As I said in my last post, I purchased a Quilting Arts DVD on marbling by Jo Fitsell (you can find the DVD here) and just recently had a chance to try some marbling. A friend and I spent a day and a half trying out different techniques from the DVD.
I took pictures of some of the fabrics I made. My friend who does marbling all the time says that the "magic" really happens when the next layer is done. She says another layer of marbling or dying the fabric after marbling makes the fabric even more luscious. I'm planning on adding another layer of marbling to many of these pieces. I might even try dying some of them.
The top piece here has the colors I love to work with--oranges, reds, yellows. I was surprised at how much I liked the bottom piece even though it is pretty subdued.
The next picture shows a close up of the top piece. I realized that when I tore the fabric some of the threads remained on the piece as I dipped it into the paints. I love how the threads served as a resist. You can see that pretty clearly in the black circle at the top of the piece.
Now, here are two pieces that were not so successful. I really like the colors and designs on both pieces, but as you can see the paint didn't adhere to the first piece as it should have. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe it didn't get completely saturated by the alum when I soaked it. I just don't know. It isn't a complete loss for me, though. I'm planning on marbling over it again.
The bottom piece is a piece of polished cotton. I think the paints I used just didn't show up well on the fabric. If/when I do it over, I will use more opaque paints.
Here is another piece with those colors I like so much. The "swirlies" at the top, left middle, and bottom left/right are paints that were left over from a previous dipping. I like that effect too.
The grid was already on the top piece of fabric (below). The marbling just didn't show up much on this piece at all. The green blobs are all that showed. I'll be doing this one over again too. The bottom piece is another piece of polished cotton. The colors showed up much better on this one.
Here are the last of the "regular" fabrics...
This last piece is polyester organza--I'm not crazy about it. It seems pretty boring to me. I'm hoping another layer will enhance it A LOT.
Stay tuned for my next post. I have the results of some experiments we tried, and I'll show you some pieces using iridescent paints. (They are lovely.)
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8 comments:
Beautiful results!
I don't know very much marbling and never appreciated it is so complex. I really like what you have done and will be very curious to see how the pieces continue to evolve with another layer. Have fun exploring!
That's what is so great about marbleing......removing each print is like opening a surprise gift box.
Just skimming through blogs and I came across yours. Thought I'd stop and say how beautiful your work is. Thank you for sharing it.
Wow! I didn't know you could get such great results with marbling. I love them!
Great colors- and wonderful shapes. I love the texture, too... are you using all cotton? And I'd love to see the next steps!
Yes, I used all cotton except for the bit of polyester organza I tried. I will be trying it on other types of materials, though.
These are wonderful!
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