"If you hear a voice within you say, 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." --Vincent van Gogh

Monday, January 26, 2009

Spring Cleaning Gone Mad

OK, didn't think this first pic would loom so large...guess you don't need to click on it to see the details, eh? So this is the latest trick up my sleeve, and no, sadly, I do not have a cleaner house to show for it... I used the soft scrub along with a foam stamp as a discharge agent on a previously dyed piece of fabric. Here's a look at the results:
The dots are from the end of a dowel dipped in the Soft Scrub. The thickness of the SS makes it stay put. I dipped the stamp in the SS (on a plate), but I think using a brayer would allow for an even more distinct image. The bleaching action was pretty immediate and the whole piece was rinsed and soaking in Antichlor (a must to stop the bleaching process) within about 10 minutes time. I thought it was interesting that the green bleached out really fast, but the purple took a bit longer. I love the results.

This is another piece of fabric that I played around with. It is for a round-robin. The dragonflies are not my doing...they are a glue resist done by the originator. I used the same flower stamp as above. Afterwards, I went back in with textile paints and painted the flowers...


I also added some Lumiere Super Sparkle (greatly thinned with water) to the dragonflies. I love how the yellow flowers pop out against the background. Here's a closeup...

So what do you do with YOUR cleaning products??

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, let's see, my bottle of future floor wax is in my craft area - i use it to paint with pearlex powders. have shared a link to this post with all my scrappy friends who also don't like to clean - you're now an honorary member of our club!

Sue said...

Oh my gosh. Beautiful, Michelle!

Mary S. Hunt said...

these fabrics are gorgeous...as is the results on the rest of your blog!

Nellie's Needles said...

Lovely! I've used SS to discharge dye in fabric too. It's fun to write with a syringe full of the stuff as well as stamping images.

Anonymous said...

Great Color Michelle, cleaning can always wait but great art has an immediacy that must be satisified.

Wiseguy

Elizabeth said...

OMG This is fabulous!! NOW this is what cleaning products are REALLY FOR!!!
Where can I get the antichlor Michelle??
Hugs!
Elizabeth

We finally got snow and then freezing rain on top so there is lots of sledding going on today!!!
HAppy HAppy!!!

Kate North said...

Cleaning products? What is this concept of which you speak? Seriously, though, great complex cloth and yes, I too own bleach pens only used for discharging...

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's absolutely awesome Michelle, what swap was this for? I'll have to keep the soft scrub in mind and try it myself sometime.

morningDove said...

where did you find your antichor? a class member last year suggeted Walmart in fish area but i could not find it. so never took the plunge.
I do love how the yellow flowers pop. beautiful work.