Deck your Holiday Table with Resist Dye-Painting!

Looking for a stylish way to dress up your holiday table?  Ellen Highsmith Silver dye-painted a set of placemats using Dusty Miller leaves as a resist, creating a batik-like effect. The coordinating napkins were dye-stamped using a single leaf. Or, if you prefer, simply make an elegant table topper, like this.  To make the placemats and table topper, Ellen gathered Dusty Miller leaves from her backyard; then carefully arranged and taped them together to form a wreath template about 13” in diameter.  Then she sprayed a stencil adhesive on the underside of the leaves and centered the wreath, underside down, on a square of fabric. The stencil spray helps to prevent the dye from seeping under the leaves.  Using a mixture of Scarlet, Tangerine and Cocoa dye with a small amount of hot water, Ellen dye-painted around the leaves using a stencil brush.  For the open areas, a sea sponge was used to apply the dye.  After removing the leaves, the dyed-painted fabric was wrapped in plastic wrap and heat set in the microwave for 1 minute.  The wreath can be reused several times to make multiple placemats.  A dye-stamping technique was used on the napkins.  Click here for the full tutorial.

Ellen Highsmith Silver is a designer whose medium is textiles.  Since she was a child growing up in North Carolina, Ellen has had a love of fabrics.  It was this love coupled with her love for dogs that lead her to create floorquilts.  Floorquilts are no-sew, fabric decoupaged floorcloths.  They are durable (both accident and chew proof) and provide colorful designs for any room.  Her book, Floorquilts, published by C & T Publishing, is filled with wonderful designs based on quilt patterns and other whimsical motifs.

To learn more about Ellen's creative projects, visit her website at http://ellenhighsmithsilver.com/index.htm