Studio Play Date with Barb Olson!

What a treat to go to Barb Olson's studio in Boulder! The inspiration started with the drive over... can you believe the view from the highway! 

The goal was to experiment with deconstructed screens and I had a whole pile of them ready to go... but alas I forgot them at home = DUH! No worries we had fun with other techniques. 

Here we sprinkled dye powder on the fabric and pulled print paste across. 

We have some interesting results! Barb placed the foam circles and other objects from her sprinkled piece onto plain fabric soaked in soda ash and water. I don't have a photo but it turned out really cool!  My piece is over to the right. You can just make out a leave I placed as a mask... not exactly a dramatic look! Oh well - I learned somethings which was the point! 

Here Barb is showing me how to use a foam roller and wooden blocks for a cool print! 

The roller needs to be really saturated to get a strong print. 

Barb said she got the roller at Home Depot! 

Barb is pulling the print paste across the screen. Deconstructing screens means with each print the screen slowly releases the design until it's all gone! 

It's a time consuming technique due to creating the screens first and allowing the thickened dye to dry... but the results are so fun! 

When  got home I got busy with the print paste and screens - here are my results!

This piece had too much empty white space for my taste. I decided to paint a light wash across the surface which made the overall design feel more substantial. 

Any time spent sharing ideas and experimenting with a friend is priceless - but don't forget your supplies! 

Screen Collage with Thickened Paint!

After reading Breakdown Printing by Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan I've started to soak the fabric in soda ash and water before screening. In the past I've added soda ash and baking soda to the thickened dye mixture but it greatly reduces the shelf life of the dye. With this system I can keep the thickened dye around for days allowing me time to complete more projects without remixing. I'm not sure how long the shelf life is but I plan to experiment and find out! 

Here are a couple of pieces I did this past week... lots of fun to free motion screen! 

I started by creating yellow vertical lines with the thickened dye. Next I laid the screen on top and pulled red and blue across the surface. I repositioned the screen moving it around until the surface was covered. 

Detail: 100% Cotton, 36.5" X 44", $25

For this piece I used yellow and blue thickened dyes. A lovely green meanders through the design as the colors mixed. Overall it a soft bright look. 

Detail: 100% Cotton, 36.5" X 44", $25

If any piece needs to be in your stash please contact me by email and let me know!

caroleatondesigns@gmal.com 

Screening with a Twist!

I recently purchased "Breakdown Printing" by Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan. I have yet to watch the DVD that came with it but the book is great! When I'm excited to try something new I tend to jump in with both feet. Only after I've gotten my hands dirty and have a feel for the technique do I slow down enough to read the directions or guidelines! 

After mixing up batches of thickened dyes I squirted the dye onto the back of a prepared screen. The bubble wrap and other materials were placed on top of the dye and left to dry. 

The screens are almost dried. I pulled off the bubble wrap and other items. The marks left behind will add an interesting element to the design (I hope!). 

Using a squeegee I pulled clear print paste across the screen. This step is repeated multiple times until the dried dye breaks down and we are left with a fun design. For the piece on the left I added a fern design using a Thermofax screen created by PGFiber2 Art.  

The process was time consuming due to the drying times. I love instant gratification but I'm going to keep at it experimenting and seeing how far I can push this technique!

Have you ever tried deconstructing screens?

Screen Collage!

Screen collage is my new favorite passion. It's a bit cumbersome and time consuming but o la la the results are fun! To me it's freeing and the excitement of seeing the colors mix and blend is my reward for the hard work. I've done a number of pieces now and I keep learning as I go. 

Here is my set up; I'm using thickened dyes.

You can add freezer paper underneath the screen to create a design

Gotta love that freezer paper! 

I'm not sure why I chose to put green and peach together but I did.

This piece is a soft pastel.

I need to tweak the drying method to get stronger colors... to be continued!