Our Friend Eileen Neill , came back to Powell River and treated us to a new technique and information on a new product.
We learned about Mono printing on Gelatin. This has been covered in a few surface design books and in a very recent article in Quilting Arts magazine, but the QA article only showed us one method that I was not at all keen on and the author had used round gelatin plates which limited what you could do with the printed fabric.
Eileen had us use a square pan to prepare the gelatin, we used bulk gelatin that was far more exconomical and we used a new fabric paint product that was loads of fun.
I have hesitated to purchase a lot of textile paints because of the cost of each little jar, but these new paints use a “base” to which you add very small amounts of colored “pigments”. The base looks like pudding or yogurt, smooth and fun to stir, The small bottles of pigment come in lovely colors and you can very easily mix and combine your own concoctions er ………colors. They can be stored in snap lid food containers from Dollarama for many weeks. The gelatin plate can also be stored for many days when covered with a plastic and kept in the fridge.
Eileen showed us 4 ways to make our fabric printed squares and many of us were working on a series of experiments in no time.
I hope to hear a report of Eileens 2nd class on Sunday when she taught beading and embellishments on fabric.
The paint product that we used for the Sat workshop was purchased from Opulence Silks in North Vancouver and I will have their website added to the sidebar by the end of the week-end.
The same product can be purchased from Gunnel Hag in Ontario but can not be shipped in the winter months because of freezing and separation of the gel base. But Gunnell has some great tutorials that I will add links for as well.
