A fabric experiment...

As I wandered about our home, picking up, cleaning, sweeping, mopping and waiting for the floors to dry, {in preparation for watching Alexxis today} my mind began wandering. I wondered what if I stamped on muslin using the india ink and colored it in with my colored pencils? Realizing there's wax in the prismas, I got inquisitive if it would melt into the fabric if ironed. I know, strange thoughts, LOL! but I contribute them to reading late last night while Don was watching TV, titled "Color on Paper and Fabric" by Ruth Issett and desiring to explore a bit more incorporating my love of paper arts and fabric together. Somewhere along that path, I got to wondering about learning applique and if there was a way I could incorporate some of my stamped images onto fabric, coloring them in with a variety of mediums such as inks, acrylic paints, textile and artist mediums then learning to applique them onto some of the scraps I'll be using on my crazy quilt. As my mind continued meandering and I explored some of the possibilities, I kept asking myself "what if?" What if I... What if I stamped and colored in a piece of cotton or muslin using colored pencils? Would the pencil stay in the fabric? Would it be washable, without bleeding? How would heat effect it? Well, you know me, having decided there's only way to find out, I had to take a few minutes to try it. The above photo is my result and I love it! I stamped the Anna Griffith image using black india ink, colored it in using my prismacolor pencils and then layered another scrap of muslin over it while I ironed it on a cotton setting. Next, I was inquisitive about washing and drying, so I ran it under hot water in the sink, scrubbed it using my opposite hand, crinkling it up and scrubbing sides of the fabric together and finally rinsed. After squeezing all the excess water out and dabbing it in between several layers of a towel, I ironed it dry once again. It didn't bleed at all; not even the reds that I used! Now, I'm wondering if I can trim the piece down approximately 1/4" from the outside stamped lines of the image and applique it to another fabric? Wouldn't it be cool to use this to create some fabric collages using a variety of images? Similar to some of the fabric ATC's and Postcards I've seen on the internet. I could also experiment with some trapunto and further embellishments while creating them. What a shame I'll have to wait for another day to explore more but the discovery makes it worth the wait! {smiles}