----- Original Message ----- From: Brendan Subject: dying a muslin?
> Yes it's the newbie trying to be cheap question again, > I found that fabricland in Toronto stock raw cotton > muslin in 3mx25m rolls ( about 3.3 yards x27 yards or > so ) and it's cheap to! you can buy it per meter but > it is unwashed. They don't sell large bottles of dye > tho does anyone know other suppliers of dyes to make backdrops? I posted this to the list some time ago. It certainly applies to what you want to do. Nope, can't help you with links, but here is how we make muslins for our studio. 1) Buy a whole bunch of the biggest honkin' muslin you can find. We buy it in 9 foot (well 3 meters, actually) whole bolts of fabric. I think a bolt is 10 meters, and we will buy as many as 6 at a time. 2) Sew the suckers together to make as big a background as you want. The biggest we have made is 3 bolts, which worked out to 26 feet x 29 feet finished size. 3) Get a couple of gallons of latex paint in the colour you want as a base, and a couple of quarts each in a couple of complementary colours. You also want a gallon of clear latex emulsion. 4) Find an area large enough to spread your background out flat on the ground. We use the park behind one of the partners' house. You want to start this sort of thing mid morning, when the weather forecast is for hot, dry conditions. 5) Now it's fun time. A couple of willing assistants are needed. I prefer skimpily dressed female assistants because I am a pig. Anyway, pour the base colour into a bucket and mix in about 1/3 of the clear emulsion and a couple of quarts of water. Mix well. This will be rolled thickly onto 1/2 of the muslin. 6) In a couple of bottles with squirt nozzles (well rinsed dish detergent bottles work well for this) mix up the complementary colours, using the same proportions as given above. I realize the instructions that I have given for mixing the paint is like a recipe for Scottish baking, but it really doesn't matter a whole bunch. You can't screw it up. 7) Roll a really heavy layer of base colour onto half the muslin. Squirt random beads of the base colours onto the same half. If you find you think you need to add either more water, or more paint to the mix, then do so. 8) Fold the muslin in half, dry side to wet side. 9) Remember dropping acid and tye dying shirts? Have your assistants take the muslin at each end and start twisting it up as hard as they can. This is messy, and gets paint all over anyone doing it. Take your camera and photograph the ensuing wet paint T-Shirt contest. 10) This is work, remember? After the assistants are covered in paint, flatten out the muslin and do whatever touchups need to be done. It is acceptable to use paint covered assistants for touch ups. You may need to add come base coat here, perhaps some more of one of the trim colours there. If you add paint, you will want to repeat step 9. 11) After you have the muslin the way you want it, take your assistants inside and wash them thoroughly. By the time the assistants are dry, the muslin should be nearly dry also. Drink beers and barbecue steaks until the muslin is thoroughly dry and can be folded up. We prefer to bunch the muslin into a stuff sack rather than folding it. The random creases are less noticable. Above all, this should be fun!!!! Please see: http://www.accesscomm.ca/users/wrobb/Tamara.html for an example of a muslin made in this fashion. Please note, there is female nudity in this image. William Robb - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
