• About Me

Fiber and Pixels

Fiber and Pixels

Tag Archives: watercolor

From Sketchbook to Scarf

15 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by Alice Frenz in digital fabric printing, pattern design, pixels, scarf design, sketchbook

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

blue, charmeuse, digital fabric printing, georgette, ink, scarf design, sewing, silk, watercolor

alice-frenz-emma-ink-watercolor-mandala-floral-blue-sketchbook-page 727x900-60b

my ink and watercolor sketchbook page

After purchasing a new 11″ x 14″ hard cover sketchbook for a workshop with Susan Shie May 2017, I decided to try drawing some mandala designs. I was also trying out a new pen from the workshop supply list, Uni-ball Signo 207 Bold. It’s a retractable gel pen which dries to a waterproof ink line. The line of the Bold size pen is wider and the ink takes longer to dry than the pens I usually use, but held up nicely to painting with watercolor after drying.

Emma scarf design by Alice Frenz from watercolor ink sketchbook page horizontal 700x339-70c

one end of my rectangle scarf design

I worked with a scan of my page in Photoshop, selecting and copying motifs to create a long 11″ x 58″ rectangle scarf design. I flipped the main mandala motif vertically and combined 4 together in a row alternating the flipped versions. I then selected and copied smaller motifs to fill in the areas between.

alice-frenz-emma-silk-scarf-digital-printing-test-sample-900x643-70c

digital printing with fiber reactive dyes on silk

On the digital fabric printer at work, I test printed a sample on silk charmeuse. The colors appear dull right off the printer before steaming. After the dye is laid down by the wide format ink jet printer, the fabric is rolled in steamer paper and steamed under pressure. That’s when the fiber reactive dyes bond to the silk and the color  becomes more vivid.

Emma scarf test sample compared to sketchbook alice frenz 0208 900x600-70c

I made a few adjustments to my file based on the test print, then printed the full size scarf on silk crepe georgette. Since the georgette fabric was more than twice as wide as my design, I printed it together with another of my scarf designs lengthwise on the fabric.

emma silk scarf blue alice frenz 600x900-70d

my silk georgette scarf designs after steaming

emma-silk-scarf-alice-frenz-watercolor-ink-0249 600x792-80b

I finished the scarf with a hand rolled hem.

alice frenz silk scarf design from sketchbook 0230 600x1018-70
emma-silk-scarf-alice-frenz-watercolor-ink-0270 900x600-70c

©2018 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

See the other scarf design I printed at the same time in this post.

Lady Beetles scarf on crepe de chine 200x300

Lady Beetles Scarf

Lady Beetles Scarf

12 Wednesday Jul 2017

Posted by Alice Frenz in digital fabric printing, pattern design, pixels, scarf design

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

design, digital fabric printing, georgette, ink, ladybugs, scarf, sewing, silk, sunflowers, watercolor

lady-beetles-silk-georgette-scarf-by-alice-frenz-720x900-70

my scarf design on silk crepe georgette

I created this scarf design from my ink and watercolor sketchbook page. I used Photoshop to duplicate motifs and arrange them for a 22″ x 70″ scarf.

 

alice frenz lady beetles scarf design 900x720-70

detail view of my design artwork ready to print

I first printed the design on silk charmeuse to test the colors. The scan of my sketch book pages turned out to be Epson RGB instead of sRGB. I learned that “convert color profile” is the right way to change the colors to sRGB for our fabric printer. The colors didn’t come out as I expected when I used “assign color profile”.

alice frenz lady beetles scarf being printed on silk 900x720-70

lady beetles silk scarf alice frenz 600x720-70

before entering the steamer, the fabric is removed from the paper backing

I printed the final scarf on silk crepe georgette. The georgette allows more dye to pass through the fabric and shows the design on the back side more than the other silks we print. And some dye penetrates all the way through to the paper backing.

 

lady-beetles-silk-scarf-ink-watercolor-alice-frenz-detail-view 900x720-70b

©2018 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

 

Read more about my ink and watercolor sketchbook art I used for this scarf in this post.

alice-frenz-testing-prang-vs-loew-cornell-watercolor-sketchbook-pattern-design-257x201

Emma Scarf Design

06 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by Alice Frenz in pattern design, scarf design

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

ink, mandala, motif, Photoshop, scarf, scarf design, watercolor

alice frenz Emma sketchbook 6-06-17 015-d-scarf-h 3 units vertical for blog 550x2052-60

©2017 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

Read more about how I created this scarf design from my sketchbook page in this post.

Emma scarf sketchbook alice frenz 300x200-90

emma-silk-scarf-alice-frenz-299x200-90.jpg

Sketchbook: Adding Color

31 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by Alice Frenz in sketchbook

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

colored pencil, floral, illustration, ink, motifs, pattern, Prang, QSDS, sketchbook, Susan Shie, watercolor

This week I’ve been trying out some of the new art supplies I purchased for the QSDS (Quilt and Surface Design Symposium) class I’m taking this weekend. The class is Lucky Drawing: Freehand Sketchbook 2 Day, with the wonderful, amazing artist and teacher Susan Shie.

I started at the top of my page with a set of Loew Cornell watercolor cakes that I already had. Then switched to my new Prang semi-moist 16 watercolor oval pan set recommended by Susan for the middle and bottom rows of flowers, leaves, and insects.

The Loew Cornell colors were very chalky and too opaque, covering up my ink line work. They also flaked off the paper when I tried adding colored pencil on top. The Prang colors were much more transparent; letting the ink line work show through. Colored pencils layered over the Prang watercolor paint very nicely. I definitely preferred the results with the Prang set.

You can find out more about classes taught by Susan Shie on her Turtle Moon Studio website.

©2017 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

 

Read about the scarf I design from this artwork in this post “Lady Beetles Scarf”.

lady-beetles-silk-georgette-scarf-by-alice-frenz-300x375-70

My Website

www.alicefrenz.com go to my website

Recent Posts

  • Inspired by Teasels
  • Remnants of Color
  • From Sketchbook to Scarf
  • Jazz Blossoms Art Deco Pattern
  • Lady Beetles Scarf

Categories

  • be historical
  • be inspired
  • digital fabric printing
  • fiber
  • graphic design
  • hat making
  • hat study
  • paper
  • pattern apps
  • pattern design
  • pattern play
  • pixels
  • scarf design
  • sketchbook
  • web design
  • working with wool

Emma Scarf

Jazz Blossoms

Lady Beetles

Luminaries

Spirit Animals

Succulents

iPad Apps

Motif Sketchbook

iPhone Apps

Friends Project

Laced Top Hat

1863 Dressmaking

Taffeta Hat

go to Spiral Sewn Taffeta Hat

Snow Bees

alice frenz snow bee pattern design

Straight Pins

Fortune Test

Fulled Wool

Dye Wool

IMA Exhibits

Asian Hat

60’s Mod Helmet

Buckram Shapes

Seed Fringe

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Fiber and Pixels
    • Join 25 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Fiber and Pixels
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...