Sunprinting

I have been asked to provide some sun prints for our quilt shop.

 

 

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny morning, so I took advantage of the northern sun.

 

 

No fancy set-up, just my lawn and front steps. And my oven.

Below is a close up of a traditional print. Any transparent paint will do, I use Seta Color by Pebeo. This one is a combo of turquoise and ultramarine. Working quickly, paint wet fabric. Then place your resist into the wet paint, in this case I used fireweed that had been pressed flat. Put the piece in the sun until its dry. Today it was sunny, so an hour or two was fine.

I press a lot of flowers and leaves during the summer and store them for winter printing. I use a couple of pieces of large Styrofoam as the press, then add a few heavy limber pieces. I leave the leaves for a couple of days if I am using them right away, otherwise I dry them out completely for a week or so. Then I store them in a large, dry container.

 

The piece below was done in the oven. This is the fastest way to do sun prints. The only con is that the piece becomes a bit rubbery.

Directions: I always make the print over a piece of glass (an old picture frame) that fits just right in my oven. Put a cookie sheet upside down on the racks or you will see the racks lines in the piece.  The lowest temp works best, I leave in for about 5-20 minutes, and take the piece out when its dry.

 

Another one was done under halogen lamps. It makes the lightest transfer, but this could be that my lights are on the ceiling. Need to try with a halogen light closer to the work. Sorry, but I could not recall which was done under the lamps, so I cant show you a picture.

 

The last is a double print. Since these are transparent paints, the under layer shows through. A great way to make complex cloth!

My preference is always the sun, but in the Arctic, that is only good in the summer. I am doing a lot of sun prints this month.