I got to be a student this past Sunday! Always such a treat for me. I love learning.
Since I have been working textiles into my work more and more this workshop on Direct Application: Patternmaking with Iron at Handcraft Studio School popped out at me and I signed up.
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| one of my pieces after iron application, before tannin |
The workshop was taught by Kenya Miles and she led us through the process of decorating textiles with a liquid solution of iron.
After showing us how to prepare the solution we spent most of the day applying it to our fabric by painting it directly on or painting it on a block that was then stamped on the fabric:
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| applying the iron solution to fabric |
The iron turns this light brown color and has to dry completely before moving on to the next step:
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| class pieces drying on the line after iron application |
After the fabric was dry we were able to "set" it and then dip it in a tannin solution made from oak gall. This was the big "oooooo" and "ahhhhhhh" moment as the tannin turns the iron to different shades of gray and black depending on the concentration of the solution applied:
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| class pieces on the line after dipping in tannin |
This is one of my pieces after applying the iron but before dipping it in tannin:
And, this is the same piece after setting it and dipping it in tannin:
Some of the pieces turned a bit lavender or purple-ish depending on the original color of the fabric. Since I'm not crazy about purple-ish hues I am going to try to over dye them by tea staining and see if I can get them to look more brown and black.
Very fun day and I look forward to more play with this process!
