PRINT & DYE

As part of our skills passport module, I have learnt a variety of different printing and dyeing techniques that can be used on different types of materials.

In the session I practiced my sublimation printing. This is a technique that I am familiar with and enjoy doing, but it was interesting to see that it works with an iron as well as with a heat press. This makes it a far more accessible technique for projects in the future. The blue satin-like fabric worked really well. My favurite print is the middle one. It's colour printed through some lace, but the lace moved slightly under the iron creating a blurred effect, which I think is beautiful and can be used intentionally in certain costumes.

The colours print very clearly and brightly on this fabric. It was also intriguing to use a fabric with embellishments on it already, creating a pattern on a pattern. I could try designing a print that matches the embellishments on the fabric and print that on top, this could create something exciting to work with.

Here I printed through lace and I think if I had used a clearer pattern the result would be more impressive. Printing through lace can give unique designs and I would love to use this in a future project.

In addition to experimenting with different fabrics, I decided to try something different with the original prints. So, I cut them up and re arranged them. This shows how one print can create lots of completely different outcomes and I actually prefer the rearranged prints, they're more abstract. I would love to explore this technique further on a bigger scale.

During the first session I learnt how to lino print. I have had very minimal experience with lino printing before this, so it was interesting to work on. I found it quite difficult to carve out the pattern as I found the tool would sometimes slip. In these cases I just had to alter the design slightly in order to cover the mistake. I would like to practice carving in lino, because I thing there is a possibility of making some beautiful designs with this technique. On my first attempt, I put too much paint on the lino block and I didn't carve deep enough because a lot of the pattern didn't show up on the paper. For my second print I made sure to go back in with the tool on some of the areas that didn't show up. I also applied a thin layer of paint. It took a couple tries to get the balance right, but I think in the second photograph the pattern is much clearer.

A dyeing technique I learnt about was shibori dyeing. Unfortunately during the session we didn't manage to actually dye fabric using this technique ourselves, but nevertheless learning about it was still very interesting and the outcomes look intriguing. I would definitely like to try this technique myself to see how easy it is to replicate and to use it in a future project.

This is my work from the ink printing session. I stuck diffetent types of lace and textures on to cardboard to create a print. I've never used this technique before and I found it a lot of fun. I used a thick and a thin lace and combined them into the design. After printing it on paper and being happy with the print, I decided to try it on fabric. When printing with this technique, you have to make sure the fabric is damp. However, on my first attempt with fabric, I didn't let the fabric dry enough so the ink spread and the print isn't as defined. On my 2nd attempt, I made sure to pat the fabric down with a paper towel and I let it dry a little longer and the print is much clearer. I hope to include this technique in a costume as I think it can create some beautiful prints.