Polyester - not an original thinker!

Hi all - just to give credit where it is due, Lisa Grey very kindly spent time with me on the phone and by email to answer some total newbie questions. We even had scheduled a class for at least two students at her studio, when I had to back out because of the wedding of a dear friend. Still need to reschedule the class at her convenience. It was she who mentioned that the dyes could be directly applied to fabric, then heat set. It makes sense, I think anyway (remember, newbie here) if the paper controls the dye sublimation, the teflon sheets on each side of the fabric would do the same. So here's a link to her site - her work is awe-inspiring! Lisa Grey. Plus click on her class schedule links - Mendocino, CA in July.

Polyester Sunprint

Couldn’t wait to process this piece of Nu-suede. It’s my first effort at a sunprint. Looking at it critically, there are several flaws – boring, all-over placement of the leaves, a thread visible in the upper right of the detail, below, and general blurriness. Also, monochromatic doesn’t do much for it. But it’s still extremely cool and I can’t wait to do more, and do it better!

Auditioning Paintstiks

Well, I have been giving some thought to the ‘keeper’ fabric and came up with a decent way to audition Shiva Paintstiks. This illustration shows about the third iteration, and the first I like. The paint for now is temporary – I applied it to Glad Press ‘n Seal™ cling wrap - you can see it best around the top fan. Once the paint has dried thoroughly, I can remove and reposition it all I need. I like how the curvilinear shape of the fans echoes the bound spider webs. Hope you do too. I did test out some intense green, but that might be best in very small bead-sized doses. Thanks for looking!

Pleasures of Polyester

Well, my new shipment of PFD and dark fabrics arrived today from Robert Kaufman. The big ticket item is 100 yards of their 100% polyester Nu-suede fabric. It feels like a moleskin and does fray a bit. But is so very soft and luscious – it looks like a great fabric for warm blouses or else jacket/skirt/slack combos. Yes, garment sewing. Good thing my best friend taught sewing for 30 years! Here are a couple pictures of work in process and finished goods from the first 30 yard roll:

Started the first piece with an all-over pink color, then rag-rolled an 'orange creamsicle’ color over it.

The second piece shows a yard of fabric in process. It got turquoise dye (Pro-Chem’s Transperse turqouise) all over, then it was spread out on plastic (my favorite heavy vinyl from Jo-Ann’s.)  Then I sprinkled it with salt and waited for it to dry. That piece sold right away, so I did it again with a three-yard piece, which is shown in the third photograph. That shows it mid-way through the heat-press process, which is when the color changes. Transperse is Pro-Chem’s name for their disperse dyes designed for transfer printing.  The main problem with the whole process is the investment into the heat press. But everyone who handles the fabric falls in love with it – I did!

I still have more to learn, so I’d better get to it! Thanks for looking!