Tag Archives | Dying Fabric

Dying and Mono Printing

In my recent dye session. I played around with mono printing, which is great fun. This was my first piece. The colors were brushed horizontally, but I left the squirted “eyeball” in tact.

Learning to Monoprint. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

There was a lot of dye left on the plastic, so I printed a “ghost.” As you can see, the brushed on dye was already used up, but the more gloppy eyeball printed fairly nicely.

Learning to Monoprint. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

So, I learned something: if I squirt on generous amounts, I can get a second print. And it will be somewhat different from the first. I tried it again, with these two. Not very ghostly, but the colors have moved and merged. Very interesting.

Learning to Monoprint. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

You can also mono print in a “finger paint” sort of way. These had dye brushed on pretty smoothly. Then, I drew or scraped through them. I’ll definitely be doing more of this!

Learning to Monoprint. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

When I switched to shiny plastic as my surface the dye beaded up. Which actually gave me a wonderful texture. I’ll be doing more of this, too!

Learning to Monoprint. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

I learned a lot. Some of these are  not too usable – yet. But, hey, I know how to over dye, so I’m not worried.

I’ve written a short tutorial about mono printing. The underlined text at left is a direct link, or you can find it in the Articles section of Learn with Ellen. If you give it a try, I’d love to see your results!

Ellen Lindner

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Preparing to Dye. Fabric, that is.

After painting fabric and seeing how much it stiffened the fabric, I knew I wanted to learn about painting with dyes instead.  In anticipation I got a good tutorial book and asked for dyes for my just-around-the-corner birthday.

Living in Florida, I KNEW I wanted to dye inside, something that very few people do.  I began to dye proof my studio. I didn’t want to put away everything that was pinned to my design walls, so I covered them with plastic.

Preparing to Dye: Fabric, that is. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Next, came the floor and table.

Preparing to Dye: Fabric, that is. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Maybe this seems like a lot of work, but I found that it really wasn’t too bad.  As a matter of fact, putting away everything else was a bigger job.

I started with some simple experiments, getting to know my dye colors and techniques.  I had a bunch of fabric (from YEARS ago) labeled “Treated with soda ash.”  Just what I needed, so I did my first few experiments with that fabric.  I couldn’t wait to wash it out and see what I got!

But, all my dark vibrant colors turned into wimpy pastels!  Yuck!

Preparing to Dye: Fabric, that is. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Just look at my pathetic color wheel.  Even the black in the center was major washed out!

Preparing to Dye: Fabric, that is. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Here’s another example: my clean up rag before washing.

Preparing to Dye: Fabric, that is. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And after. I guess it’s not actually ugly, but it’s sure not what I expected, or wanted!

Preparing to Dye: Fabric, that is. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Clearly, the long-ago treatment to the fabric was the problem. I soaked the remaining fabric with soda ash, rigged up a clothesline, and hung it out to dry.

As an aside, do you have any idea how long it takes fabric to dry in humid Florida?  It won’t even dry overnight! Well, that’s because the evening humidity is super high.  In contrast, if I put it in direct sunlight it dries in about 15 minutes.  Which means a little planning is required.

After all that, I was ready for Batch 2. I mixed a good bit of dye and thickener, so stay tuned for quite a few more examples.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I’ve been using Ann Johnston’s book “Color by Design” as my reference.  It’s super detailed and I recommend it.
P.P.S. My sewing machine died shortly before my dyes arrived, so the timing was good for a non-sewing distraction.

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