Monoprinting on fabric

This weekend I have been monoprinting, it is part of my C&G course and the brief was: Monoprinting with Procion dyes on fabric using lines.

I have been shying away from this activity for a while, mainly because I have never done this on my own before. I have however taken several classes with Committed to Cloth, but although the preparing procedure was explained to us, all paints was prepared for us. A few weeks ago I prepared the Manutex (a thickening agent) and I can report that it keeps well.

I finally started Saturday and a couldn’t believe that it took an hour+ just to gather everything I needed for this activity. I was glad the instructions said to have everything ready, because if I hadn’t, it would have driven me mad (perhaps the instructions says so because of somebody's previous experience?) 

I couldn’t believe how easy the dyes and the Manutex mixed, why had it taken me so long? These two yellow prints are both A4.

Moving on to making a little woodland. This and all the rest is A3.

As I neared the end of green mix I just made some monoprints with lots of texture and no lines.

Monoprinting - just texture

Then I remembered that the form-roller was still full of yellow mix and started rolling directly onto the last three pieced of fabric, scooping up the very last bits of mix from both pots and all the tools.

I ran out of mixed dye and fabric at the same time; beginners luck…………… Not great art, but great fun, I enjoyed the whole process immensely. It might be the first time I did this on my own, but not the last!

Note to oneself: It takes longer to gather and setup everything for monoprinting, than the rest of the process combined.