There was a linen tunic in my wardrobe that got very rarely worn, which was a shame as the aqua colour was really beautiful. Not sure why I didn’t wear it, but after years of being a wardrobe flower its dippy hem, once fashionable, turned from an asset into a liability. Not a big problem as it was quite an easy job to straighten the hem, and while I was cutting off the side bits to do this I thought I was halfway to opening the tunic up enough to be able to lay it flat for stencilling.
I had a seahorse stencil already cut from a previous project that got turned into a nightie because it wasn’t all that successful. You can still see the grey I used on the stencil. Grey seahorses, really? This time II thought that white seahorses on the aqua linen might be rather nice, and what was there to lose?
The stencil has a row of motifs, and the idea is to stencil the first row, then remove the stencil and put it down for the second row, offset so the motifs are between those in the previous row, and so on.
This saves on stencil material and cutting effort, and putting the stencil down repeatedly does not seem to be too difficult. I didn’t use spray adhesive with this project, but pushed the bit of stencil I was working on firmly onto the fabric, either with my fingers or the back of a brush. This prevents ink seeping underneath the stencil. With a low contrast between fabric and ink colour, occasional minor seepage is not so critical. With high contrast you need to be much more careful and use temporary adhesive to stick the edges of the stencil to the fabric or iron on freezer paper,
After I have done a row of motifs I dry the ink with a hairdryer to avoid smudging. You also need to peel your fabric off the newsprint underlay so the ink does not glue the paper to the fabric as it dries. Not the end of the world, it will eventually wash away, but the inside of your garment will not be pretty to look at until it does.
I use screen printing ink and apply this with a brush. It should ideally be a thick, stubby stencil brush, starting at an edge of the stencil and working inwards. You need to avoid brushing ink towards the edge as it might run underneath. Always brush away from the edge.
I have tried a foam roller, but find this more laborious. You want the fabric to soak up the ink, not the foam. For efficient application of the ink it also helps to thin it just a little with water, especially if it is getting old and thick, like my white is at the moment.
I usually stencil the back of the garment, then the front and finally the sleeves, but you could do it any way that works for you.
After the stencilling is finished I hang it somewhere to dry thoroughly.
The eyes can be done at the very end with with a cotton bud,
I am not certain the cobalt blue I used was such a good idea, I think now that grey might have been better. I could cover the blue with white and then put the grey on top, but I am not sure if it is worth the trouble. Let’s see if the blue will grow on me.
Now that I have got the hang of iMovie I am fired with zeal to post some more tutorials.
Block printing is quite a simple process and you can either carve your own block, or if you want to get started with a minimum of fuss you can buy one. There are a lot of wooden blocks from India online. and Etsy has some carved from wood and rubber as well.
I used to carve my blocks from Ezy Carve rubber sheets, but these days I find it easier to use adhesive foam. With adhesive foam, your printing shapes can be cut out with scissors or a craft knife, which is much faster. However, there is a trick to using adhesive foam successfully, you need to build up several layers. I will blog about this some time soon. For a beginner I would recommend buying a block, either wood or rubber, to make things as easy as possible.
The video will have given you an overview over the process, but there are bound to be some questions.
What ink to use? Screen printing ink is fine, you don’t need anything special for block printing.
What on earth is a brayer? A rubber roller that transfers a nice, even layer of ink onto your block. This is available from craft and art material shops.
What sort of fabric can you use? Anything really, screen printing ink is not fussy. Use an old sheet or tea towel to practise. You can even print on poly. For a trial run you could print on paper and use this as gift wrap, or use your practice fabric as a furoshiki (fabric wrap which replaces a plastic bag).
Why am I sometimes using a hammer in the video and sometimes not? There needs to be pressure to produce a nice block print. When I do my test prints, I try to suss out what will work the best. With an Ezy Carve block a hammer works best, with a foam sheet on top of the Perspex to protect it. With adhesive foam, firm pressure by hand seems to be enough.
Why do I wash out my block when I am halfway through printing my garment? Ink accumulates in the narrow crevices of the block as you print. After a while this makes the prints messy. You can use cotton buds to clean out the surplus ink, or you can wash the block from time to time. I find it works well to wash out all the surplus ink between printing the front and the back of the garment. Make sure the block is dry before continuing.
How do I know where to placethe block to get a nice even pattern? If you have a close look you can see that I line up the bottom corners of the printing block backing with certain points on the print below.
I also keep a certain distance between the previous print and the next one.
You can also draw a grid with chalk to help you place your prints.
If using a wooden block, a backing is not necessary and because the block follows the outline of the motif, you can see exactly where you are placing it. The same goes for a small Ezy Carve block. But as soon as the motif gets bigger, and I like big motifs, an Ezy Carve block becomes difficult to handle and a backing becomes desirable. With adhesive foam there is no choice, you need something to stick the foam to, so a backing is essential.
For this particular block I used a black piece of perspex as a backing, which is not such a good idea. Normally I use transparent, so I can see exactly where my block is being placed. However, as many people will no doubt use an opaque backing of some kind, I thought I would try this.
Using opaque backing for a block is limiting but doable. I can use the corners and edges of the backing as reference points, but if I wanted, for example, to do a random jumbled pattern, such as the one below, I would not be able to tell if my distribution of motifs is nice and balanced.
You need to see the shape of your motif as you place it, like the wooden block in the pic above. If you use a rectangular backing sheet that doesn’t hug the shape of the motif, it needs to be transparent so you can see where the actual printing shape is. I buy off-cuts from a perspex place for very little and get Mr Rivergum to cut these up for me into the size I need. He uses a router or a saw.
Materials list:
Printing block, wood or rubber or adhesive foam with backing
Fabric or you could try paper to start with
Brayer (buy from craft or art materials store)
Old spoon, metal or plastic. This can be washed and re-used.
Screen printing ink, I used Permaset. Water based ink is easiest and most environmentally friendly. I used about a tablespoon of ink for this project. Block printing is very economical with ink!
Plastic or paper plate to roll your brayer to load it with ink. This can be washed and re- used.
Newspaper to protect your printing surface. This can be re-used many times.
If you don’t have a dryer, you can use an iron to heat set the ink. Follow the instructions on the label.
I have been waxing lyrically for several posts now how soda ash and dye transform linen from a high maintenance ironing nightmare into something much less wrinkle prone. I am happy to say that block printing linen also makes it better behaved. It does not make linen soft and drapey like soda ash, but the ink somehow stabilises the fabric and make it less inclined to wrinkle. Or possibly the motifs distract the eye? Not sure which one, but either way it’s a win.
One last thing to be aware of: you will have lots of little ‘oopsies’ when you start your journey. By this I mean getting ink somewhere it is not wanted, or a block slipping out of your hand and dropping on your fabric. Or a bit of water causing a bleed. Or… or… or…
Don’t get discouraged. I generally find that the ‘mistake’ or ‘accident’ bothers me far less once a garment is completed. It seems to become subsumed into the whole and the imperfections of something hand made are part of its charm.
If the oopsie still annoys you, you can touch up an incomplete print with a brush and I have even mixed up ink to match the background colour of the fabric to cover an unintended ink blob.
A good example of something that went wrong with this particular project was on the back of this top.
Can you see where a print was placed in the wrong spot? I was distracted by the videoing and placed one of the prints too high. Quite a bit too high. But you know what, when you see the whole it doesn’t really matter.
I bet nobody but me will ever notice, and you won’t tell, will you? 🙂
Describing my forays into the ‘As Is’ bin at Ikea as dumpster diving is probably a bit over the top, but it still makes me feel rather virtuous to recycle used textiles. The ‘As Is’ textiles at Ikea are items that have been used in displays or have some minor flaws, and they are still perfect for sewing and quite heavily reduced in price. I use a lot of bed sheets for garment sewing because these days fabric stores are few and far between where I live and this is a good alternative for plain fabric I can use for my fabric printing and painting. Aldi also has very reasonably priced high thread count sheets, even linen or hemp at times. They are new of course, but because of Aldi’s huge buying power they are much cheaper than you could buy the fabric otherwise.
Long story short, my latest dive into the bin yielded the navy Nattjasmin doona cover which became my Christmas outfit, a white Nattjasmin sheet which is perfect for future dye painting projects, and I also came across a pink cotton jersey cot sheet.
Now, I have been staying away from pink for years, not really feeling inspired at all by the colour. But the bright pink somehow suited the mid summer holiday feel of the day and the sheet cost next to nothing, so I caved. And just occasionally, ignoring your better judgement will actually result in a pleasant surprise. It is probably not the most spectacular top I ever made, but the white block print suits the pink nicely and I will enjoy wearing this bright and happy looking summer top.
I used the Athina pattern again, this time with short sleeves. I wasn’t sure if a knit would suit the Athina, but it seems to. Because I like to use up whatever fabric I have, I made the Athina a little longer than before, between the shorter and longer version of the pattern. Looking at the photos that was a mistake, as the hem now hits at the widest part of my hips, which is unwise. I will take that up a bit when I happen to think of it at a convenient time.
The print was done with white supercover Permaset screen printing ink and I re-used a printing block I carved from Ezy Carve rubber some years ago.
I have previously used this block here
and here
and here:
When I have finished carving a block I glue it to a piece of Perspex for easier handling and when printing I use a hammer to make sure the block is pressed firmly onto the fabric for each print. A piece of foam between Perspex and hammer stops the Perspex from shattering. I eyeball where I place the individual motifs (the Perspex backing makes it easier to see), which isn’t always perfect but works ok and hopefully creates an artisan feel rather than industrial. That’s what I tell myself anyway, but you could also use chalk to mark out a grid.
Now that I have recovered somewhat from end of year exhaustion, I’m on a roll with my blogging. I even summoned the energy to do a video showing the dye painting process, because lots of people seem to like the results but are afraid of the process.
It really isn’t rocket science. It can be messy, which will be off-putting for some, but that can be controlled. The nice thing about dye painting is that the hand of the fabric stays soft, not plasticky like with screen printing inks. The garments also don’t run in the wash, and the colours don’t fade. With linen especially the dyes and supporting chemicals work wonders in preventing wrinkles. What’s not to like?
The best way to get started with dye painting is to do the sort of abstract watercolour I am showing here, where you just slap on the paint any which way and let the colours run and mingle. It’s super easy, but be warned that it is rabbit hole that will lead to a whole new world of creativity once you jump into it.
Here are all the details:
Fabric choice: only natural fibres will work with fibre-reactive dyes. Start with viscose or cotton, or linen if you are brave.
Dyes: fibre reactive dyes are sooo much better than the stuff in the supermarket. They are more expensive, but 50g will do many garments. The dyes don’t run or fade, as already mentioned. Two brands I know are Procion MX (sold by Dharma Trading in the US), or the Drimarene K available to me here in Australia ( sold by Batik Oetoro). You will get instructions of how to mix up your dyes and what other chemicals you need where you buy the dyes.
Paula Burch has a fabulous website that tells you everything you would ever want to know about dyeing.
How I did this project:
I used linen. Fabric must be painted single layer. I sewed up the shoulder seams before painting.
I mixed up about 1/3 to 1/2 a teaspoon of dye powder in half a plastic cup of plain water for all colours but black
For the black accents, I used sodium alginate gel (2 teaspoons of sodium alginate powder in 250ml of water, blended in blender) instead of water with the dye powder. Sodium alginate is a safe food additive, so you can use your blender without fear of poisoning yourself and your family. I poured the gel into a container, added the dye powder and mixed.
Dye thickened with sodium alginate does run and bleed, but not as much as dye dissolved in plain water. (If you ever want to paint with dye that doesn’t bleed, you need to paint with well thickened dye on dry fabric. In order to fix the dye, this fabric must have been pre-treated with soda ash, then dried.)
The soda ash solution is around half a cup of soda ash ( or three times as much washing soda) in 4L of water. Spray on after painting. The wetter the fabric becomes, the more the dye colours will mingle.
Leave the fabric for 8 hours or overnight to cure. It needs to stay damp. The longer you leave the fabric to cure, the more intense the colours.
When washing out the dye, you can use Synthrapol or other low pH detergent, but with this type of painting it is not really necessary. Synthrapol prevents the dye that is being washed out from over-dyeing undyed areas or muddying the colours. With a painterly watercolour project it is unlikely this will be a problem.
Dry the fabric and sew up. Colours will be paler once the fabric has dried, but it will not get paler from washing after this.
I have noticed that if you hang up your painted linen garment dripping wet after washing and pull out any wrinkles, it will dry beautifully smooth, with only a little texture. You won’t need to iron it unless you want to. I usually iron a new garment as part of the finishing process, after that it could be left to fend for itself.
Materials List:
Fabric to use is cotton, viscose or linen. Must be natural fibres, but NOT wool. For a practice run you could use an old cotton sheet, but it needs to be a light colour as dyes cannot make a dark colour lighter.
Some sort of plastic as a base. I use a sheet of corflute from a hardware store.
Fibre- reactive dye powder dissolved in water
Soda ash (swimming pool supply shops) dissolved in water
Sodium alginate gel if using, can be bought online as a powder to be blended with water in a blender
I can’t always fix it when I don’t like how one of my projects has turned out, but it is always worth a try. While just slapping on dye and getting it to mingle almost inevitably produces a beautiful result, when you get more ambitious and actually want to paint shapes, even abstract ones, more skill is required.
With this top I wanted to have dyed areas with blending colours and a hard black edge where they met areas of fabric left undyed. It might not look too bad at first glance, and indeed Mr Rivergum, dear man, told me so, but I would not have enjoyed wearing this top how it turned out.
If you have a closer look, you can see that the hard black edges next to the undyed beige linen are badly done, there are lots of little bleeds everywhere, and the red and blue dyes do not blend together nicely. The overall effect is clumsy and badly done. It would have annoyed me every time I took it off the hanger, with the result that I would not have worn it much, if at all. I hate the feeing that I am wearing something where it is obvious that ‘I have made it myself’.
So what went wrong?
Analysing this so you can learn from it is much better than wadding up the offending item and getting all discouraged. I realised that the black dye I had used for the hard edges had not been thickened sufficiently with sodium alginate, was therefore too runny and did not produce a reliable hard edge without bleeding.
The blue and red dyes on the other hand were meant to blend freely and I should not have thickened those dyes at all.
Hard edges combined with freely blending colours will be an important basic technique for all sorts of future projects, so it is worth capturing the realisation of what not to do and tattooing it onto my brain, so to speak. Writing a post about it may help others and makes sure I don’t forget.
Still, some good linen had gone into this top and I was loathe to waste it, even if it did teach me something important. So what to do?
The only thing you can realistically do in this situation is to overpaint. I could have tried again with thicker black dye to rescue my hard edges, and then redo the blue and red areas with runnier dye.
But influenced by my success with the Aurora Australis top I decided to simply take a big brush and overpaint the whole lot with blue and red, in effect soaking the whole top in dye and letting the colours blend without any thickener at all.
Not perfect, but I like the top a whole lot better now and will definitely be happy to wear it. 🙂
Another discovery I made with this project is that the top is almost completely wearable after washing without any ironing, only the cuffs look a bit rumpled. My washing machine played up, not spinning at all, so this was soaking wet when I hung it on the line. Like dripping. I smoothed out the wrinkles and it dried like that, really almost perfectly smooth. Fantastic, I will do that with all my linen from now on!
Dyeing Notes:
100% linen, beige, pre-washed ( I don’t always do this because I am a bad girl)
Tessuti Athina pattern, shortened to high hip length
Dyed originally with dye thickened with sodium alginate (2 teaspoons of powder with 250ml of water), blended. This is too thin if later mixed with soda ash solution. I think I will double the strength in future (4 teaspoons to 250ml of water). Is is easy to thin down, but not to thicken up.
Added soda ash solution to dye and sodium alginate mix.
Dyes used are Drimarene K, Blue 2RL, Rubinole and Black Navy Base.
Dissatisfied with result. Opened side seams to lay flat for second dye process.
Over-dyed with Blue2RL and Rubinole, dissolved in plain water, using large brush.
Sprayed generously with soda ash solution in spray bottle to fix.
This generates a lot of liquid, may drip on floor. Best avoid dyeing tile grout etc.
This tunic reminds me of pictures I have seen of the Southern Lights. It is a lovely watercolour effect mixture of three different blues. Seems I only use blue, blue and more blue right now, but if it was good enough for Picasso, who am I to quibble?
As I have really enjoyed wearing the last long sleeve Athina tunic I painted, I wanted another version, even if it is getting a little warm for long sleeves right now. So while I am having a few days off over Christmas I thought I would make good use of the time and be ready for when the cooler weather comes again.
The tunic I made previously has been so great to wear because the dyeing process has softened the linen to the point where it creases very little. I still iron it after washing, although if you are more careful avoiding creases from spinning in the machine and dry in a dryer you may be able to get away without it. I have hung up painted linen on the line dripping wet, smoothed out any wrinkles and it dried almost perfectly. But I also like the surface texture ironing produces, so I will stick to that at least when putting the finishing touches on a brand new piece. After that first ironing there is very little creasing, and you can wear your linen tunic several times and it will still look good at the end of the day. I have even crawled into bed in one of mine to have an emergency nap and it took that in its stride.
The painting part is very easy and absolutely suitable for a beginner making their first foray into painting with dye. The steps are detailed in the notes at the end of the post. After all the blue I have used in my garments so far I am feeling a little constrained by the narrow colour pallette Drimarene K has available (3 blues only, less with other colours), although you can mix colours of course to obtain new ones, or vary the strength for different shades. But if you have access to Procion MX you will have a much wider palette to play with, without the bother of having to mix it up yourself.
100% linen fabric repurposed from light yellow Ikea curtain, pre-washed
Fibre reactive dye (Drimarene K) dissolved in plain water
Start with lightest colour (turquoise in my case) with large brush (3-5cm wide)
Continue with next darkest colour (blue) and large brush
Set accents with Black Navy Base and smaller brush
Spray soda ash solution (half cup in 4L of water) using spray bottle generously over entire fabric to fix dye
Cover and leave for several hours or overnight. You may be able to get away without covering as fabric is VERY wet and won’t dry quickly (depending on temperature and weather conditions)
Watch for leaks of dye onto floor, as there is a lot of liquid