I have had batik in my project board for awhile now... I've been doing autumn leaves shirts for 4 years, and I love them, but I have wanted to broaden my horizons a little, and I decided this is the year. Yesterday, I cut a stencil of a dragonfly, and tried it out on both a t-shirt and a piece of muslin, both pre-soaked in soda ash solution and dried. In both cases, I traced the design on using regular pencil, then I waxed the design on. On the muslin, I added dye to the body and eyes with unthickened dye and an artist's paintbrush, then I brushed the dye on around the dragonflies, over the wings to pick up the divisions, and out toward the edges. I used 4-5 colors of dye, a couple of which I actually mixed and stored back in August! Amazing how well they hold their strength if they are stored in a cool spot! When I finished applying the dyes, I covered the muslin with plastic wrap and batched overnight.
Here's the muslin:
After I let the wax harden on the T-shirt, I scrunched the shirt into a small bin, then I poured over the dyes and let it sit for about an hour before I rinsed and washed. Here's the shirt:
I'm pleased with my start, and got busy this morning creating some more stencils. I'm also searching the internet for pre-cut stencils to see if I can find some I like. It is pretty time-consuming to cut the stencils, and although it goes faster if I cut them from card stock, I'm concerned that the card stock won't last very long before it starts to break down. At any rate, thi is definitely going to be my big project for the year, and probably beyond!
No comments:
Post a Comment