When Dave and I visited the Petroglyph National Monument last September, I just fell in love with all of these rock carvings. That site has over 20,000 images that were carved on the volcanic rocks by the Native Americans and Spanish settlers.
As we were walking around looking at all of these drawings, I was thinking about fabric. Wouldn’t these designs look cool on a piece of material? I’ve wanted to make rubbing plates for a long time, so now that I had a subject I could get started.
I started with a piece of cardboard and added my drawing with dimensional paint. If you’ve not tried this before, you have to use dimensional paint or it won’t work. Also, this technique doesn’t work very well on paper. Be sure and let the new rubbing plate dry before using it.
Next I added paint to my brayer.
After putting the rubbing plate under my fabric, I ran the brayer over the fabric. Wow!
Don’t use a lot of paint unless you wanted a smeared image. Here is the carving.
Here is my rubbing plate image.
And here is another carving.
And my rubbing print.
These rubbing plates can be reused. If you are at all interested in this simple technique, give it a try. It’s so easy and I love the results.
Now I have some fabric that reminds me of that wonderful place.
These are very cool, Lynda. What a great idea to re-create the images you saw on the rocks. Love it.
What a nifty technique. Thanks for sharing that.
Thats the kind of thing I wish I was good at, I have ideas for some really great artwork I would hang up if I was capable of putting it into practice and creating it!
What a fantastic idea! I love the idea of fabric that is unique to you and a special life experience! Wouldn’t that fabric make a cool journal cover?
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Making my own rubbing plates has been on my “To Do” List since I purchased a set of Paintstiks earlier this year. Instead of the dimensional paint, for making the design, I was thinking of using my hot glue gun.
June, Using your glue gun is a great idea! Rubbing plates are so easy and so much fun! Thanks for dropping by. Lynda