https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/love-heart-tote-bag • Posted by GMC Group
This delightful tote bag captures the beauty of summer flowers and is an example of how you can successfully capture delicate mono-printed details on fabric. It makes a unique and lovely birthday gift or Mother’s Day present. The image could also be printed onto a cushion, laundry bag, pillowcase or paper to make a lovely print for a bedroom. You could even make a smaller heart template to use for a Valentine’s Day card or lavender bags. It is best to use a neutral-coloured fabric with a fine weave, as it will pick up all the small details and help these to stand out. Calico, cotton and medium-weight muslin work particularly well for this printing technique and are very reasonably priced.
This delightful tote bag captures the beauty of summer flowers and is an example of how you can successfully capture delicate mono-printed details on fabric. It makes a unique and lovely birthday gift or Mother’s Day present. The image could also be printed onto a cushion, laundry bag, pillowcase or paper to make a lovely print for a bedroom. You could even make a smaller heart template to use for a Valentine’s Day card or lavender bags. It is best to use a neutral-coloured fabric with a fine weave, as it will pick up all the small details and help these to stand out. Calico, cotton and medium-weight muslin work particularly well for this printing technique and are very reasonably priced.
Prepare the bags First wash the tote bags to wash out any size in the fabric. Allow to dry and iron with a hot steam iron
Prepare the heart template Enlarge the Love heart template on the inside front cover, making sure that it is just the right size to fit within your gelatine printing surface, then trace and transfer the outline centrally onto the cartridge paper. Cut out the heart using a scalpel or craft knife on a cutting mat. Discard the heart shape and retain the surrounding paper.
Mix the paint colours Mix blue and crimson paint with a little white to make a lavender blue, then add a similar volume of acrylic textile medium to the paint, and a little water if needed. Mix thoroughly. Don’t work under a direct warm spotlight, as this will hasten the drying process and hence affect the workability of the paint. Place a sheet of newsprint into each bag to prevent any paint seeping through the fabric when you print.
Prepare the printing surface Place the gelatine printing surface in a portrait position and paint the surface evenly with vertical strokes using the decorator’s brush or hog-hair paintbrush (this leaves a little residue on the ghost print, creating a stronger image). Arrange a selection of flower heads into a rough heart shape. Hold the heart stencil upside down above the flowers to make sure that it will be filled with flower heads. The heart is upside down so that the handles of the bag will hang clear off the table and won’t get in the way during printing.
Get ready to print Lay a piece of newsprint over the flower heads to take your first silhouette print. Gently smooth over the newsprint with the palm of your hand. Take the paper off and gently remove the flower heads using tweezers – you should be able to see a good flower impression on the gelatine. If it isn’t clear enough paint the surface again with a little more paint and repeat the process. It is advisable to take a paper print to check to see if everything is working in the right way. When it looks as if you have a good flower impression on the gelatine, place the heart template upside down onto the surface so that the negative heart shape is filled with flower impressions. It is important to cover any remaining painted surfaces with strips of paper to prevent any unwanted paint getting onto the bag.
Print the bag Hold the first tote bag upside down over the heart template, positioning it so that the heart image will be centrally positioned on the bag once it is printed (I allowed about 7.5cm (3in) from the bottom of the bag). Place the bag down onto the printing surface and smooth the fabric with the palm of a clean hand. You should be able to feel the outline of the template and apply pressure where the printed image will be. Gently lift the opening of the bag without moving the fabric and smooth over the inner paper. Carefully lift one corner of the bag and gently remove from the gelatine surface. Hang to dry and, once it is dry, brush off any seeds or stamens and heat-set the printed fabric with a medium iron.