FIBER JUNKIES AUG. MEETING - PART 2

.....continued.......

After Denny gave us an instructive overview....we got started painting our paper. 

Styrofoam food trays worked well to hold and mix our paints.  Val has a vast collection of plastic molded plates for texture so I chose a cobblestone design.

This is very much a learn as you go technique....and my first attempt didn't work at all.  I had placed the plate beneath the paper and firmly painted the paper using a foam brush.  Results = nothing.  So, before the paint dried I pressed mat upside down onto the paper which yielded a design (hard to see - sorry) Next, I pressed the painted surface onto another piece of paper to get an additional impression.

Fabric crayons were fun and far less messy to use.  However, the tables we work on are padded and I had trouble with the texture plate shifting beneath the paper as I tried to press down firmly.  

This is a better print, made by doing the rubbing on the concrete floor.

 We believe this plastic rectangle is a place mat....we ALL love it.  When using stencils, we found a foam roller brush worked best to evenly apply the paint.

This is by far is my best effort of the day.  I printed twice, once in black and once in another color that Kate has used.  Here's how:  Kate turned the right side of my black paint coated mat onto her paper.  Then applied a different color. (Giving her a positive and negative print).  Then I placed the right side of her mat onto my previously painted paper to print any leftover paint.  When reprinting to use up excess paint, we found a hard brayer roller worked best.  

And of course we have show and tell.  Kate had us all drooling!  This was a piece she made in a recent dye workshop at Pro Chem.

Here's a cover she made for what looked like a notebook cover.  I love how she added an additional layer over the busy marbled fabric.....

We were all surprised when she opened it to reveal a coloring book that she bought while on a recent trip to Scotland.  What a fabulous gift idea.

And another dyed piece.

Denny brought this fantastic piece of poly crepe that was transferred dyed.  It was soooo rich looking in person.

Gen is our resident knitter.  Her socks are works of art and feel so good on one's feet because she uses very fine yarns and a size 1 needle.

The Fiber Junkies will meet again in two weeks when we will heat transfer our papers to fabric.....watch for my report!