I have been wondering what the attraction is to working with fabric.
I think it has to be the personal, tactile nature of the medium. You can feel it, touch it and even wear it.
Prints on paper are often under glass and we are discouraged from touching them.
Tell me in the comments: Why you love to work with fabric and printmaking.
Here’s a quick tutorial:
- Put strips of strong double stick tape on the outer edges of the inside of the covers of a stiff composition journal.
- Cut your fabric about 3/4″ – 1″ bigger all the way around the open journal. So you have enough to cover the back and the front and wrap 3/4″ – 1″ to the inside.
- Wrap one edge over and stick it to the tape, as shown in the top right image.
- Carefully pull the fabric taut and then stick it to the tape. You want it to be flat and tight, but not so tight that it warps your journal.
- Snip the fabric at the top and bottom of the spine. This will allow you to get around the pages.
- You can get fancy and miter the corners, or just snip out some of the excess and finger press the fabric flat.
- You could finish the inside covers with more tape and fabric. I simply pressed the first and last page to the inside covers.
Now I get to see, touch, and enjoy these monoprints everyday.
Interested in gelatin printing your own fabric? Check out the online class Monoprinting Fabric.
Thanks will definitely try this
Love this! I may have to give it a try 😉
love you journal cover & nice easy way to make it. I like printing on fabric for the same reasons but also because I can more easily stitch it & make things.
I think you nailed it, Linda, the textural quality of fabric is attractive. I also think that working with fabric draws on our psyche’s memories of making fabric, protecting ourselves from the cold, falling in love with the feel of it as one spins it or weaves it, millennia of history. It is deeply ingrained in women’s history.
Thanks Precille,
Keep on printing!
Linda