Wednesday 8 August 2007

Hand colouring a quilt

This little quilt sample was coloured using Irena Bluhm's
method. I'd tell you how it is done, but I'd have to shoot you (grin). Irena has a book on this method due out in the Autumn. This was my first attempt. The quilt is (once finished) 14" X 16" a design I made to try out different samples and for the little quilts which go to the local neonatal unit and rest on top of the incubators.


I really like this effect but be aware it is not speedy. It takes simply ages, though it could be the type of thing to do in the evenings whilst watching TV.


Then I thought I try something different, this is the very same quilt but on the back. I coloured the quilt this time with pigment inks. This didn't work at all. As you can see the colours bled and there was nothing I could do no matter how carefully I applied it. So then I thought I'd see what would happen with a controlled bleed.

I sprayed it with water. It's quite fun how the pigment inks run and separate their constituent colours. If this were controllable it would be fantastic but I couldn't get it to bleed in a reliable way.

And despite it being pigment ink, it all washed out. Not the Irena Bluhm side as that was fixed, but just this side with the ink.
The background quilting is Diane Gaudynski's bananas. I love the way it ebbs and flows.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your experiments with the ink. I can't beleive it all washed out!

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  2. Have you tried ordinary wax crayons? They can be heat set with an iron :-)

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  3. I remember playing with various wax crayons when it was the 'in' thing several years ago.
    It didn't give me a result I was happy with but very nice for playing with children's drawings.

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