Fantasy Rag Quilt w/bleach stencil blocks

[Kimby.]

For the 3rd and final package for the Make A Friend Swap, I sent my partner a rag quilt. But because I have been sooooo enamoured with stenciling lately, and I couldn't find and fantasy/mythical beast fabric I actually liked, I decided to use bleach gel pens (I LOVE THESE THINGS!!!!!) and stencil my own on recycled denim. The designs were mostly tattoo designs I found in various and sundry sites and adapted/altered for my own use (and ease of cutting):

Some of my favourite stencils (there are 8 different beasts in the quilt; unicorn, pegasus, gryffon, sea serpent, gargoyle, mermaid, faery and phoenix):






And a pic of the entire quilt:



My swap partner says she totally loves the thing. Now I have a TON of ideas using bleach pens ... gads, never enough time in the day (and the DH won't let me quit the day job, the rotten slave driver)!  I think I've sniffed too much bleach ... 

[Catrinau]

That is awesome!!  I love it!! )

[steph blue]

Beautiful!!!  I had no idea you could do that with bleach

[QuiltersBlock]

  Yowza!! That is one gorgeous quilt!! Your swap partner is one lucky craftster. I'll bet you've definitely made a friend!

QB

[phoenix_fire]

That's awesome! I especially love the phoenix stencil 

[narhloki]

Oh that's really pretty, how fun!

[~Glenda]

That is a gorgeous quilt!!

::: adding bleach gel pens to the grocery list :::

[Kimby.]

Thank you for all the wonderful compliments!

I noticed a few things while bleaching:

The thinner weight denim would bleed a bit. And the colour wouldn't be as white as with the heavier weight denim. If you look at the overall pic, you'll see some areas where it looks "fuzzy" ... that's the thin denim (from my cast of jeans, of course ... sheesh).

I played around with spraying a half bleach half water solution on the stencils but it bled too much for my liking. The bleach gel doesn't bleed (except the above denim problem) and you can really control the application.

Also, towards the end of the tube, you tend to get air bubbles. Now, I kinda liked the blotchy'ish look, but if you want an even bleach, you have to apply the gel pretty thick.

[oddacity]

That's gorgeous! I love the colors and the images you used (especially the Welsh dragon, hee, that one is my favorite ^^).

[Kimby.]

Here's a close up of the dragon/sea serpent: