Monday, January 30, 2017

Blog Hop To Welcome A New Book: "Playful Fabric Printing"



I've been waiting (WAITING!!) for this book for such a long time!  And, finally, it is HERE!
First, a bit of background:  I love both of these authors.  I am friends with each and admire their work individually.
When I caught wind of the fact that the two of them were working on a book about their fabric dyeing and printing strategy I was really enthused.  Playful Fabric Printing was underway!  This year, at the 2nd annual Craft Napa, the book was finally placed in my hands.


Playful Fabric Printing is one gorgeous book!

Take a look at all the information contained in it....




Carol is a master at teaching people how to dye fabric for specific colors.  
Here she is showing her 3-dimensional color cube in her workshop called "color mixing for dyers". 
I took this photo during Carol's workshop about 2 and a half years ago.  Below is a page in their new book showing 
all the color "value bands" and how to achieve them.



Melly has a degree in textile design from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Can you see where I'm going with this?  These two dynamos just co-wrote a fabulous book!  The book was made even more fabulous because Pokey Bolton, founder of Quilting Arts & Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine, published their book under her new brand, "Crafting A life".   The book is yummy in every way:  chock-full of easy-to-understand information that is beautifully photographed.

Carol and Melly are keen for people to learn how to use thickened dyes to create their own personal imagery on cloth.  They have developed a system that is simple yet elegant.

Several surface design artists stayed after the second annual Craft Napa for a dye "play day" to become acquainted with Carol & Melly's system of using dye and stamps to develop prints.  Here are a few images from that day...

Carol shows us how to mix the dye into print paste.

Carol and Melly talk about the book and how to cut stamps using their technique.

Melly demonstrates how to apply the thickened dye to the stamp surface for printing with multiple layers to create an image.

You know, these two really love color!

Here is a quilt Melly created using her hand-printed fabrics along with my new line of fabrics from RJR called 
Urban Artifacts.  See how great they look together?  I think this is important because the book will show you how to create
unique prints that work well in combination with other prints or on their own!

After showing our small group how to use simple and easy-to-obtain supplies to create our stamps we all made our own.  The idea was to design stamps that referenced the theme of "x's and o's" in some way.

Using a piece of clear plastic and fun foam I cut and adhered my foam stamp pieces onto separate pieces of clear plastic (think transparency film-type plastic).
Each of these foam stamps can be used together to create one image or separately.


This is a new way of making marks for me and I am excited about it!
I've been thinking of many ways to utilize this new information.



I mottled my dye on a paper palette prior to rolling onto my stamp for this piece.

circles within circles...

x's and o's combined


a variation in scale


These are my first experiments.  They are the beginning of my journey with this idea.  I am enjoying the discovery!   I think it is very important to remain playful and experimental.  Not every print I will make will be fantastic but I intend to make lots and lots.

Guess what?  It does NOT matter if you are totally new to this or a seasoned surface design artist.  This book is easy to read and a great tool for getting started or equally good for adding new ideas to your current surface design practice.

There is even a Playful Fabric Printing Facebook Community, where we will gather fabric printers to share their work and get feedback on their processes.

Each artist on the hop is giving away a copy of this book.  All you have to do is leave a comment here (and on any of the other blogs on the hop) to be eligible for the drawing.  So don't forget to leave a comment!   I'm so anxious for people to get this book and try all the techniques, including the use of the dye mixing information that shows you how to easily mix dye colors into many different gradations.  I'll be posting some more images really soon so please drop back by and check it out.  


January 23: Melly Testa

Jan 24: Carol Soderlund


Jan 27: Judy Coates Perez
Jan 28: Carrie Bloomston

Jan 29: Lynn Krawcyzk

Jan 30: Leslie Tucker Jenison
Jan 31: Pokey Bolton

Pokey is about to surprise Carol and Melly with this cake!

Here is a shot of Pokey cutting the surprise cake (decorated with the cover of Playful Fabric Printing)
during the Craft Napa event earlier this month!



50 comments:

  1. Well, random number generator never picks number one, so I won't be winning this book from your blog! However, I have been following this blog hop and can't wait to try everything I've seen and then some. There is so much info in this book--can't wait!

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  2. Kathy's are in the house! Loving all the posts about this book an all the techniques. Thanks!

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  3. This book looks awesome and it has been so fun to meet new artists through the blog hop. Thanking the authors for sharing their process with us.

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  4. It looks like a fun book! Thanks for the chance to win a copy of it!

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  5. I can't wait to see this book in person! Maybe I can win one! Thanks for the opportunity.

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  6. They look like they are having way way too much fun doing this!!! mumbird3(at)gmail(dot)com

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  7. What fun! I am definitely going to follow the Facebook page. Just looking at all the different websites has given me a lot of inspiration and getting my creative juices flowing in. Can hardly wait for the book!

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  8. Thanks for your review and a chance to win!
    Kevin@KevinWomackArt.com

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  9. Loving all the ideas in the blog hop & can't wait to get the book - would be so great to win!

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  10. Such a fun book filled with ideas.

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  11. Looks like a book with all kinds of fun techniques! Looks like you are having fun dyeing, thanks for the review!

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  12. This book certainly has piqued my interest. I definitely want to stretch my creativity. -- soparkaveataoldotcom

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  13. This book looks like a must have!!! Hope I win!

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  14. I love fabric dye and print it's great to experiment with new techniques.

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  15. I love your enthusiasm for this book! And it was a great idea to have a playdate - you must have all had a blast experimenting together.

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  16. love playing with colour and dyes and alwyas keen to learn more. Looks lik eyou had a lot of fun

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  17. I can't wait to learn how to dye the color graduations! It's so beautiful to see the flow from one color to the next. Thank you!

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  18. I love the stamps that were made, how easy! This book looks so inspiring!

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  19. I LOVE to dye my own fabric and have yet to thicken the dyes; something I've been wanting to do for a long time. This book looks like it'll have the perfect blend of instruction and motivation to get me on to the next step. Hope to win it here - or I'll buy it :)

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  20. This book looks like such a great resource, will be adding to my library whether I win or not. Loved reading about your process.

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  21. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

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  22. Simply awesome! I will definitely order a copy (if I don't win one, that is).

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  23. WOW! Fabulous techniques here - can't wait to try them.

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  24. You made it look very fun and useful. Looks like a great book. Thanks for all the photos.

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  25. I am a regular blog reader/lurker so I was pleased to see you participating in the blog hop. Looking forward to seeing more photos! Thanks for the chance to win the book-looks wonderful!
    jlpfeffer at gmail dot com

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  26. I can't wait to get my hands on this book. Up until now, have been dyeing fabrics with hap-hazard mixing techniques with Procion MX dyes; sometimes with great result and sometimes not so great. Love both of these authors--super talented, knowledgeable and passionate about they direction they are taking. Love, love, love.

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  27. I have read soooo many positive comments about this book, can't wait to get my hands on it myself!!!

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  28. Thanks for sharing your photos! Can't wait to go through the book.

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  29. The more I read the more I am becoming desperate to own this book. With a crazy life I was beginning to set aside any new creative techniques. I guess I was feeling as if I already had all I could do or learn in an overcrowded brain. Now, more than ever I realize that making keeps the crazy outs! And goodness knows...we all need that! Sign me up..I want to be a card carrying surface designer!

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  30. Thanks so much for your post about Playful Fabric Printing. I love using circles in my art so I'm very drawn to your prints. Thanks for a chance to win the book. Should I be the lucky one I can be reached at bkisrael@gmail.com.

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  31. It is so much fun to read about all the fun everyone was having with the techniques in this book I am looking forward to owning a copy

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  33. This book looks fabulous, and so many of us are excited to get our hands on it! Thank you!
    tuttlefamily@cox.net

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  34. This book looks fabulous, and so many of us are excited to get our hands on it! Thank you!
    tuttlefamily@cox.net

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  35. Can't wait to start playing with some of the techniques in this book.

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    1. Julie, you are my winner for the free copy of the book! Please contact me with your email address so the book can be shipped! Congratulations!

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  36. I I really love this book. I am not used to working with dye but I am in love with printing so this will be fun. So glad to see this book and follow along with all of you

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  37. Un livre que j'aimerai bien lire en Suisse

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  38. I have been itching to get back to printing my own fabric. I have been spinning fiber lately, but cleaning up my lil art room so I can print and create!!!!

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  39. Thank you for sharing the wonderful pictures, Leslie!
    I'm so excited about this book!... and diving into all the fun!
    (Melly's quilt made with your Urban Artifacts is *fantastic*!! I love it!!)
    Looking forward to seeing more!
    Pat T.

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  40. I have taken Caril's Color Mixing for Dyers class and am a huge fan of hers. I would love to get my hands on this book!

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  41. Here is what I loved about Craft Napa. It is to be found on all of these blogs. Before I would read about end results and finished projects in Quilting Arts magazine. And I would be in awe of most of the work but had no idea where to begin. At Craft Napa I was given some of the tools I need to start, based on actual practice. And now I get to visit the blogs of the people I took classes with, and I'm getting to watch the nuts and bolts of creation.....the great new ideas, the testing of those ideas, the re-thinking if things didn't quite go as planned, and then another go at it. I'm now seeing quilters almost as scientists, constantly running experiments. :-)

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    1. I love this comment! I think you summed up the essence of working artists, no matter what their medium! Thanks for this....

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