would like to win the fabric packet and include your first and last name (or last initial).

On February 16, 2021, I’ll use a random drawer and announce the winner on my next blog post. Winner will email me their mailing information and I will mail the fabric packet ASAP. If I don’t hear from the winner within five days of drawing date, I will run another random draw.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!