How to: Scrunched Sun Printing

Well, We’ve come to the end of sun printing time in my neck of the woods. Due to this mild summer there have been a lot of days that I couldn’t get good prints. My sun printed class was rescheduled twice but even the last date, last Thursday, was too cool and no sun. I hated that as I look forward to sharing this technique. We’ll try again next summer.

Meanwhile, I did get a few prints before our weather turned.

scrunchedsunprints

In the following pictures I am showing you how I got the piece on the right. I started with a light gray fabric so anything the sun did not hit would remain gray.

I dipped the moist fabric in Seta Color Transparent Black Lake paint and water, and then laid out the fabric on plastic in the sun. Working fast I scrunched it, making peaks and valleys. I then took Dye Na Flow Brick and painted the peaks.

scrunchedsunfabric1Next, I went over the background with the black.

scrunchedsunprint2Then I added salt.

Adding saltI always have a spray bottle with water when I’m sun printing. I like to make sure the fabric is wet especially when adding salt. If the fabric has already dried, the salt will not make any marks on the fabric. Usually when it’s real hot, I have to work real fast.

scrunchedsunprint4Then it’s time for the sun to do it’s work. It was a bit windy so I placed some bricks on the plastic to keep it from flying up on top of the fabric.

fabric laying out in the sunHere are closeup shots of both pieces while they were still wet.

gray sun printed fabricwhite sun printed fabric wet

And the final pieces.

scrunched sun printed fabricI was happy with the results. I love taking a simple dyeing technique and using it with sun printing. I’m still amazed at all of the texture!

If it’s warm and sunny in your neck of the woods, try this. It’s easy and a great way to add texture and interest to your fabric. I’d love to see your pieces if you do. If you are new to sun printing and my blog, check out my other sun printing posts and tutorial here.