My last experiment was with Paintstiks. Shiva Paintstiks are an oil paint in a stick form and are suitable to use on fabric and are permanent when heat set.
After you have used the Paintstik, a skin forms over the top to keep the paint fresh. This means it will never dry out like a pot of paint, but you must remove the skin by rubbing with a paper towel or scraping with a knife before you can use them again. You must be careful when doing it so you don't get flakes of paint over yourself, your work or your house.
I had saved an article by Sue Kelly in a Quilting Arts Magazine and thought that this was my chance to try out her ideas.
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| Issue 39. June/July 2009. |
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| Quilt then Paint by Sue Kelly |
I quilted some circles onto a printed batik and rubbed the Paintstik straight over the top. I found that the paints didn't show up very clearly at first and went over the colour again with a white Paintstik which made them show up a bit more.
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| Paintstiks on printed fabric |
After that I quilted some curved shapes onto a black fabric and quilted some filler stitches into the spaces. I thought that the Paintstiks showed up much better on the black fabric. Painting directly onto fabric with the Paintstik gives a softer look.
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| Paintstiks on black fabric |
I have used Paintstiks in my quilt Star Crazy. I used freezer paper as a stencil and painted with a stencil brush. This gave a more solid coverage.
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| Star Crazy detail |
Results
I quite like using Paintstiks. I like the fact that they don't make the fabric stiff afterwards. I like the fact that they don't dry out. I don't use paint very often in my quilts and it is quite annoying when you get out your paint pots to find them all stiff and gluggy.
The downside is that they can be a bit messy to remove the outer skin. You have to wait 2-3 days after painting for them to dry completely before you heat set them or else they will smudge.This means you have to plan ahead and be organised.
That is the end of my playing with Paint and Pencil experiments for the time being. I think it is important to let yourself play every so often. You never know when you will need the technique and it is a bit of fun as well.
Our next topic in the Waverley Art Quilters is the Australian artist, Margaret Preston.
Bye for now,
Linda
2 comments:
Hi Linda - yes I'm lurking about your blog soaking up your wonderful surface design tips. I've got a set of Shiva sticks - and haven't played with them in ages. I love the look on the black fabric - and hadn't thought to apply it *over* the stitching. To date I've used my paintsticks on hand dyed velvet scarves: I rub the colors onto the velvet for added shimmer (or use one of the rubbing templates to create an over-pattern) - and then wait the proscribed amount of time (tapping my foot impatiently!) before heat setting - love the way they look!
Thanks again for the wonderful posts - hugs from here, Frances
PS - I save all of my Quilting Arts magazines - so many fantastic how-to's and eye candy inspiration. I'll hunt down Sue's article in the issue you feature here.
Thanks for reminding me about the rubbing plates,Frances. I do have a few of them somewhere.
Linda
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