I was given some Idye poly dyes, which are for dyeing synthetics and have been wanting to try a new technique with them.
Transfer printing involves painting papers with a strong dye solution, allowing them to dry, then printing by ironing off the dye onto polyester fabric. You can cut shapes and print shapes onto the fabric as well.
These two are both organza, which is why they look pale. On the top one, I printed some strips of the painted paper. The bottom one was printed with a paper that I cleaned my brush off on, so I got some green and yellow.
Again, with the waste paper (you can re use the paper many times), the top one is a piece of white velvet with little silver stars that I thought was ugly, but the transfer dye makes it look very gorgeous. The bottom one is a piece of satin.
After this I started using some gum leaf shapes.
The top piece here is the white velvet again and the bottom is a very fine cotton like fabric, very filmy.
This is a piece of polyester that has textured lines on it, probably a curtain lining, but you can see it took the leaves really well.
This is another piece of satin at the top and chiffon at the bottom. One thing you can see in the chiffon, is that if the paint is put on the paper with texture, it transfers that texture to the fabric. I am looking forward to trying this with some texture painting techniques to see what I get.
This print is on satin and used strips of the painted papers, but also a leaf drawn using sulky transfer pens. I drew this onto the shiny side of freezer paper, because I find that the pens often give a pale print on plain paper. This paper had been used several times before.
Since I love using synthetics in my work, this technique is most definitely going to find a home in my studio.
Lastly, here is one of the transfer prints I put into one of my collage a day foundations
The print was on the polyester curtain lining and I teamed it with a few commercial batiks. I like how this one turned out and I am sure I will have great fun stitching on it.
I am very busy at present setting up an Etsy store (it isn't open yet, so don't go looking) and finishing my
Tangled Textiles challenge which is due in a day or so. I am always a procrastinator, so I don't usually get my challenges finished until the last possible moment, but I will show you on monday or Tuesday.
Happy Creating!
