Well, it’s official: I had a blast teaching Metal, Mixed Media and Imagination at the Main Line Bead Society’s 2014 Retreat this past Sunday. We covered my special brand of etching, metal cutting, filing, sanding, patinas, texturing, faux enamel head pins, soldering bezels and making settings for the bezel challenged. Oh yeah, we covered some wire work, drilling pebbles and glass, embellishing rocks and twigs and mixing resin in a way that’s more accurate than following lines on a measuring cup and how to use your mixing vessel over and over. The theme of the class was using inexpensive tools that do the job well enough newbies to try without being intimidated by complicated and expensive machines and processes.
But we couldn’t cover everything. Here are some pictures from the screen printed cloth session I was hoping to do. There are so many ways to use this cloth. Beads and bracelets are two of my favorites. Maybe next time.
I ripped open a cloth tote bag, gave it a shot of spray paint for texture and started layering on the screen print designs. Note that I am going for a worn, ancient look here so I’m not worried about registration. I’ll use the prints in jewelry so the drapability of the fabric does not concern me.
I also used some aqua colored fabric and a piece of yellow satin. I’m sure they’re all synthetics. If I really needed to be sure, I could do a fabric burn test.
Here’s where it starts to get fun: when you start layering patterns and colors and watch as something totally new emerges
I made most of my screens from designs I found in Dover books (I’m partial to Japanese prints). I used Golden acrylic paints and Versatex printing ink for fabric which behaves more like a paint than an ink.
Ornamento 