onsdag den 16. februar 2011

Expanding layers

Now my experiment is getting really interesting. Last night I painted two pieces of cloth with EXP binder. EXP binder is a kind of paint that expands when you gently float iron on the back. It's magic! And you can't control it all the way - so chance's got a chance! :-)

The samples I painted yesterday evening were quite good, except that the cloth shrank quite much. One would probably could strecht it back and sew it, but I wasn't satified. So today I strechted a piece of silk organza over an embroidery frame and when the binder was dry, I ironed carefully not to touch the cloth. And surprise! I managed to achieve the same structure without shrinking my cloth!

Her is how the organza layer looks like with the EXP binder painted and expanded (the white rubber like texture):


In the pictures above you can se the difference it makes to paint with broad and thin brushes... The first retains the feather lightness of the brushstrokes. The latter adds so much binder that the texture of the brushes disapear, leaving instead the binders own texture.

While I waited for the binder to dry, I sew the three layers of forest I made yesterday together. When the binder was dry and expanded with the ironing process, I painted the rubber layer with pastel tones as you can see above. The I cut the pieces I wanted to use and sew them to the forest background. And her is how it looks like:



The EXP binder is quite sensitive, so using the sewing machine damaged a little of the structure. So I stopped and decided to hand quilt it. That would be really nice, I think! I can't wait to start quilting! :-)

tirsdag den 15. februar 2011

Layers of forest

It's just so exciting to try something new. It's challenging and it pushes you forward. And today was another chapter in my adventure painting cloth!

The motif I chose is very well known to me. Last year I worked with forest as a theme. That was when I used a soldering iron to melt polyester and other synthetic materials. But since the gases released in the burning process are carcinogenic, I decided to drop this technique. I wondered whether or not painting would bring the same transparency and delicacy I achieved with the melting process. But the first result is promissing:




The picture above is the final result. I startede with painting a background on cotton...



..... Then I laid a piece of fine silk organza on top and painted some trees. ...



... Finally I laid another layer of organza and painted some pink pine trees.


Tomorrow I'll try another binder, EXP, which adds texture to the cloth. I'm excited to se what it will do to my pine trees. But I think I'll sew the three layers with nylon thread before I use the EXP binder... Keep tuned! News are coming soon!

torsdag den 3. februar 2011

Explaining Photo Screen

It seems I forgot that most people aren't artists! I realize I've used a very technical language, and that wasn't very reader friendly! Sorry, folks!

Luyckily I've got some good friends who are very curious and asked med a lot of questions about the process. So her i a short explanation... after these pictures:









The first thing is to have a nice black and white photo printed on paper. At www.spektrumtextil.dk they have a machine called Thermofax, which makes a special photocopy of my picture to a transparent piece of cloth, which then is pulled over a frame.

The first picture shows the two frames and one of my paper prints.

Once I have my frame, I put some paint on it, and then I use a flat thing called a squeegee to push the paint over the frame. The paint goes through the motive to the cloth underneath. Then I lift the frame, and voila! Her is a brand new print of my motive!

So when I was talking about printing, it had nothing to do with computer printers, but the simple old fashioned meaning of the word: with paint and my own hand... One might say I'm going backwards on technology... :-) I'd rather say I'm using the best of all technoloogies. I use the computer to prepare my image, but the most vivid artistic expression is much nearer when it's me that's controling the paint... :-)

onsdag den 2. februar 2011

Photo Screen



I did it! I finally did it! I went to Copenhagen last week and visited a shop that specializes in paint and dyes for textiles, which are not harmful to the environment or to my health. They also have the technology to make thermofax frames for printing.



So I found a couple of my best nature pictures and prepared it for the thermofax copy with Paint Shop Pro. I made it black and white, then Addet a lot of contrast and light. Finally I printed it on paper - this is what I gave them at the shop, and a day later they sent me two frames. And wow! It looks great!


So today, efter using some time in the last few days to blend colors and binders, I finally did it! I printed on cloth! First I made a background using an watercolor binder. Then I printed the first layer with green and the second, with another motive, in neon pink.


Tomorrow I'll try some other stuff on this surface! A lot of fun is coming up! I can hardly wait!