Balzer Designs

4 New Shibori Shirts

My brother, who doesn't generally like anything crafty, saw a faux shibori t-shirt I made for Make It Artsy a few weeks ago and asked for one of his own.  I was delighted to say, "Of course!"  

He gave me two shirts -- a heavy-weight long-sleeve t-shirt with a stain and a plain white t-shirt.  Not one to miss out on the action, my Mom gave me an old t-shirt with an image of a samurai on it.  And I threw in a t-shirt I had already dyed, but not yet "fixed."

I used RIT dye -- one quarter denim blue and three quarters navy blue -- to dye my shirts.  I followed the instructions on the dye bottles for adding water, salt, and dish liquid.  And I did follow-up the dyeing process with RIT fixative and a good long wash in the washing machine.  As a side note, I threw a Color Catcher into the washing machine, just to make sure I didn't end up with a blue washing machine and I was glad I did because it came out practically purple!

I ran an empty load with another Color Catcher afterwards just to make sure the machine was clean, and I was impressed when it came out as white as it went in!

And now, for the shirts!  The long-sleeve shirt with the stain:

The stain was red and I'm pretty sure it has vanished into the shibori!

The t-shirt:

You can see that I folded this one on the diagonal for a slightly different look.

The t-shirt with the samurai on it:

And finally, the shirt that had been dyed and not fixed:

You can see that the first dyeing ran a bit turning the white "background" blue.  Here it is compared to one of the other shirts:

And some detail photos:

I love how all of these shirts turned out.  I'd like to try a bunch of other shibori techniques and patterns next time around!  That's one of the many things to love about shibori -- there are so many possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by!

A PanPastel Portrait Monoprint

I'm seriously addicted to PanPastels on my gelatin plate. I can't stop (and I don't really want to).  Yesterday I broke out my 8x10 plate and decided to try creating a portrait that I could monoprint.  It actually worked out better than I thought it would (if you can't see the video, click on the title of this post).

Here's a pic of the plate and first print next to each other:

I thought it was an amazingly good pull. 

The only thing that didn't really translate were some of the white highlights -- like the catch light in her eyes, the tip of her nose, some of the lip shading, etc.

I did manage to pull two more prints.  You can see all three together here:

There's definitely some fading in the later pulls, but if you look at the last two pulls together, they still have integrity.

I definitely want to do some more experimenting with this technique. I think white highlights may be like working with watercolor -- you have to leave them space from the beginning.  But, we shall see.

I hope you find some time to play with your art supplies this weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

PanPastels on the Gelatin Plate

Birgit Koopsen is hosting a month-long gelatin-printing party on her instagram.  Several days ago I watched a video she shared on using PanPastels on the Gelli Plate.  I immediately went tearing through my studio to grab the supplies I needed and began to experiment.  I shared a video of my first experiment on instagram earlier this week (if you can't see the video, click on the title of this blog post):

Here are my two favorite prints from that video:

But you know meI had to keep going because I looooooove to experiment!  So I decided to see if I could make the technique work on black paper with black paint.

The answer, is a resounding, yes!!

And now, I've put together a quick tutorial video for you -- answering a lot of the questions I got on instagram and providing all of the little details to make you successful -- and the video includes a super fun technique at the end, that doesn't involve stencils at all:

Here are some of the prints from the video:

Supplies:

• PanPastels
• Sofft Tools
• Gelatin Plate
• Brayer
• Fluid Acrylics
• Black Watercolor Paper
• Baby Oil
• Spring Medallion Stencil
• Fantastical Stencil
• Faithful Tree Stencil

I hope you'll try using PanPastel for monoprinting.  It's truly addictive!

Thanks for stopping by!

NEW: ScanNCut DX Disney Machine!

I'm super excited to share that Brother has released an extremely limited Disney ScanNCut DX!  This machine is the DX you've come to know and love (AutoBlade, whisper quiet, 3mm cutting, etc.) with some awesome Disney extras!  I take you through all of it in this unboxing video, but here are the basics:

• The machine comes loaded with exclusive Disney designs.
• Cutting designs include rhinestone designs -- built right into the machine!  This is the only ScanNCut that doesn't require you to go through CanvasWorkspace in order to cut rhinestone designs.  You can cut the built-in rhinestone designs quickly and easily, especially because...
• The machine comes with a mini-version of the Rhinestone Starter Kit!
• The machine comes with a ton of accessories, including the brand new Tool Kit! 

(If you already have a DX, you can purchase the Tool Kit separately.)

Watch the video for more:

Here is the starter project that I made in the video (instructions and even the paper to make it come in the box):

The Disney ScanNCut DX is sold exclusively through the Brother Dealer network.  You can find your local dealer by inputting your zip code here.

Thanks for stopping by!

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P.S. I am a paid spokesperson for the Brother ScanNCut.  It is a machine that I love and use.  All projects and opinions are my own.

Product Registration: https://www.brother-usa.com/registermybrother/
Brother Customer Support: https://www.brother-usa.com/support/

A Tale of Two Stamps

I've been working on designing my Baby Shower invitations!   A fun task for any mom-to-be and most definitely for an artist!  I decided that I wanted to carve a stamp for the invitations.  And so, I drew out a sketch, carved the stamp...

...and then realized it wasn't going to work.  Two reasons why:

1. This image makes it seem like I'm having twins -- which I'm not.
2. There's a scratch in the block, which shows up in the prints.

The flaw in the block is less of an issue.  The fact that it looks like I'm having twins is more of an issue.

Regardless, I decided to try again.  I thought about re-carving the block with an altered design?  But instead I decided to completely change direction.  This is what I came up with:

And I think it's a winner.  It's not quite as whimsical as my first design, but I think it will be great for the invitations!

Thanks for stopping by!