How To: Printing fabric using stencils as printing plates

In my last post I printed on tags using stencils as printing plates. Today we are printing on fabric. I’m again using Joggles 9 x 12 stencils.

I started out on my plastic-covered table. I placed paper towels under the stencils to absorb some of the paint. I ended up with beautiful printed paper towels. You could use another piece of fabric instead of the paper towels so none of your paint is wasted. Next time I’ll do that!

For the fabric paint, I’m using the Marabu Fashion Sprays. I used these in my Art Sampler class last year and really loved them.

Next I sprayed several colors on top of the stencil. I love how the colors blend so nicely.

 

Then I placed the fabric on top of the stencil and rubbed. This reminded me of marbling where you place the fabric over the patterned water and watch the design appear. Pretty cool!

Now to pull off and see what I’ve got.

Here is a side-by-side comparison to show you the difference between using the stencil with fabric under it and printing over the stencil.

Then I decided to leave a piece of fabric under the stencil while I sprayed for several printings on top. On the left is the regular stencil image, and on the right is the fabric that remained under the stencil while I sprayed several times.

Here is the Joggles Layered Blocks stencil with the comparison of regular stenciling and then printing over the stencil. I like the over printing much better.

But let’s push it a bit more. How about using two different stencils with this process? Here are the two I’m using in the following exercise.

 

This first picture is using the Leaf Specimens stencil alone.

 

Now I added the other stencil under the leaf stencil and sprayed.

I love how using both stencils gives me a layered look even though I’m just printing once. And here again are some of my pieces during this printing session.

To heat set let the fabric dry for a couple hours, and then iron for a couple minutes. Marabu also recommends an alternative to ironing: put in the oven at 302 degrees for 8 minutes. Either way you can then wash and dry them if needed.

This is just another way to use stencils. I love how printing over the stencils gives a whole different organic look. I hope these posts inspire you thinking about your stencils and what they can do for your art.

I’m linking up today with Nina’s Off The Wall Friday. Check out the link for inspiration from other bloggers. Thanks for dropping by.