BioColor® Monoprints on Fabric, Paper, and Canvas

Last week I attended the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach to see how fabric artist Jane LaFazio uses BioColor® in her Fabric Painting Workshop. I had so much fun and came away with lots of ideas and inspiration. I adapted what I learned from Jane’s adult fabric painting class and simplified it for children’s art making. But before we get to that, let’s look at some of Jane’s inspired students as they use BioColor® and BioColor® Fabric Medium to monoprint on plain white fabric. There was such a creative buzz in the room when I arrived with my camera to take it all in!

To make these fabric designs permanent, students added BioColor® Fabric Medium to their paints as part of their set-up. I was impressed that Jane had marked the fabric medium with a big, bold FM so it would not get confused with the white BioColor®, smart lady! (why hadn’t I thought of that?)

These painted fabric designs were created using 4 basic steps. (1) Apply a thin layer of BioColor® onto a printing plate using a foam roller (2) Drop stencils, drag scrapers and sprinkle rubber bands on top to create shapes & textures (3) Lay fabric on top, then finally…… (3) Rub the fabric with your hands (rubbing long and hard) to transfer the paint, shapes and textures onto the fabric. Jane is quite a whirlwind of inspiration and leads art making safaris to Italy and all sorts of exciting places, so I hope you will look her up sometime, or find other creative “gurus” in your own community to help keep your creative juices flowing.

I came home so excited from the International Quilt Festival that I got out my BioColor® paints and played around to simplify Jane’s ideas for the early childhood classroom. I turned a Colorations® Art Trays upside down and it worked just fine as a printing plate (who knew?).

I especially loved the idea of using rubber bands to create shapes and textures. The results were colorful, creative and easy.

If you want to see what else I discovered in modifying Jane’s ideas for the classroom, watch the video clip below.

Check out Jane LaFazio’s website for more creative ideas at JaneLaFazio.com. Thank you, Jane!

Materials Used:

Textured Paint Scrapers (SCR)

Foam Paint Rollers (FRS)

BioColor® Paint (BIO)

BioColor® Fabric Medium (BIOFAB)

Colorations® Art Trays (ARTRAY)

Colorations® Craft Cups (CRAFTC) 

Good Projects for BioColor® Monoprints:

Classroom Canvas Quilt (CLASQLT)

Canvas Boards (VANGOGH)

Blank Canvas Aprons (DECAPRON)

Canvas Pillow Cases (PILLOW)

American Idol Quilt Creates Community

Check out the HUGE community quilt made by American Idol fans in North Carolina last month, using our “Button Up” Canvas Quilt Squares! I'm sure they helped Scotty win the big competition! Barbara Wolfmueller of DSS donated these no-sew fabric squares to help her local community celebrate local hero, Scotty McCreery who went on to win the celebrated singing competition. As you can see, there's NO END to how many fabric quilt squares you can button together. Families and children came together to support Scotty by creating a colorful “fan club quilt” with Colorations paints and markers.

In this next fabric quilt, art teacher Marianne Richmond had school aged children design a Community Quilt using the same button-up quilt squares. If you look closely, you’ll see this quilt combines plain canvas squares with “Picture Quilt Squares” that have an insert for a 4 x 6” photo or poem. Both these fabric products come in a set of 12 squares and cost less than $1 a square.

Marianne asked children to work in pairs and design one quilt square with their partner, using a combination of fabric paints, acrylic paints and permanent markers. This way they got to share ideas and collaborate in two different ways: first with their buddy, then together with the larger group.

This last quilt example is from a Baby Shower. During the baby shower itself, each participant created a square using fabric paints and collage materials. I painted these “Picture Quilt Squares” ahead of time and inserted poems and quotes about babies to match the party theme. I later buttoned these in with the rest of everyone’s finished artwork. Printing out poems and quotes, or having children write their own poetry on 4 x 6” file cards, is a good way to give your quilt a unified theme. 

Check out this close-up of the same quilt…pretty sweet, don’t you think? Imagine….all these fabric quilts are so diverse, yet they are created on the same set of no-sew quilt squares. Don’t forget, they come in both plain canvas and picture insert versions, which you can easily combine to make a quilt of any size.

Let’s close that thought with one last look at the American Idol quilt, created by Scotty’s loving fans in North Carolina. It’s a pretty great example of how creative collaboration builds community. I hope it inspires you to make an easy, no sew fabric quilt this summer.

Enjoy yourself and keep those creative juices flowing!

Materials you will need:

1) Classroom Canvas Quilt, set of 12 (and/or)
2) Classroom Picture Quilt, set of 12
3) Colorations® Permanent Fabric Markers
4) Colorations® Fabric Paint Set
5) Colorations® Acrylic Paint Set

Optional: Miscellaneous Collage Materials including:
Ribbons, Stampers, Stamp Pads, Tacky Glue