Discharge Archives – Quilts and Other Stuff from Frances

First of all, I need to jump ahead to a post that I haven’t written yet…..

Last week, I took a class from Linda Cantrell and I still haven’t blogged about it, but I want to jump forward to something that she showed and tell how it relates to what I did today.

She showed us two small quilts that she has made…..

She then showed us how she uses a Clorox Bleach Pen…..

…..to make the shadings in her vase. Working with a shape similar to her vase, she uses the small tipped end of the pen to draw onto the fabric. After a few minutes, the bleach discharges the color in the fabric, leaving a wonderful design (see the brown design on the left)……

Now, let’s fast forward to this afternoon. I have been looking for another project to try more hand applique and thought that one of these types of wallhangings would be fun to work on and doable to finish.

I started out by searching my computer and the internet for photos of sunflowers, stems and leaves, coming up with these (among others)….

My plan is to make a vase that holds a single sunflower, along with several leaves.

Next I started looking for vase pictures…..I know that I could draw one pretty easily but always feel more comfortable with having something to look at. I found this one…

I used my copier and played with all of the patterns until I got it the size that I wanted it.

THEN, I started thinking about Linda’s technique of using the Clorox Bleach pen so, after a quick run to the store, I was ready to give it a try.

After looking at this design, I decided to try to replicate it by cutting it out as a stencil and using the bleach to take the color out of the fabric.

First step was to cut the template out of freezer paper and carefully iron it onto the fabric. In this photo, the fabric looks blue, but it is really a deep purple….

I then squeezed out a puddle of bleach and started going over my stencil with a small paintbrush. The results were instantaneous!!!!

I quickly realized that the color would never discharge completely, so I took of the paper and washed the fabric. Here is the result…..

You can see that I did a bit of bleach doodling around the edges as well!!!

It didn’t look like much until I put the vase outline over it…..

My original thought was to use colored markers to fill in the spaces, but finally decided to simply use a black Pigma pen to add some outlines. I also added a little bit of color in the flower centers. Finally, I realized that the contour lines at the top of the vase had spread and gotten too big, so I used another marker to make them slimmer and to add a bit of shadowing…..

The final step was to prepare it for appliqueing, this time using Linda Cantrell’s method of preparation….I will blog about that later….

I am REALLY excited about this result. Now I guess that I need to go back and finish designing the wallhanging, but in any event, I had a GREAT afternoon!!!

Several weeks ago our Fiber Frenzy group met with Francyne helping us to explore the world of DeColourant.

She began by explaining that DeColourant is a product that is used to discharge the color from fabric and that it is better than bleach products because it is not as hazardous.

She then talked about DeColourant Plus which not only discharges the color from a fabric, but then re-dyes that fabric with a new color!!!

The DeColourant can be applied to fabric in an infinite variety of ways, including stamps, resists, stencils or simple painting. Once painted, the fabric must be allowed to dry completely. The actual process of discharge and re-dye doesn’t begin in earnest until you apply heat with an iron or other source. The hotter you heat it, the more discharge happens.

She showed several examples…..

….and as usual for her, provided tons of tips and helpful advice.

These stamps were made from found objects applied to insulation board….

When getting ready to use these stamps, she painted a thin layer of “paint” onto her pallet and then dipped the stamp in the paint…..

….much easier than using a brush to daub the paint onto the stamp.

She also suggested cutting down the simple foam brush so that it has more of a blunt point that doesn’t have as much give as the normal brush…..

She talked about using daubers to apply the solution to stencils, resists or other areas. The one on the left was made from a cosmetic sponge…..

This is what she used as her stamping pad…..

…..a commercial product that has a cutting mat on one side and a pressing board on the other. By covering it in plastic she could use a damp rag to wipe up any bleed thru so it didn’t affect the next piece of fabric……

But her best tip (which had nothing to do with DeColourant) was this wonderful trick…. …..use a bread wrapper closer to keep the tape ends loose and ready for use!!!

Several of our members came prepared to try out the technique but I wasn’t one of them!!! I am anxious to try the DeColourant as a discharge, but probably wont use the color-added product.

Thanks Francyne for a wonderful demonstration!!!!

Tag: Discharge

Discharging the day….

Fiber Frenzy – DeColourant