Using Inkodye with Stencils

                                                                                Photo by Brian McCay

Last month, I wrote about my experience using Inkodye to create botanical prints for my Family Circle column, an experiment that wasn't quite right for the magazine. But I had all of this orange Inkodye left and I still thought some kind of floral would be fun with it. So I went another route with the botanical prints and used the Inkodye with a stencil instead, which was a better choice for the magazine.

We settled on placemats for the summer, but really, you could use this fabric for all kinds of summery projects. You could make napkins, pillows, cover seats of chairs, make a tote bag, integrate it into patchwork projects, etc. 

The stencil I used was Skylar's Lace from Royal Design Studio. I love this stencil so much and while I'm not quite ready to stencil my entire floor or wall, I knew that this design could be used for all sorts of projects (I'm considering a canvas floorcloth or stenciling a panel for the back of a glass-paned cabinet. Or even stenciling glass windows or doors with a frosted glass paint.) It's a large, two-piece stencil, so it's good for larger scale fabric printing.

What you don't see in the magazine are the effects you can achieve with Inkodye just by altering the application. Because most stencils are made from a semi-opaque, light colored stencil film, if you coat the entire piece of fabric with Inkodye before adhering your stencil, the dye will develop under the masked areas, just not at the same intensity as the exposed areas. As a result, you get more of a tone-on-tone effect. If you want extreme contrast, you adhere your stencil to the fabric first, then use a foam stencil pouncer to apply the Inkodye to only the exposed areas of the stencil (just as you would with paint). 

Pros and cons? It's faster to brush Inkodye onto an entire piece of fabric, but then it's pricier, too, because you're using more dye. But either way, I think it's good to know about both techniques so you can choose which effect you desire the most. And the resulting prints have the casual, organic feel that's perfect for summer.

 

(click on photo to see a full size image)

For complete instructions, click here.

Comments

[Melanie Royals]

Suzonne, I am beyond thrilled with what you did with our Skylar's Lace stencil. I never imagined in it bright orange, but it looks SO amazing and that Inkodye is def. something I want to check out. You rock!! :)

[Dorian Fletcher]

Thanks for yet another great design idea, Suzonne. Your offerings are always fresh and sophisticated. Glad to fine you on Pinterest, as well. P.S. - your drink/food recipes are also appreciated!