I love leftovers. (My favorite is pretty much anything plus mashed potatoes.)
This week a Tupperware of wheat paste was left over and in my fridge. I mixed it up for my circles project over a week ago and have been storing it. It was right at the point where I had to use it before it went sour.
So, time for some experimenting.
Quick overview: With wheat paste (or any resist material) your goal is to mask out part of the fabric. Cover it up thoroughly. Then paint over the whole surface. Wash out or remove the resist. Then the background shows through in patterns.
There’s a lot of freedom in leftovers projects. No material is precious. If it works – great. If not, I can always overprint and make something else.
Here’s where I began:
I had some yellow fabric that was gifted to me from an art friend. (It started out white. I painted it yellow.) And I had a panel of printed fish, the remains from a sun printing experiment a few months ago. Tonight I’ll write about the yellow fabric. (Stay tuned for the fish panel next week.)
Above, Upper right: the Tupperware full of wheat paste. Bottom right: a glob of wheat paste poured out on a disposable plate so I can use it with a foam paint roller. And there is a hand-cut card stock stencil of leaves. (It will get ruined in this experiment. The card stock will not hold up to the wetness of the wheat paste.)
Above, I’m rolling the wheat paste through the stencil. Below, I’ve removed the stencil after the first roll. Then, I moved the stencil over the fabric and repeated the rolling to get a larger area of leaves.
The wheat paste has to dry. Generally overnight is enough. It will be very crunchy and prone to flaking. At this point you can make cracks in it. (I like to push from the back with my fingers or a wooden spoon.) Now, when you overprint, the paint will go randomly into those cracks.
Time for overpainting. Again, I am using up leftovers. I had some yellow ochre paint left over from another project. I mixed it with a bit of of red to make orange shades
I also mixed some of the same ochre with cerulean blue to make a green. My plan is to roll a mix of orange and green behind the yellow leaves.
Here’s the beginning of the paint rolling, then the whole fabric covered:
The acrylic overpaint has to dry completely. I put it out in the sun for about an hour. Then. I dunked the whole piece of fabric in a bucket of water and left it a few hours to softern the wheat paste.
I scraped off the paste, then did a finish wash-off with the garden house.
Here’s the result.
A closeup shows the random crackling patterns in the leaves.
How will I use this – or what will come next? For now, I do not have a specific purpose.
This piece could be cut up to incorporate into a larger landscape work.
I could detail the leaves with outline and interior stitching or more detailed painting.
I could print another layer of dark leaves – possibly a different pattern – on top of this.
For now, I’ve created a possibility. And I used up the wheat paste leftovers.
. . . . . .
A reminder: Next weekend is DeLand’s Fall Festival of the Arts. I am always proud to invite visitors to my hometown. Strolling downtown DeLand is a lovely experience. If you are near central Florida, I hope you’ll visit. See me in booth 133.
. . . . . .
For all of us: focus each day
on the good
that needs to be done in the world.
Be part of doing it.
Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
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