Using Inktense Pencils and Dye-Na-Flow on Cotton

Over, under and around Thanksgiving and all the fun with our family here, I’ve managed to find time to work on my experiment, too.  Oh boy.  I’ve found something addictive that will have to be pursued, there’s no getting away from it now.  Putting color into fabric and letting it blend and move is very cool.  If it weren’t the dreaded black Friday today, I’d be in the car headed to a town for more fabric.  It’s that fun.

 The prickly pear fruit shapes are done with Derwent's Inktense pencils, while the surrounding color is Jacquard's Dye-na-flow.  The Inktense pencils aren't as transparent, but the intense color is just what I wanted in these areas.

Since this was an experiment I figured I’d use both the Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils and the Jacquard Dye-na-flow inks in it to get a feel for how they handled.  Both worked similarly, but each had qualities that made how I used them different. 

You can see in this detail how the salt pulled the colors around and made nice special effects.  I added a deep pink over the fruit areas which made the color even deeper and richer.  Compare to the photo above.

Having a pencil to use gave me real control over where the color would go and how intensely it would be applied, but I found you have to blend like crazy to keep from leaving pencil marks with the Inktense.  The Jacquard dyes covered very evenly but are a little bit tricky if you are using more than one color in an area.   However, using salt on the dye while it’s wet gives special effects- once I added salt, the different colors blended through the patterns the salt created. 

The piece as it stands today.  After adding a few details, this will be ready for heat setting and washing out the resist.  Tomorrow!  I hope..

The colors of both mediums are vibrant and saturated, making the material really glow.  With light coming in from behind the translucent fabric they practically sing.  Although the project isn’t finished yet, I’ve gotten enough done to know that this is something I will be working at for awhile.  (thinking muslin…silk…)  I’m anxious to get the color heat-fixed and the fabric washed so I can see how the resist held up.  Just a few more bits to add…

Thanks for stopping by! Alice