Brusho inks and Mark making

Brusho inks are very versatile and can be used to achieve endless interesting outcomes. They can be used on paper or fabric, although they are not fixable to fabric. For brusho inks you mix the powder with water, it is best to mix a small amount of powder with the water and then add more powder gradually to make a stronger colour.

There is another method you can do where you wet your fabric or paper and then sprinkle some of the powder onto the paper or fabric this creates an interesting finish.

Health and safety – wear protective rubber gloves and apron. Try to avoid spillage and splashing. Leave area clean and tidy. Wash away unwanted dyes and inks. Wash hands before leaving the print room. Secure lids on pots after use.

Mark making is a great way of adding texture to fabrics. Using whatever interesting tools you can find, a broad range of results can be produced. Pigment inks and procion dyes can be used for mark making.

To mix a pigment colour, put the required amount of binder into a clean pot, and add a couple of drops of pigment concentrate to it. It is best to start with a small amount and add more after if needed. Then mix the colour with a clean mixing stick. It is now ready to use.

The procion dye is mixed by the print technician. Ensure that your fabric is made of natural fibres before dying. To make sure that your fabric is dyed an even colour, the table must be thoroughly cleaned before dying starts, otherwise the wet fabric will pick up old dyes from the table.

Before you start working on the fabrics, make sure your work area is clean and the fabric isn’t creased. If necessary tape the fabric to the table with masking tape.

For this you use different tools to scratch into the ink you can also build up the inks and dyes if necessary by adding more layers.

Health and safety – Wear protective gloves and apron. Try to avoid spillage and splashing. Leave area clean and tidy. Wash away any unwanted dyes and inks. Wash hands beifre leaving the prink room. Wash all mark making tools.

Textiles week 4

Last week in the textiles workshop we took our work we had done over previous lessons and framed our best pieces, also I took some of the pieces I didn't like and didn’t think fitted in and I cut them up and sewed them onto another piece of fabric and then framed it. I liked the way the one I sewed looked because I took two pieces that I didn’t like and turned them into a good piece of work which reflected what I have been doing in my nature project over the past 8 weeks. I also worked into some of the sheets with fabric pens, this made it stand out more and it looked more effective than if I were to leave it as it was without the fabric pens.

Nature Evaluation

For this nature project we were given a choice of what we would like to focus on and I chose plants and insects as I thought it would be quite interesting to research and also I had to think about my primary source sheets. As plants and insects were probably the best for me to get pictures of. As I was looking at flowers and insects I thought the best artist for me to look at would be Georgia O’Keeffe. To develop my ideas further I did an A3 sheet based on Georgia O’Keefe’s work.

For my primary sheet I decided to use leaves which I had collected from home and laminated them, this was because I couldn’t paint or draw them in enough detail and I wanted to show what I was working from and I thought this was the best way to do so and preserve them. Originally I did two secondary sheets but decided to put it all onto one sheet as one was based on only flowers and the other insects. I did two other sheets that were in full colour and I used brusho inks for the backgrounds for them as I didn’t want any negative space.

After researching into plants and insects I produced two visual sheets in full colour. These sheets consisted of both primary and secondary elements. I developed my ideas further from these sheets by taking certain elements from them such as the leaves, flower heads and insects.

The materials I used to create my final piece was gouache, this was a thicker, brighter paint and would be more visible than watercolours when photocopied. I didn’t encounter any other problems.

The artist I chose to look at for inspiration was Georgia O’Keefe, I feel from researching this artist I have taken elements from her paintings and incorporated them into my own designs such as the flowers and I have also used similar colours to O’Keefe including oranges, reds and greens.

I produced six different designs which were all insect and plant based, I decided to use my first design for my final design. I chose this design for my final piece because I felt the other designs had too much negative space and this design was evenly balanced with imagery which I think works better for a repeat pattern.

I think my final pattern design could be easily reproduced because the design is quite simple and it doesn’t have many intricate patterns to place together to create the repeat pattern.

The first workshop I did was ceramics and in the first lesson we produced some buttons which were based on nature. I used different items to give them textures that would link into my project and even did a few buttons which I drew into the clay, items such as flowers and leaves. The second week we made bugs and on them we used textures that would link to the project. On the third week we made tiles and I did two but these were not really related to my project as I did shells. However I did that mainly to see how it would look and the second one was a flower. If I would have had more time I would have done another that would have linked in. On the fourth week we glazed all of our work and then they were put in the kiln and fired.

The second workshop I did was textiles and on the first week I did mark making and batik, with the batik I first covered my paper or fabric with ink and then used the batik pot that is filled with melted wax this is drawn onto the paper and it resists the ink that is added afterwards.

I enjoyed my experience in the textile workshop, and I also enjoyed learning all the different textile techniques including the batik process, and the paper making was a good experience. I was a little disappointed with how some of my visual sheets turned out, I feel like I could have put more on them to make them look more interesting and link more to my other sheets.

I think I would have used more elements of Georgia O’Keefe’s work to link to my own work.

I don’t think I managed my time that well. I could have spent more time on all of my sheets. I feel like I rushed some of my visual sheets, because if I hadn’t finished one and started another I would have to go back and complete the other which this is when I would rush them to get them finished.

I think I used my blog effectively and I feel having all the information about the different textile processes and images from the workshop has helped me when I need to reflect on what I have done.

I feel my final piece was successful overall I am happy with this but I wish I would have spent more time researching and I could have improved my sheet work. 

Batik

In the first week of textiles we used batik, this is a method that used hot wax and you drip it onto your paper and used inks, you can paint the inks onto your fabric or paper then use the wax and when the wax is dry you can add another layer of wax and another layer of ink this will then give you a pattern and you then use an iron to remove all the ink and where the wax was you will be able to see the colour you covered with wax. I used this on both fabric and paper and I decided to print over them in our other textile lessons.
Health and Safety
Be aware of hot wax. Take care when taking the Tjanting tools out of the wax. Do not leave the wax pots on in an unattended room. take care when using the iron. try to avoid spillages and splashing. Wear protective rubber gloves and apron. wash hands before leaving the print room.