Try It Out Tuesday : Spray Colour

I have a number of Brusho sprays in my collection (Brusho is a water soluble ink, if you haven't come across it before).  I mostly use them for working on paper, but have been known to apply them to fabric.  I usually apply fabric medium or something similar before I use these watercolour inks, because otherwise, the colour has a tendency to sink into the cloth, and as Brusho's main feature is the strength of colour it produces, that seems a bit of a waste.  However, I was spraying an altered book in the studio on Sunday, when I realised that I was hitting a piece of Zeelon.  So, having started, I thought I might as well finish the job... and the cloth above is the result.

As you can see, it has very gentle colours.  It is very obvious that the ink has sunk into the cloth, because when you turn it over, the reverse looks very similar.  It is not, however, identical; some of the inks I used have glitter in them.  The way to tell the front from the back is quite simply to look for the glitter; it stays on the surface of the cloth.  If you expand the image below, you may be able to see the odd shimmery bit here and there.  I'm quite pleased with the way this has worked out.  I have used Brusho on untreated Lutradur, and not been happy with the results; on Zeelon, though, it looks quite promising.

The dots are very dispersed here... it's what comes of working wet on wet.   And I do keep forgetting that scarlet doesn't go well with purple...but never mind. This is, of course, water based paint, so it will wash out if it comes in contact with water, so not a technique you want to use with material for clothing or anything you intend to wash...better to frame it, than  to just mount it.

So...now what am I going to do with it... more on Thursday...

ps you could try this out on zeelon using any spray ink; it doesn't have to be Brusho!