Stamped Skirt (보리밭 치마)

My first attempt at painting and stamping on a skirt!  I've had this in mind for quite a while, but it took some time to figure out exactly how I was going to do it. 

I used Jacquard Textile Colors on a white skirt from Dharma Trading Co.  (this one is unfortunately discontinued--I snagged two before they were gone!)

I learned some interesting things while working on this project:  (1) It's almost impossible to get a precise placement and a good print with an already-put-together garment on a gelli plate. (2) Jacquard Textile Paints will wash out pretty well, if you do it right away. I went through a couple of false starts before I got something I was happy with. I did use the gelli plate for the background--rolled out a thin layer of paint and just pressed the fabric randomly onto it for a blotchy, distressed look, which was pretty much what I was going for.



The text is the lyrics of 보리밭 (a song about walking through a barley field). At first I made a big forward-facing stamp (so I could use it on the gelli plate) using puff paint on craft foam, but I just couldn't get the print placed correctly on the skirt. I realized that only way I was going to get a good print and be able to position it just the way I wanted was by direct stamping. So my project went on hold while I made another stamp.



It's hand-cut craft foam glued onto a clear background.  (This took a very long time, and I'll probably never do it again!)  I split it into two narrower stamps, rather than one big one, so I could spread out the gathers on a small amount of fabric and position the stamp. This is still tricky.  Stamping fabric and then making it into a skirt seems like an obvious solution, but I have to wonder if the paint would gum things up. It does get a little stiff.  Worth a try, maybe. 



The middle tier is all text, and then it dips down into the bottom tier in places. I kept that part more indistinct by rolling the paint on the stamp unevenly and then not pressing down on the whole stamp.  I like the look. 



The big stamp is adapted from a Dancheong pattern. I got eight spaced more-or-less evenly around the bottom.





The apple green color is really bright.  I mixed it with some other colors, but it's still pretty bright. It's a good Korean color, though.  And it came out pretty close to what I'd pictured, so I'm happy with it! Now I have a couple of skirts and some ideas for Kate!

Kid Shirts!

I made shirts yesterday!  It was a spur-of-the moment thing.  I thought they turned out really cute.  The kids were, perhaps, somewhat less enthused, but they were willing to pose for me. (Conveniently, both of our kids have four-letter names!  Isn't that lucky?)



The idea popped into my head in the morning while I was puttering around, and  I got to work on the stamps right away.  I cut the letters out of craft foam and glued them to another layer of foam. (That's the 5mm Silly Winks from Hobby Lobby--last time I was there they didn't have white so I got pink.)  I think it took me about an hour to do both Kate's and Andy's names. 



I got some Versatex Printing Ink that I have plans for. This was a good dry run. I started out rolling the ink out in a tray and pressing the stamp in it, but then realized that I could get better coverage by brayering it right onto the stamp.



Yes, I'm living dangerously here--didn't put down the drop cloth. No mishaps!



The stamping part was super easy. The hardest part was running downstairs between each color to wash out the brayer in the "work" sink. The orange is a bit brighter than I was thinking.  All the colors are really bright.  It works well here, but I might try to mix them and tone them down a bit for other projects.

That was fun!  What else can I stamp?