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Made with these Hands

As some of you may have noticed, I have a few pieces with hands on them (mine, since I’m usually the only available subject!). I seem to be developing a “thing” for hands, in addition to words, serpentine shapes and the nautilus / ammonite swirl….. (it’s a Fibonacci thing, and a how-cool-that-these-have-survived-since-the-dinosaurs thing… and ammonites are way more cool than cockroaches, and as visually appealing as the gingko…both of which also are that old…)

Anyway, I was browsing a couple books and saw someone had made a carved stamp that looked like mehndi to me. Mehndi is this cool “temporary” tattoo sort of thing done in India with henna. Here is a site about it, and another, and another. Light bulb goes ON! I’ve been wanting to make a stamp to use on labels on my quilts, so I began doodling around one night in front of the TV. Finally, weeks later, I got around to making a stamp today:

Here’s my first “print” (on paper) using Lumiere textile paint. So-so (and that’s being generous…it’s yucky).

Here’s my second attempt, using stamp pad ink on paper. Better, except for the uneven application of ink in the center.

So, I went to “pigment, acid-free” stamp pad on cloth. This is the first attempt (by the way, my scanner is usually quite good, but for some reason read the cloth as more red and less coral than it actually is):

The image is light, but the background is nearly solid, so I think this is the best of the three efforts on cloth. The second one had too much white in the portion of my hand-dyed cloth, and here’s the third….more white stamp pad ink, but more mottled background. I used this coral hand-dyed for a 2-ish inch wide strip on the back of my Viking entry, so think I’ll use one of these hands for (part of) the label (which MUST be sewn on, and the quilt sent in soon!)…..

3 Responses to “Made with these Hands”

  1. Sioux Says:

    Ooo..I really like the red (coral) prints. Hands are so neat!

  2. Dale Anne Says:

    Hi Sarah – LOVE your hand stamp!!!

    To get an even print from the stamp, ink up the stamp and lay the fabric on top, brayer the back of the fabric.

  3. :-D eirdre Says:

    Very nice – how large – you know I need to know SIZE!