Stamping At My House

Ever since I got my hands on a copy of Intentional Printing I’ve been itching to print on fabric.  Last week I invited a friend over to play with stamps and fabric paint.  We took different approaches, but ended up with results that pleased us.

While my friend used stamps she already had I created mine from a pool noodle and stick on foam sheets. I also used a bit from packaging material.

My goal was to tone down some garish hand dyed fabric and add another layer of printing to some fabric I had silk screened or stamped previously.

I also printed with a piece of cardboard wrapped with rubber bands, and rubbing plates designed for paintstiks.

Meanwhile, my friend was getting more delicate effects with her stamps.

Finally, here’s a piece I added more stamping to.

I love the way the texture of the cloth and the stamp materials show up. I may even try carving some linoleum blocks I have.

Stamping Out New Fabric

I began trying out techniques from Intentional Printing with stamping.  Instead of carving erasers or linoleum blocks, Lynn shows how to cut up sheets of self adhesive foam to create a stamp. This is great for knife challenged folks like myself.

Armed with the flaps from a cardboard box and a packet of multicolored 8 by 11 inch foam sheets I created a stamp, slathered it with fabric paint, and stamped away.

I used two pieces of my mother-in-law’s old tea service cloth that I had dyed a light purple, and a piece from a damask tablecloth that got the bright orange treatment.  My other supplies were a foam brush, a container that once held mushrooms, and some Folk Art fabric paint in a color called Asphaltum. The folks who made my car called the same color Urban Titanium.  Just think grungy half paved road and you’ll get the idea.

I plan to add more to these pieces, possibly more stamping (on the diagonal?) or some other surface adornment.  I was amazed at how easy this was. Cheap, too.

What Kind Of Quilter Are You?

Lynn Krawczyk’s new book Intentional Printing has a great introduction to help you get the most of her fabric printing techniques. She recommends that before you even start you need to be aware of the way you approach fabric art.

Lynn sets out three types of artistic personalities – the Ph.D. artist, the flower child artist, and the worrier artist – and the characteristics that can make creating art more difficult than it needs to be.

The Ph.D. artist researches everything to a fare-thee-well before starting to work.  Such research can cover how the chemical composition of the paint affects the life expectancy of a print, the optimal angle for holding a tool, and, in the case of quilters, the exact correct needle for a weight of thread. Lynn points out that this urge to know everything before starting to work can become a procrastination tool.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the flower child artist who is all play all the time, and who believes instructions are for sissies.  The danger of this approach is that lack of focus and constant experimentation can hinder developing mastery of a manageable number of techniques. You may recognize this personality in quilters who have drawers full of class samples made in every conceivable quilting technique.

Lynn’s last artistic personality, the worrier, is especially pervasive among quilters I’ve known.  This person believes if it isn’t perfect it isn’t worth doing, and worries about what others will think of her work. Criticism can undo her and inhibit her ability to work. Too often this person takes the quilt police’s commandments as gospel. You know, thou shalt not machine sew down thy binding. Sheesh!

In reality I suspect most of us are a blend of these personalities. I know I’m inclined to the flower child artistic personality with a pinch of the worrier. I’ll leave it to you to figure out your artistic personality.