Liquitex Silkscreen Medium, Results & Game On Diet!

I'm back at it!  Feels good.  All the travelling/nursing/babysitting grandkids has passed for a while and I've managed to get moving again. 

Part of this happy development is that my niece talked me into joining a group called the "Game On Diet".  Go here to check it out.  http://www.thegameondiet.com/  In short, it's a healthy living plan that not only helps you lose weight, but also encourages exercise, sleeping the correct amount of hours, drinking water, and best of all, changing bad habits and trying new good habits.  And that part has resulted in this FINISHED project!

This is the result of using Liquitex Inks, provided to me by C&T Publishing as one of their author ambassadors (means I get to play with new products!)  I'm loving it. 

These inks are wonderful.  Lots of pigment and easy easy easy to use.  I've tried stamping with them, painting fabric with them, monoprinting, and silk screening on both paper and fabric.


One comment on an earlier post of mine regarding silkscreening asked what I was using for medium to allow use of the inks on a silk screen, and to answer that.....


I laid out as much Liquitex Iridescent Fluid Medium as I thought it would take to scrape across the silk screen itself.  To that I stirred in drops of the Liquitex Inks until the color was intense enough for my liking.  I stirred it really well so that it was completely mixed.  And that's it!  The only thing of note here is that the iridescent medium takes more attention to wash out of the silkscreen than regular medium.  If not cleaned well, your silkscreen would not last the predicted 100+ prints! So as always, the price to pay amidst all this exciting play is careful clean up!


With a spoon I laid out the inked medium at the top of the silkscreen and pulled it with the soft edged scraper to the bottom.  This was the result.

This is a piece of commercial fabric, with the silk screen placed on the print where I thought it would work well.


I pressed it when it was dry, to set the colors altho the inks supposedly don't need that, but having added the medium I thought I'd ensure permanence. 


Then I decided to cut the tree up and displace it in a wall hanging in the required 12 x 12 size.  The results above are what happened.  The blue fabrics are the ones used in an indigo dye workshop I took with my girlfriend (where I managed to stab her in the elbow with my scissors but that's another story)!  The reason you see my last name on one strip is that I couldn't use it if I cut off the name.  I love how some of the shading in the dye process fell into the design. 


The orange piece on the right side is a piece of hand painted and sponged fabric that I did when playing around, and the border is a piece of hand painted fabric that was cotton, but had a textured weave and I've used the bumpy strips in it, which collected the paint in a different way, to represent bark around the hanging. 


The quilting of the Garry Oak leaves is done with King Tut Thread from Superior Threads http://www..com/shop/category/king-tut/description/  The quilting of the tree is done with blue Sulky Sliver metallic. 

Here are some close ups: 

Liquitex Inks from C&T Publishing – Another tutorial of sorts!

On the weekend of November 11, I had the privilege of meeting with a group of quilting friends for our bi-annual retreat.  While there, we work on whatever we want to, and appreciate the input of friends of almost 20 years when pondering our work.  It’s a great time together, lots of fun, food and laughter, wine too!  And believe it or not a LOT gets done!!!

This time one of the projects I took along was the Liquitex Inks provided to me, as one of the “author ambassadors”  by my publisher, C&T.

One of the talented people there has a machine at home, which makes silk screens out of good contrast photographs.  I had sent her a photo of my favorite tree, a Garry Oak,  earlier in the month.  She prepared two silkscreens for me and brought them to the retreat for me.  I set out the inks and medium that had been provided free of charge and promptly 16 very creative and talented minds went to work trying them out on various silk screens.

The ink itself is a little too runny for silk screens and flows too freely, smudging the design.  However, when mixed with the medium, it is perfect.  We tried several different silk screens and this is the one I produced.  Making something of it will be a challenge as it’s so beautiful just as it is! 

Here’s some photos of the project “happening”.  Note the elegant container that the “medium” and ink are mixed in? (I DID say we were at a retreat!) 

Here are the steps we followed:

1. Use a slightly padded surface.
2. Smooth out target fabric, right side up on padded surface.
3. Place silk screen wherever you want the design (this one was done   three times).

4. Lay out a line of the medium/ink “goop” at the top of the silkscreen.

5. Pull it down across the design with a credit card, paint scraper, anything with an smooth edge that will not tear the silk.

6.  Second screening.  No extra ink needed.

7.  Load again for third screening. Scrape as before.

6.  Lift carefully.

7.  If not re-using, wash the silkscreen in cool water immediately and lay on a tea towel to dry.  Be sure to handle it very carefully so that it’s good for the predicted 1,000 copies! 

One detail that we noticed is that the silkscreen, after being thoroughly washed, still has a bit of iridescent flake here and there.  Next use will tell whether that blocks the screen or is just visual!

 

This design was done with white ink in iridescent medium.  I was thrilled with the results.  This picture doesn’t do it justice.  Now to stitch on it!!