ArtFire

Blue Sunprinted Fat Quarter of Cotton Fabric with Lizards, Frogs, Foliage and Flowers. This fat quarter of hand painted fabric has been sunprinted by using leaves and flowers from my gardens along with cut-out shapes of lizards and frogs, and small confetti butterflies. A fat quarter is approximately 18"x21" in size. This piece was painted using a deep blue textile paint that was applied so that there are darker and lighter areas of color along with some pale pink resulting in the prints. Sea salt placed over the paint while it was still wet added extra texture.

Sunprinting is one way that I can bring my love of gardening and my love of fabrics together. The fabric is painted with thin textile paint and pressed leaves and fresh flowers from my gardens are placed on the wet paint. Thin foam or confetti shapes add even more details. The painted fabric with the foliage and shapes on it is placed in the sun to dry, causing the prints to form. Coarse sea salt sprinkled on the exposed wet paint adds interest to the areas around the leaves and flowers. Areas of the fabric that are exposed to the sun dry faster than the areas covered by the leaves, flowers or shapes. The moisture is pulled out from under the items placed over the wet paint, pulling the color with it as the shaded areas dry.

This piece of fabric has several groupings of leaves and flowers that can cut out and be used in various projects. Ferns, Queen Ann's Lace, Plumbago and other foliage with flowers from Nicotianas, Phlox, and Violas were used. Once the paint has dried, the fabric is heat set with an iron and the color and designs are permanent.

Botanical sunprinting or sun painting results in very unique patterns on fabric. The amount of sun, humidity, breezes, and other variables result in the textile paint used drying with various results. The faster the fabric dries, the sharper the images that result. The salt causes the color to drift in different directions and the resulting patterns are nearly impossible to repeat.

cotton fabric, textile paint, leaves, flowers, foam shapes, sea salt.

See my finished items at
http://www.artfire.com/users/AndrusGardens
http://www.artfire.com/users/AndrusGardensQuilts
http://www.andrusgardensquilts.com/, or see works in progress and inspirations on my blog- http://andrusgardensquilts.com/blog