Art Cloth: A Guide to Surface Design for Fabric

Sept 10

Something I know very little about is art cloths, designs on fabric. I had a brief foray into silk painting a couple of years back but this amazing book goes so much further.

Jane starts with a much needed safety warning about the dyes and cloth fibres and a constrain on rushing out and buying new. Seek out thrift shops she says, and use unwanted kitchen utensils. Valuable advice for both our pockets and the environment.

She covers setting up workspace, keeping records and what tools and supplies to begin with, and tells us briefly about fabrics and dyes. These are covered more fully in dedicated sections within the book.

Each chapter seems to build on the knowledge learned previously so initially we learn about building layers by dyeing in successive motions and then following chapters cover removing colours, stamping and stencils, using resists to create patterns, screen printing and an incredible chapter for metallic addicts like myself on incorporating foils and leaves into fabric. After reading this chapter I’d really like to have a go at this, the illustrations shown are so dramatic and stunning that one can’t help but be drawn into reading and wanting to try oneself.

Screen printing is something I’ve never quite understood but following the advice in the book and with equipment lent by a friend I had an enjoyable time playing with this and now have added another area to my art endeavours. I stuck to the basics but the book covers some complex ways of printing with beautiful illustrations on the results. Each section is covered fully with very in-depth advice making the steps easy to follow and at the end of each chapter is a handy trouble shooting guide. That’s always welcome as somehow however close one thinks we’ve followed there always seem to be a time when things don’t quite go to plan and sometimes its only a very simple error that has major results.

This is an amazing book, whether you’re a dedicated fabric artist and want to go further in your work, or whether you’re a novice like me but enjoying dipping in and learning new experiences. Its a book you can follow closely if you wish, or just pick up and marvel and what can be done with simple fabrics to create stunning works of art. I loved this book.

― JeannieZelos.com

Jane Dunnewold has been an influential textile artist for more than 20 years and is the author of Complex Cloth. She teaches and exhibits internationally, and her awards include Quilt National, the Quilt Japan Prize, and the Gold Prize at the Taegu International Textile Exhibition. Jane maintains Art Cloth Studios, an exhibition and teaching facility she shares with a group of artists in San Antonio, Texas.