Repeated puff binder effect on Cotton fabric

On this sample I wanted to experiment more into puff binder and the effects of layering it up like the texture Andrew Salgado created in his paintings, I wanted the create this through Puff Binder.
So Therefore I dyed my material in a blend of mainly Pink, Orange and Turquoise Procion Dyes in the way in which I masked them to a shelf over the sink and poured the Procion dye on the fabric so that it ran down it to create a blending but even effect and occasionally added water so that the Procion dye didn't appear bold or flat.
I then let my fabric dry then once I felt it was dry I pressed it on the heat press at 180 degress's for 18 seconds to press the Dye into the fibres and then washed it to discard of any loose fibres and then once it was dry my fabric was ready to be printed on.
So therefore I firstly did the White Puff binder print first in which I filled a plastic cup half full and then spread using a small wooden stick along the top of my screen evenly with my Cotton fabric precisely underneath my design of Rachael and the other two designs on my screen masked up, I then used a squeegee to spread the puff Binder down my screen 2-3 times in an up and down motion to ensure the puff binder had pressed my design into my fabric, I then quickly added quarter of a teaspoons worth of Blue pigment to transform my white Puff binder into Navy Blue puff binder but a Blue that isn't too dark so that you can still slightly see the White puff binder design underneath.
So therefore I then applied my Navy Blue puff binder on top of my White puff binder but I turned the Cotton fabric underneath upside down so that it wasn't an exact repeat on top of previous design, I wanted the second one to be coming into from a different position so that the designs blended into each other.
So then I spread the Navy Blue puff binder along the top of my screen and using my squeegee I spread my Puff binder over my screen in an up and down motion 2-3 times to ensure the puff binder was within my fabric. I then quickly washed my screen and squeegee with the hose pipe to ensure the thick puff binder didn't stick and ruine my design, once i'd washed it I placed it in the drying rack.
I then applied the heat gun to my two designs for 2-3 minutes to puff up the substance and reveal the texture and my design. I liked this design because it was successful in showing my white puff binder screen print underneath and making them both transparent like my artist Pakayla Beihn and her double exposure artwork, but also I forgot to mask my screen so it looks like Rachael is crying on this screen print because of marks that have come through on my screen and this should be something that I wanted to mask on my next screen print but I think it relates to my intensions and artists so much that I think its effective, because it reveals a meaning and an emotion to the design which I think makes it very unique. I also think the colours clash and combine very well and make the puff binder prints contrast against them.

Puff Binder on Cotton Fabric

For this sample I firstly chose Cotton fabric as I wanted something that wasn't too thin and that I could present more than one technique on, so therefore I firstly dyed my fabric in a blend of Yellow, Turquoise, Pink, Orange and Blue to create a bright but contrasting background but I wanted it not too light because I wanted to produce a White puff binder screen print on top of it so that the enhancing and bright colours will be transparent through my design and its detail.
So therefore I dyed my material by using the process of masking it to a shelf and then dropping the dye onto the fabric so that it travelled downwards and blended into each other and occasionally added water to make the colours not so bold. After dying my fabric I then placed the Puff binder into a plastic cup which I filled just half way and then used a small wooden stick to place a even layer of the puff binder above my design on my screen with my fabric placed precisely underneath. I then followed this by using my squeegee to spread the puff binder over my design and repeated this process 2-3 times up and down my screen, moreover I then immediately washed my screen with the hose pipe because the Puff binder is a very thick substance and could stick within my design and my screen and ruine any further screen prints so its important to wash it so that it doesn't dry and stick to your screen. I followed this by then placing my screen in the drying cupboard to dry and then applied the heat gun to my fabric for 2-3 minutes which applies heat to the puff Binder to puff it up and present my design through the textured substance on my fabric. I appreciated this sample because the puff binder print againist the background really contrasts and shows all the small detail of this design which I think makes it look unique. If I did it again the only difference I would make is masking the small detail inside the large shape on my design because that isn't part of it and inside the large shape is meant to just reveal the bright background so if I did it again I would mask parts of my screen which little marks have come through to then on my fabric reveal just my design.

My panels for my quilt half way through sampling

This is my panels that I had created when half way through experimenting/sampling and deciding on what I did and didn't want on my quilt.

Free Hand Embroidery

 

 

With this sample I wanted to produce some free hand embroidery on the sewing machine so there I wanted to do this on a variety of multicoloured and vibrant fabrics, so therefore I got my first sample inside a hoop with wadding in the middle then white cotton material behind it all, I placed the wadding inside because I wanted to see the effect it had against the free hand embroidery and also I was practicing was using it within my quilt, so therefore I placed them inside my hoop and tightened it up so that the fabrics and the wadding were tight against each other and this would also create more of an advantage towards the sewing machine as tighter material resulted in a tighter and better presented embroidery.

So therefore I went on the sewing machine and began my embroidery with the footer off the sewing machine and the switch behind the sewing machine turned so that the feeder was down that pushes the material through so that I could freely move my material and create my design. So then I started my design of a face but the material didnt seem to be catching on the thread and it wasn't creating an embroidery effect so I unpicked my design and removed the wadding because I think this is what was making it difficult because the wadding was so thick, so therefore the following day I tried it again with just the multi-coloured fabric and the white cotton underneath and it was sucessfull and became easier to embroidery.

Felting

For this sample I decided to do felting and bring into it my faces, so I decided to do a set of eyes because I could add a variety of contrasting felt and make it vibrant and I could add all the small detail by creating small pieces of felt. So there I firstly layed out a towel and a square piece of bubblewrap on the table, depending on how big I wanted my felt piece to be, I then created a base of felt pieces all going in a landscape direction followed by repeating this but placing the next pieces of wool in a portrait direction so it created a form of gridlock felt so that there would be no holes and it would be a flat and bold piece. I then layed a square piece of mesh on top of the felt and with my water spray I then sprayed the felt evenly just so that it went damp and the felt began to form one piece. I then removed the mesh and began to add my design, so I created the eyes with bright and vibrant wool to make them contrast against each other to against the white background, then I repeated the earlier process of placing the mesh on top of my design and then this time I poured the water onto my design to soak it through and get it to really matt together to form one piece, once i'd done this I removed the mesh and rolled the felt and the bubble wrap in on itself to form a long type shape, then for at least 5-10 minutes I rolled it back and fourth, turning the design around inside the bubble wrap at times or stretching it because the rolling had made it smaller, but I kept repeating the process until I could no longer pull strands of felt away from my design, this process may take a while depending on how thick your felting it but as long you make sure its all matted together then it will have a better effect once its dry. So therefore after I was convinced i'd matted my felt together I then created a bowl of boiling hot water and using professional gloves I discarded the bubblewrap from the felt and placed it into the hot water for five minutes so that the hot water would have the effect of keeping the felt fibres together, then after this process I then washed my felting with cold water to rinse it of the warm and then place it on the drying rack overnight. I liked this piece because it felt it went very successful when ive always found detail making and been precise is difficult when it comes to felting because the felt is always moving but it turned successful, but if I could change anything I would of done them bigger so they took become more eyes than background, as I feel theres a lot of white around them so I could of made the eyes more centre of attention.

design and screen 3

For this screen I decided to involve everyone in it because then my quilt would be something people can relate themselves to and actually be involved within, so I got some of my friends and family members to draw themselves and then I drew I few myself to show my own designs then I transfored it into a screen print. The artists research to support this design is Jayesh and Chrissy Lau who really inspired me to do something that involved cartoon like work so I decided to involve everyone within it to make each design different, personalised and interesting.

design and screen 2

 

For this design I wanted something that represents Andrew Salgado artist research, and his work is based on rearranging images, creating shapes through them and making them really sketchy & textured. So therefore I painted a photograph of my friend Gabi in the style of Andrew and created the shapes and lines throughout it, then photocopied it and added white emulsion to the areas I felt were too dark and to also enhance the sketchy effect more.

There the left side of my design in of my friend Jack and what I did was cut up a image of him and then recreated it and added white emulsion to emphasis Andrew's work and to lighten up the darker areas, then once they were processed onto a screen I felt they worked really well and enhanced my inspirations from Andrew's work.

design and screen

 

This is the design for my first screen and the screen once it is processed with my design. For this design I wanted something I could overlap and create a transparent look related to my Pakayala Biehn artist research, so therefore I drew myself, my friend Rachael and my little brother and I thought its important to ensure there all in different positions and with different facial expressions as this will have a better effect once its screen printed instead of three faces all looking the exact same, I wanted the transparent effect to show faces within faces.

So therefore once my design is on a screen I can there create screen prints onto my fabric, knitting, weaving and felting.

Blending colours when dying fabric

 

 

 

On Friday I began dying up my fabric to be printed onto because all my 3 screens are now complete and ready to be used. I wanted to create a different technique when applying my dye because I feel if you apply dye when the fabric is flat on the table your always going to get the same effects which is flat & bold colour, so I decided to experiment with the way i applied my dye.

So I lightly celotaped the fabric to a shelf just above the sink and then used Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Pink and Purple Procion dyes and dabbed only half a teaspoon amount at the top of the fabric of each colour and then added half a cup of water gradually, then id apply more dye where needed or drop it from a higher distance so it created the effect on the right side of the fabric. I wanted this experiment to show my full potential for trying different techniques to create the effect I wanted. I appreciate how the colour runs down the fabric and blends into each Procion Dye so that their not bold and flat colours, and I think this relates to my project a lot because this project has been very bright and vibrant within its colours and I've been using very sketchy and textured techniques.