Friday, August 21, 2009

Sunprinting on Fabric

After last week's blog post about fabric painting, I managed to do a little sunprinting on Saturday. "Sun printing" is a bit of a misnomer because apparently it's not the light but the heat that causes the effect. The faster the paint dries, the brighter or darker the color sets. The paint underneath the objects (leaves, washers, doilies, etc) dries slower so the color is faded.
IMG_7996 Second coat of paintIMG_7997  Laying out leaves for sun-printing
I took the fabric I had salt-printed (if that's a term) on Friday, which was still stretched on a frame, and painted over the whole thing in purple. Then I laid out leaves that I had pressed in a phone book and put the whole thing outside to dry.
IMG_8001 Is it done yet?
Impatient? Who, me? The fabric was nearly dry when I lifted this leaf to see how things were going. And here's the final result:
IMG_8002  Peeling off the leaves
Here's a Setacolor Soleil sun-printing tutorial at the Michaels website, though as I mentioned last week, the Michaels stores near us put all their Pebeo Setacolor fabric paints on clearance earlier this summer and don't carry it anymore. I mix my fabric paint 1:1 with distilled water.

Here's a tutorial from Simply Quilts about the salt technique. This was from an episode featuring Indiana quilt artist Phil Beaver who does some amazing applique with his hand-painted fabric.

Blogged for Fiber Arts Fridays

16 comments:

Terri Kahrs said...

Carolyn, your sunprinted fabric is gorgeous! I so admire your work! Hugs, Terri xoxo

CinLynn Boutique said...

Gorgeous! I think you need a lot of patience to do that, but it is great!

SewMamaLady said...

I love the effect that makes. Beautiful!

Carolyn B said...

Thank you all for stopping by!
@Beadnik Boutique - it's not so much patience that's necessary as prep work - having the supplies ready to go when the sun comes out!

Marty Mason said...

What a wonderful look...your sunprinted fabric just may inspire me to give it a try.

springtreeroad said...

that is waaaaaaay cool.

fiberdance said...

looks like a class you should teach somewhere--to insure the sunshine lets go to Hawaii--seeya

Carolyn B said...

Thanks Marty, Maya & Kathi for stopping by!
@Kathi - Though even Hawaii gets a bit of rain :D When I took that fabric painting class at Quilt Festival we tried to do it in the windowless conference room but the results were pretty pathetic!

Lisa said...

That is sooooo beautiful. I was just talking to my mom the other day about finding fabric to do this with. Thanks for the link sharing so I can research and understand it more!

Lisa :)

Michele said...

So pretty, Carolyn! Thanks for sharing! I'd never even heard of sun- or salt-printing before. Do you have any special plans for the fabric?

Carolyn B said...

Thanks for dropping by, Lisa & Michele!
@Michele - Some of the fabric will be for the wee quilted house ornaments. I might make some sort of tote bag thing, too (inspired by you! :o)

Michele said...

Oooh, I love your quilted minis!

Unknown said...

wow Your fabric came out beautiful!!
Thanks for sharing the process and all the links!

Carolyn B said...

Thanks, Shirley - it's a fun thing to try out :o)

EraserQueen said...

Your blog totally rocks my socks :D I'm gonna follow it! And your sun painting is GORGEOUS.

Carolyn B said...

Thanks, EQ! (Now I'm totally going to have to step up my bloggin' game ;o)

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