Liz Benjeddi Textile Art: April 2011

Module 1 Chapter 1 Transfer Paint Experiments Post 3

Feeling encouraged by my last couple of attempts, I thought that I would try out the 'vivid' blue paint that was left in my sample kit. I applied this with broad brush strokes to the photocopier paper in thick blobs, along with some violet paint.

Vivid blue and purple transfer paint on white paper,
applied with a broad brush

I used quite heavy pressure to apply this to white satin on the 'wool' setting, and this took around 6 minutes altogether. I was careful to check that the fabric didn't singe. The colours came out beatifully this time and I was really pleased with this sample.

Bright, beautiful colours on fabric!

I wondered what this would look like if I transferred it again to stitched fabric, so I used a zig-zag stitch to sew lines onto some white satin in white 100% rayon thread. I transferred the paint in the same way as before and was surprised that it only transferred onto the satin, not the thread. I double checked that I had used synthetic thread (not cotton), but I had. Why had this happened? Surely it should transfer on to both?

I tried again, but with the same result. The effect was interesting though, and the colours still transferred really well, even though this was the second time I had used the paper.

Module 1 Chapter 1 Transfer Paint Experiments Post 2

For the next experiment, I sponged violet and red transfer paint on to the photocopier paper quite thickly, leaving lighter patches in between. I used an iron on the 'wool' setting to transfer this on to the white satin. This time the colour transfer was slightly more effective, but still not as bright as I would have like. The red came out as orange, which was surprising.

Purple and red paint sponged onto paper

Transferred on to white satin

I wanted to achieve a much stronger, brighter effect with my next example, so this time I applied violet and red paints again with a medium sized paintbrush in big 'splodges' on to paper. I let quite heavy pools of paint collect and left this to dry. When I transferred this over to the white satin, I tried using heavier pressure with the iron and left it for longer, taking care not to singe the fabric. I was much more pleased with the result this time, as the colours came out much brighter (although the red still looked orange!)

A much brighter effect was achieved this time on the satin!

Feeling that I had finally 'got the hang' of this technique, I tried a few more experiments...
I used a large brush and a sponge to colour the next piece of paper with violet and golden yellow transfer paint, again quite heavily.

Purple and yellow paint applied to paper

I used the same technique as in the previous sample to transfer the colours over to white satin. These transferred quite well, but the yellow looks green and I realised that in my quest to achive deep colours, I had applied too much violet, so the final effect doesn't really have enough constrast.

I wondered what would happen if I applied green and purple paints together (if yellow looked green, what would green look like?!). I used a large brush again to apply the paint quite heavily to paper, and this time used slightly less purple than before. I also allowed the green time to dry slightly before adding the purple.

The paints transferred very successfully and there is a pleasing balance between the darker and lighter colour this time. Also, the green came out green, although lightly darker than the yellow transfer paint!

Module 1 Chapter 1 Transfer Paint Experiments Post 1

Violet and scarlet transfer paints on white photocopier paper (above). These were applied with a foam brush and I allowed the colours to seep into each other.

I used a hot iron to transfer the paints and achieve quite a vibrant effect on the fabric(above). The parts where the ink wasn't quite so concentrated have turned out to be a really attractive shade of pale lilac.

Vivid blue, red and leaf green transfer paints sponged onto paper with different amounts of pressure. This created lighter patches of colour and pools of deeper colours (below left).

When ironed onto the white satin, this produced an attractive, bright pattern, which remined me of a meadow full of flowers (below left).

I also tried transferring this onto white felt, which was an interesting experiment! This only took about 30 seconds to transfer before the felt strated to singe, so only a very light layer was possible to iron on, resulting in very light, pastel shades of the original colours (below left).

The next experiment that I tried was to paint stripes of green and golden yellow transfer paints on to paper with a broad brush for the background and then paint thinner, dark stripes of green over the top, which I let run up and down the paper. When I transferred this to the white satin, the colours didn't transfer so well, maybe because I needed to apply a thicker coat of paint to the paper, or mix a more concentrated mixture of paint. This was one of my earlier experiments and was not so effective as my later attempts.

I used green and yellow on the next examples too, but this time applied slightly more paint and let it dribble in different directions over the paper. I also dotted a few spots around with a medium sized paintbrush. This time, I transferred the colours onto a polyester 'chiffon' fabric, using the iron on the 'silk' setting for around a minute. This was very effective, although this can't be seen very well from the photograph, and the fabric looks particularly attractive held up against the light.

Module 1 Chapter 1 Collecting Colour

I found lots of different examples of colours that I liked in magazines. I have tried to organise these together in groups that were similar. For example: dark blues, 'ethnic' mixes of bright pinks, oranges and purples , warm oranges and golden yellows and lighter pastel colours.

It was interesting to look at the colours I had chosen at the end of the exercise. Some of the colours, like the darker blues attracted me more than I thought they would. Perhaps a combination of these would look good together in a piece of embroidery? I hadn't really chosen many primary colours other than the blues - maybe I prefer more 'muted' colours?