Between preparing for and teaching my Journal to the Self journal writing class, interviewing and writing my column and a couple other articles, and working outside, I’ve been squeezing in some crafty time. Yesterday was a rainy day – a great day for this project.
The fabric I used was one of my snow dyeing pieces. I used part of this piece for my camera strap. Since this was not my favorite, I thought it would be a good one to practice on.
First I raided the kitchen.


I applied my Claudine Hellmuth Studio paint with a brush to the orange. Then I tried the apple.

The turnips did not work for me. They were just blobs of paint – not what I was looking for. I did learn that you don’t need much paint on the fruit.

Then I pulled out these wood stamps I’ve been dying to use. I bought these at this Etsy shop. They are hand carved and just beautiful to hang around my studio/woman cave. But being the practical person I am, I had to try them on the other end of this fabric.



If you have never used fruit or vegetables to print on fabric – apply paint with a paint brush – not a sponge brush. You don’t want a lot of paint. I practiced stamping them on another piece of fabric to get some of the paint off until I had an idea of the amount of paint I really needed.
For the wood fabric stamps I also applied just a little paint and used a mouse pad or similar material under where you stamp to get a better impression.
Now I feel more comfortable stamping on “good” fabric. However, if you have any tips, please share.
Very interesting! Fabulous results!
Thanks for sharing!
nice fabric! i made a t-shirt using apple stamps but i cut the apple vertically and used the half with the stem. it really looks like apples and i did it in a checkerboard pattern all down the front of the shirt using 3 or 4 colors. it came out really nice! also, i used a sponge brush and it worked fine
Jody, I didn’t think about cutting them vertically. Great idea! When I used the sponge brush I tended to get too much paint on the fruit. Maybe I have a heavy hand! Thanks for the tip and dropping by.
actually, now that i’m thinking about it, i had a very light hand because i was concerned i wouldn’t have enough paint. i think it worked better, though because you really got the outline of the apple. and thanks for posting! 🙂
Love the patterns the apple and the orange made! Those wood stamps are beautiful as well. Definitely a great rainy day project thanks for posting!