The Freezer Paper Stencil Project

The Stencil Project Number One. A series of surface textile designs created with freezer paper stencil resists and Procion MX Dye on repurposed 100% cotton sheeting. This series is about simple complexity, primitive shapes, positive and negative space, and varied repeats. The work is intended to be reproduced in complimentary sets on organic cotton fabric for yardage. Yasmin Sabur 2011, 24X24 inches.

I love working in textile design resist processes. The processes range from the relatively simple process of tie dye and some basic shibori and adire to multi colored silk screens. What they all have in common is the use of a substance to block out areas of fabric, which don't accept color when dyed or painted.

The Stencil Project Number Two. A series of surface textile designs created with freezer paper stencil resists and Procion MX Dye on repurposed 100% cotton sheeting. This series is about simple complexity, primitive shapes, positive and negative space, and varied repeats. The work is intended to be reproduced in complimentary sets on organic cotton fabric for yardage. Yasmin Sabur 2011, 24X24 inches.

You kind of have to think in reverse. If you what a white area in a design, where you place the resist will remain white and the open areas not covered by the resist will become colored. When working on a piece with anything other than a monochromatic color scheme, the colors and the resists take some thought.

The Stencil Project Number Three. A series of surface textile designs created with freezer paper stencil resists and Procion MX Dye on repurposed 100% cotton sheeting. This series is about simple complexity, primitive shapes, positive and negative space, and varied repeats. The work is intended to be reproduced in complimentary sets on organic cotton fabric for yardage. Yasmin Sabur 2011, 24X24 inches.

A red and white piece is fairly easy. Cover up all of the white areas with the resist and dye or paint the open areas red.

The Stencil Project Number Four. A series of surface textile designs created with freezer paper stencil resists and Procion MX Dye on repurposed 100% cotton sheeting. This series is about simple complexity, primitive shapes, positive and negative space, and varied repeats. The work is intended to be reproduced in complimentary sets on organic cotton fabric for yardage. Yasmin Sabur 2011, 24X24 inches.

When planning a piece with two primary colors and one secondary color i.e., red, yellow and orange the red area has to be blocked out when dyeing for yellow, and vice versa, but the orange area has to remain open when dyeing both yellow and red. (Orange is a secondary color composed of red and yellow.) So think of a piece with twenty colors and you get some idea of how carefully an artist has to prepare before applying either resist or color.

So given all of that, who knew that freezer paper would be such a fun resist? I worked in batik for over 20 years. Maybe one of the most complicated resists process. In batik areas of fabric are block out with hot wax. Using a tool called a tjanting, small lines and dots may be drawn. In hot weather the wax may melt, in cold weather it may peel off. The wax makes large pieces of fabric cumbersome to dye. After waxing and dyeing for all colors related to one primary color, the wax is boiled off in several baths of soapy water. Just a mess.

Freezer paper allows you to achieve batik like resists (minus the crackle effect that many associate with batik) with so much less fuss.

Freezer paper is waxed on one side. Complex designs can be drawn on the non waxy side and then cut with scissors. When the freezer paper is ironed waxy side down onto fabric it creates a resist. A fairly thick dye paste is then applied to the fabric. The dye cures for 24 hours, the paper is pulled off and the dye set. Voila! That's it.

The Stencil Project Number Five. A series of surface textile designs created with freezer paper stencil resists and Procion MX Dye on repurposed 100% cotton sheeting. This series is about simple complexity, primitive shapes, positive and negative space, and varied repeats. The work is intended to be reproduced in complimentary sets on organic cotton fabric for yardage. Yasmin Sabur 2011, 24X24 inches.

All kinds of wonderful effects can be created by repeating the process. Layer upon layer upon layer of color and shape.