Saturday, August 23, 2014

Cover experiments

I'd like to begin by showing

this again.

In other words, it meant I needed to start over again.  This time I decided to get out my inkjet ink refills, and instead of using the thinner, most of which I used last time I tried this technique, I decided to use my 91% Isoprophyl Alcohol as the wetting agent.

For these pieces, I made a few folds.  In the end, it didn't make any difference, but at least I knew what to try the next time I use the inks.

Both the fabric and the Viva paper towels underneath, are gorgeous.

You can tell I used more alcohol on the piece on the right, because the colors aren't as bold.

But none of that mattered much after the pieces were dry, which took about 10 minutes in the heat.  The brightness of the paper towels shows how much color was lost in the fabric as opposed to the towels.

I used a lot of my handmade shimmering mists to dye another fabric.  Yes, these pieces are strips of an old bed sheet that came from the thrift store.

More subtle than the printer ink, but lots more glitter.

Finally, not certain I had enough fabric to cover two books, I decided to cut up a pair of my old shorts

and use my shimmering mists to color them, too.

I was now ready to reread the directions for a fourth time and try to make some sense to them.  Thanks for looking because I still don't know how these will turn out!

7 thoughtful remarks:

Julia Dunnit said...

Oh my life, didn't that work well! So glad you has another go, you just be pleased. It looks like a lot of fabric to me, so I was surprised that you felt it wouldn't be enough.
The metal weight you used to anchor the fabric caught me out.... Momentarily I thought it was chocolate! A diet will do that to you!!

Krisha said...

LOL! I thought that weight was chocolate too!

Great dye job on all the pieces. I prefer the brighter colors....but that's just me.

Halle said...

LOVE, LOVE that fabric!! Bright and bold!! Glad you had to start over. ;)

Jo Murray said...

That's amazing!!! I'll be looking out for printer inks at the thrift shops.

Dianne said...

oh wow! don't know how I missed this post but your fabric is gorgeous! can't wait to see the next step...and good to know that I am not the only one who has to read the directions many times to figure something out! ;)

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wowser! These are incredible - such fabulous colours! Look forward to seeing more! Chrisx

Cindy McMath said...

Really beautiful experiments - I still can't believe how weel these inks work! My printer of course takes cartidges but if I see any of these bottle types in the thrift store or garage sale I won't pass them by!