Edwina Jacques Potatoes and Tea-bags activity sheet

Print out this page to use as a worksheet.

What you need

Dyes: can be bought in a set or as single bottles. They can be extended with water or fabric medium. Any cold-water fabric dye will do. Prices vary.

• Batik dyes: 10 500ml - £40.00
• Berol Fab Effects: set of 12 colours - £28.50 (Consortium)
• Children's liquid or powder paint - £1.25 approx. to be mixed with either PVA or fabric medium.

Fabric: Depending on the dye used, 100% cotton or a mix. Be careful, though, as some dyes will "fix" onto synthetic material. Cotton or calico fabric can be bought for around £2 or £3 per metre depending on the width from markets, Trago Mills or fabric warehouses. St George's market in Exeter is an excellent source with 3 stalls. Percy’s has canvas as well as cotton and calico.

Paint rollers and brushes: Poundland is a good place for these or discount DIY stores. They don't need to be anything special. You might want some artist's brushes for contrast but can be expensive!

Fabric markers: could be the regular black and red a pack of various colours. Catalogues, Staples or craft shops sell these. They can be expensive.

Potatoes: a bag of the cheapest is fine.

Tea and coffee: whatever is available - you don't need much.

You will need a table to work on, although this can be done on a floor give yourself enough space to work comfortably in. A wallpaper table would be fine. Have newspapers to work on for clean-up purposes. A sheet of plastic or oilcloth would be useful for floor work or for covering the table as dyes stain and are permanent.

A bucket of water would be helpful if there's not a sink readily available. Water is not essential except for adding to dyes to dilute them or for clean up. You will not need hot water except if you want an all over effect with the tea or coffee.

There are no real limitations to the design other than the fact that you cannot do photographic work, but the design can be as complex and intricate as your abilities and desire. Potatoes can give an amazing amount of detail and could even he cut to create a much larger pattern or picture. The use of liquid dyes allows a variety of methods to occur: painting, pouring stippling and stencilling. splattering etc. They can also be used to dip the cut potatoes in to print onto the fabric. Ordinary items to found in the kitchen such as tea and coffee make good colorants and fruit teas add extra interest.

Make

You have your materials and tools laid out a place to work comfortably and your working designs ready. Now you are ready to actually begin dyeing and printing the fabric! The adventure begins…

You should have a piece of cotton fabric to work on suitable to your final needs - a cushion cover for example don’t try for anything too ambitious to begin with.

Dyeing

The first process is to experiment on gash pieces of cloth with the dyes to see what they will produce. It is best to begin with lighter colours such as yellow and layer over with darker colours as a light colour over a dark one may not show up. You might want to dilute some dye and try pouring it over the cloth or moving it around with a roller or brushes. Try splattering a darker colour with a brush and flick it over the surface. A roller or a paintbrush will give a more 'controlled' effect whereas pouring dipping or splattering is unpredictable.

You might want to try tea and coffee next or it could be used beforehand. It may be that you want an all over soft cover, which could be achieved by soaking the fabric in tea and then using the dyes. Coffee can be used to achieve a darker brown or to add effects using granules that have been soaked directly onto the fabric. Fruit teabags can also be used directly after being dipped into hot water.

When you feel that the fabric has had sufficient colour added to it leave it to dry. You may want to iron it at this point to eliminate any wrinkles ready for the next process.

Block Printing

When the fabric is dry and ironed, you can proceed to the overprinting. You will need to design and cut your potatoes for this. Again, think simple as you can create something complex from this. Once you have your potato cut or stencils could be used as well, made from card or polystyrene, you are ready to print or stipple if using stencils.

You only need to dip the potato into a dish of dye and then press it into the cloth wherever you wish. It may be a good idea to experiment first on a separate piece to determine whether the colour is right or the dye thick enough. You can add fabric medium or PVA to make it thicker. Consider the colour that you have already got on your fabric in order to determine what colour or colours you print or stencil with. Generally, darker colours will be seen over lighter ones and visa versa. You might, for instance make a yellow dye heavy enough to stand out over the colour.

You may have to adjust your original design once you have tried things out. When you have your design completed, remembering to leave margins around the edges if you are planning to hem them or to affix them to say a wooden frame, allow the piece to thoroughly dry and then iron it.

Once it is finished, it can be stretched over a frame, hung as a banner, made into a cushion or a small quilt or cover - the limit is your imagination!

I would suggest that you wash it separately for the first time to ascertain whether or not it might bleed colour before you put it into the washing machine with other items.

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