PART TWO: What's Next?

DAY TWO:

We've accomplished 3 of the 11 steps for this dress.

After the dresses were washed, they looked like this:


and this:


I can already tell they are lighter than I wanted, here is a close up of the dried fabric:


Since these are two light for my project (I didn't use enough dye), I am going to re-dye them with the same color but a stronger concentration of dye.

Here's a preview of the materials used in steps 6, 7 and 8

6. Design and carve block print
7. Ink the block
8. Print the patch

For the block print you need something to cut your design into and cutting blades. Here I used a rubber carving block, very similar to an eraser in texture. I have also used linoleum blocks, pictured. Linoleum gives you cleaner and more defined detail which can be more difficult in the rubber. I have also printed with many other objects like potatoes, paper clips and other things that looked like they would turn out interesting!

In this photo you can also see the carved block I used for the "peace" design, well-used. Notice the wording is backwards so it will print correctly.


To print with the block, once carved, you will need printing ink, a brayer to smooth the ink uniformly on a slick surface (here I have a metal inking plate made for this purpose, you can use anything, a plastic meat tray (well cleaned!), anything the ink will resist).


Printing surface. Here is the fabric I use to print on, which will then become the patch. These are two different weights of cotton, one is a very smooth, mercerized, lightweight cotton, the other is a little more weighty and not as smooth. They are both PFD (prepared for dying or printing/painting).


And here are some examples of the fabric cut and ready for printing. If I am printing on white fabric, I would use either pre-cut squares or a strip and then cut. For this project, I need to actually tie dye the fabric before I cut it.


TOMORROW: tie dying the fabric for the prints and printing the design.