And the Winner is. . . .

Thanks to everyone for your great comments!

There were 110 comments on the four posts and I used a random number generator to chose the winner

Surprisingly, it chose the last commenter!

SO, the winner of the FOUR Sun Printed Fat Quarters, 

TWO yards of Mistyfuse, and ONE Mini Goddess Sheet is:

Vicki

I sent an email to you Vicki.
Please email me with your mailing address and I will get these prizes out to you right away!

October's Queen Bee is Terri Stegmiller

SunLESS Printing

So one day I woke up wanting to sun print and this is what I saw outside . . .

. . . another day I've been busy with the family or work and missed the sun. . .

What is an artist to do?!? 

Improvise!

By creating a fake Sun or a Heated situation, I have found I can still produce great "Sun Prints."

1) Fake Sun

Following the instructions in this post, prepare the fabric and place the painted and masked fabric under a Fake Sun.  I like using shop lights. . .

. . . as well as my desk lamps.

Both create the same images I get outside in the bright sun.

The amount of time to create the Sunless print will depend upon the heat and humidity in your home or studio.

2)  Bottom Heat

By placing a heating pad underneath the painted fabric laid out on a cookie sheet, the same evaporation effect occurs and allows you to have a Sunless print!

3) Ironing

The fastest way to create a Sunless print is to use a very hot iron.  

I demonstrated this method on Quilting Arts TV Season 1700 and 1800.  

• Simply place your painted fabric and heat-proof masks (I like to use shapes cut from overhead transparencies) on to a cookie sheet.  (Don't plan on using the cookie sheet for baking again!)
• Cover the fabric with a Mistyfuse Goddess sheet.
• With an iron set on the cotton setting, iron over the top of the fabric until dry.  This will take about 5 to 7 minutes of ironing.
• Remove the Goddess sheet and masks to discover your fabulous designs!

Are you inspired to create some fabulous Sun Printed Fabrics of your own yet?  Go forth and create and then come back here on September 23rd to learn one more Sun Printed trick!

Leave a comment below to be entered for another chance at winning these four lovely Sun Printed Fat Quarters, Two yards of Mistyfuse and a Mini Goddess Sheet!

- Lisa Chin

Sun Print-paloza!

The seasons are a changing, and no matter the weather where you live, 

it's time to take advantage of sun printing!

Ideally the weather is hot, dry and windless for sun printing.

Pull out a table, or a large piece of board. . .

. . . grab some paint, fabric and masks (i.e. leaves, cut outs, stencils, hardware, etc) and get busy.

The basic instructions for Sun Printing are:

1) Wet your fabric with either a spray bottle or soak the fabric in water and squeeze out the excess water.  Lay the fabric on a table or board which can be placed in the sun.

2) Mix your paint of choice (see photo above) at about a two to one ratio - two parts water to one part paint - and, using a large foam or bristled paint brush, spread the paints across the fabric.  Use one or multiple colors.  It's all up to your creativity.

3) Place leaves, masks, keys, nuts and bolts, or whatever you like over the top of the painted fabric.

4) Leave fabric in the sun until the fabric has dried.  The sun heat sets the paint and so it is now wash fast, however, I am a creature of habit and always iron my fabrics before I wash them.

This process is much shorter, and more dramatic, in dry climates rather than in humid climates as the process is really working by evaporation.  As the water travels from under the masks, it draws the paint with it out from under the masks and creates an outline of the image.

But with the season's changing, maybe the sun isn't shining right now. . . 

. . . or it's the middle of the night and you want to create. . .

What's an artist to do???!!!

Well don't panic because. . .

Guess what?! 

There ARE ways to Sun Print WITHOUT the sun!

AND, I will tell you all about them in the next blog post. . .

In the meantime, leave a comment here about your experiences (if any) with sun printing for your opportunity to win FOUR Sun Printed Fat Quarters, TWO yards of Mistyfuse, and A Mini GODDESS SHEET!  The winner will be selected and announced on September 30th!

Don't forget to enter your email address over there on the right hand side so you will not miss the next post about how to Sun Print without the sun!  There will also be a post about layering Sun Prints, as well as a post with a fun project to make once you have created your sun prints (clue:  the project uses Mistyfuse!)

See you Next Week!

- Lisa Chin

Ice Dyeing with Cleanline Resist and Giveaway

GIVEAWAY CLOSED - Congratulations Darcy Berg!

This is my last post for this month on ice dyeing with resists. Another resist that you can use with ice dyeing is Lumi Cleanline. I love using this product when painting on fabric. If you've never used Cleanline, check out my post about it here.

So I tried it with ice dyeing.

You follow the same procedure as when you are ice dyeing with soy wax or Color Magnet. Soda ash soak the fabric and hang to dry. The Cleanline resist is then applied to the dry fabric with whatever tools you like to use including, but not limited to, thermofax screens, wood printing blocks, or potato mashers. Then let the Cleanline dry before ice dyeing.

When completely dry, I scrunched the fabric up and ice dyed it.

Here are the results. With Lumi Cleanline resist, since it is water soluble, you don't get a strong resist due to all of the melted ice water that sits on it, but still gives a nice, almost muted, background.

These are just a few of the resists you can use with ice dyeing. I could see the kitchen resists and even glue working with this technique. If you try any others, I'd love to hear about your results.

As I mentioned in my first post this month that I am working on my online class - Icy Delights. Registration will open in May.

 

Because a lot of the dyes split or break out to their component colors in ice dyeing it's difficult to buy dyes not knowing how they will look. For my class I've ice dyed 34 different colors so class participants can see which colors they might like best for their projects. I've also included some of my favorite color combos.  But more about the class later.

Let's get to the giveaway.

For my giveaway the winner will receive 4 fat quarters of my favorite ice dyed fabric (and maybe a surprise). You must comment on this blog or my Bloombakecreate blog. The deadline is Friday, May 6 at 8 am CST. I'll be posting the winner at the top of this post.

Good Luck and thanks for reading my posts this month.

The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway: Marks with Found Objects

It's time, once again, for another Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway! This month the Queen Bee was Leslie Tucker Jenison. Leslie's fabric theme was, "making marks with found objects". She also requested that the fabric be primarily neutrals with a "pop" of color.

In addition to making fabric for Leslie, each member of the Bee made a 6" square of fabric which you have a chance to win! Just leave a comment on this post or visit The Printed Fabric Bee Facebook page and leave a comment under the photo of the collection by June 14 and you will be eligible to win the entire collection. Imagine what you could make with 11 squares of fabulous fabrics! Leslie will be choosing a winner on June 15. Good luck!

Be sure to also stop by all the Bee members' blogs to read about how they made their contribution to this collection.

Carol R. Eaton
Jackie Lams
Lynda Heines
Gerrie Congdon
Susan Purney Mark
Deborah Boschert
Jane Davila
Lisa Chin
Lynn Krawczyk
Leslie Jenison
Judy Gula 
Julie B. Booth

And the Winner of the Mola Collection is...

..Barbara Woods!

Congrats, Barbara! Please email me with your mailing address (threadborn@cox.net) and I'll send off the mola-inspired fabric collection from The Printed Fabric Bee.

Hope that these fabrics inspire you and that you let us know what you end up creating with them.

Julie B. Booth

The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway: Molas!

Hi there- It's Julie B. Booth letting you know that it's time, once again, for The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway!

This month I was the Queen! My theme was Molas. I just love molas... a reverse applique technique developed by the Kuna Indians. I'm attracted to the symmetry, the contrast and bright colors and also the playfulness and mastery of the technique. I'm so excited to have the Bee members interpret this theme.


Now...for the giveaway...You can win a collection of 6" squares of these original fabric designs by leaving a comment here or by visiting my blog and leaving a comment under The Printed Fabric Bee Giveaway: Molas! post. I'll be choosing a winner on Wednesday, April 15th (just to cheer someone up on Tax Day!). You'll have up to midnight Eastern USA time on April 14th to leave your comment.


In the meantime, stop off at each of the Bee member's blogs to find out how they created their mola fabric designs. Good luck!!!


Carol R. Eaton
Jackie Lams
Lynda Heines
Gerrie Congdon
Susan Purney Mark
Deborah Boschert
Jane Davila
Lisa Chin
Lynn Krawczyk
Leslie Jenison
Judy Gula