Latest on Unc!

I have been asked for an update on Unc, and I have been scratching my head for stories that are repeatable, or rather, won't get him into trouble with my aunt, should she happen across this post!

Unc likes railway models.  He restores old toy trains.  Actually I'm not sure if technically they are toys, since it appears to be grown men who spend hundreds of pounds on them.  Maybe I should call them models!  He also makes those set ups, where a train track is built into an interesting environment.  I am sure you know what I mean.

He has been working on a couple of such set ups, which are often used for various shows.  He builds the models, moulds figures to go with the set up etc.  This is a model he has made recently.

Fabric Dyeing

I spent last week dyeing fat quarters, about 72 if my maths are correct.   I am so pleased with my new stash!  Oh, and the fabric is sitting on a large piece of fabric that I dyed when I lived in Africa, which I now use to cover my print table when it isn't in use.

Print Paste

Alternative studio, aka the top of the dishwasher!

You know I thought the hardest part of doing surface design was going to be getting the table set up.  Actually I didn't think that would be hard.  Hum, I should have thought about that as I blithely set about trying to make my print paste. Okay, maybe I should roll back a step and explain print paste.

I want to print, draw, stamp etc on fabric, using dyes rather than fabric paint.  In order to do this the dye powder must be turned first into liquid, and then thickened up, which is where the print paste comes in.  If you don't thicken the dye, it will of course run all over the place, not hold shapes or marks and just, well dye the fabric with a big splodge (which may be what you are trying to achieve anyway).

I used what appears to be the standard print paste recipe.  First I made the chemical water.  This consists of two optional chemicals, ludigol and metaphos, neither of which I could get hold of, so it was a good job they were optional!  The non optional element is urea.  That's sheep's piss to you and me!  This stops the dyes from drying out too quickly.  This is mixed approximately 1 lire of warm water to 100g Urea.