I worked on this project a few weeks ago and am just getting it blogged. My daughter decided to experiment with Inktense pencils for adding colour to her embroidery designs. After she ordered them we played with them for a bit at the lake while we were camping and again a bit more than past weekend while visiting for her birthday!!
I had found this video by Helen Godden where she was using Inktense pencils on sized muslin fabric with very good success - no bleeding of the colour into the fabric. Wanting to use fabric already in my stash I decided to see if I could replicate her results with homemade sizing. I used a tablespoon of cornstarch to 3 cups of water which is a recipe I found on line. I applied it to my fabric with a brush and let it air dry before ironing it smooth. I did several pieces while I was at it.
It ironed out very nicely and I used a gray Micon 01 marker (.25mm) to trace my butterflies (clipart laser printed on paper) onto my little strip of cotton fabric. I had originally thought I should buy the lightest colour of gray marker (Michaels) but at the last minute changed my mind. I should have kept to my first choice as this one was a bit dark. In the end, I was able to add colour to the butterflies and with some care not have the colour run. You can see below that the blue (#2) and the last one had the colour run a bit so the amount of starch/sizing was not enough to prevent the running of the inks. I will keep at it and see if there is any level that will work. After they were dry I used two strands of embroidery floss to stitch all the way around the butterflies and was able to cover the dark gray line with thread. In the following photo only the red one at the top has been stitched but the last one has them all finished. The ink becomes permanent on fabric after drying and/or being heat set. Not sure where this little piece will end up but I expect there will be a few more experiments as time goes on. Therese
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