Sunprinting on canvas

I did some sun printing this weekend, with plans to sun print some cotton/poly blends with poly sheers overlaid, so I can print two fabrics at one time.

Recently, I saw a fellow Nebraska artist, Elissa, doing poured paint on canvas and it looked fabulous and fun. I thought I would try this with my sun printing, using my Setacolor paints. I got a huge roll of canvas at an estate sale last summer, so I had plenty of material to experiment with.

I really loved my first piece. I like the white areas, and the drips, and areas of spreading paint.  I ended up playing with this technique, instead of my original intention of mainly working with sheer fabrics.

First, I pinned my canvas to a foam board. I  then wet the canvas material by spraying it with water. I rubbed my hand over it to make sure it was all wet and didn't have dry spots.  I poured the yellow on first in a few places, and tilted my board so the paint would run. If it didn't run the way I wanted to, I would spray some additional water. I also would rub the paint with my fingers to remove some of the white areas. I did this with all the colors. I then pinned my stencils to the fabric and set it in the sun. It took a long time for this to dry. Since it is puddles of paint instead of painted on with a brush, it has a lot more liquid than usual. Also, the canvas material is very thick, so is slower drying.  This first piece is 36" x 48".

 Detail photo showing sun prints

My next attempt, pictured below, only had just warm colors. I thought it didn't have enough white space or enough lights and darks. Both the red and the blue pieces are roughly 30" x 36"

I made sure to leave more white areas with the next one, but still think it needs more contrast.

My plan is to use paint and markers to add contrast, details, and a center of interest.

Of course while I was at it, I did some other sun printing as well. Here are some floral handkerchiefs. I plan to free-motion stitch a center of interest on these.

I then printed some sew-in interfacing over a layer of cotton/poly blend. The photos show the interfacing pieces folded back in the middle. The interfacing has much more detail since it was the top layer.

Then I did a sandwich of cotton/poly blend on the bottom, sheer polyester in the middle, and polyester lace on top. The lace prints onto the fabrics below.

This is fusible interfacing, which I did over a piece of canvas. The canvas did not get much paint, so it will need another layer. The interfacing looks great. Since this is fusible, I am not sure what I am going to do with it, but it's always fun to experiment.

I had made a layered fabric piece with sunprinted leaves earlier this spring here, and thought I would make another one with more colors. I sunprinted a layer of polyester sheer over a piece of canvas. Here is the sheer.

Here is the canvas. I think if I layer some of the other sheer pieces over the canvas and do some free motion stitching, it will be really interesting.

Of course I want to do more sun printing, but maybe I should work with these pieces instead. My growing fabric stash is getting too big (and I want to do some ice dyeing too).