After spending so much time on the Bodnant Garden Commission, I thought it would be really good to start on some new, fresh work. I really wanted to make a new flower textile art picture being inspired by one of my photographs. The subject matter of the above photograph looked just right for a combination of thickened dye and stitch.
My starting point as usual was soaking a piece of cotton sheet in soda wash which would then aid the setting of the thickened dyes onto the fabric. Once this fabric had dried and been ironed, I then draw my design in HB Pencil using a couple of my photographs as inspiration to make a larger design.
Now to painting!! Using Procion MX dye mixed with differing amounts of dye thickener, I started painting the lightest colours first. The more thickener added to the dye makes the colour lighter and more transparent in appearance.
After setting the dye, the picture has to dry…usually on my washing line and will probably look a lot lighter, which means adding more dye!
That’s how far I have got for the time being…I will show more in the next blog.
