Painting with pencils on fabric:

1. Draw the pattern on your fabric with waterproof and fadeproof very fine Micro pigment ink. I use
PIGMA MICRON 01 in light brown. Don't use black because it will be much more visible if your
embroidery doesn't cover all the lines!

2. Color your pattern with aquarelle pencils.

I use two different kind of pencils, but they work totally
different and they have a different look.

As for the Caran d'Ache aquarelle the colours stay almost the
same as you apply it on the fabric after wetting it.

As for the Derwent Inktense the colours get much more intense
after wetting them! It's hard to see how they will turn out, so I
advise you to make a try out sample for all the colours; if you
want them have a soft appearance you almost shouldn't see any
colour on your fabric after applying them!

For aquarelle pencils: to create shadow, just make it darker

there by going over the same spot several times, or go over it
with a darker colour.
For inktense pencils: to create shadow, color the shadow parts
and leave the lighter parts just white. While painting with the
Textile Medium you can color the lighter parts with the wet
paint from the shadow.

Below you can see what this pattern looks like, coloured by the two different pencils; the left side is
done with Caran d’Ache, the right side with Derwent Inktense. As you can see there is already a slight
difference between these two, because the colour palette in both boxes are not the same of course.

Caran ‘Ache Derwent Intense

 Caran ‘Ache Derwent Intense

3. The next step is blending the colours by making them wet. Not with water, because all the colours
will spread out over the brown lines and the fabric will be too wet. Use a so called Textile Medium, I
use Jacquard Textile 100 Colorless Extender. It’s a glue that makes you able to blend the colours, but
also fixates the paint. Apply it only on those parts that are coloured. For the larger parts use a wide
brush, the smaller parts with a fine one.

As you can see below the left one, done with Caran d’Ache, is only a little bit darker after treatment
with the Textile Medium as it was after colouring it, while the right one, done with Derwent Inktense
Pencils. has turned out with deeper colours. Both are beautiful, but it creates different effect.
Working with Derwent Inktense pencils is very suitable for a more dramatic effect. I would suggest
you take a look at the Facebookpage of “Quilts by Malgorzata J. Jenek”. She makes the most
wonderful quilts with Japanese fabrics and Derwent Inktense Pencils. Those dramatic deeper colours
are beautiful combined with these darker fabrics.
There is a demo movie in her post of May 16th 2020 for working with Inktense pencils!

4. Once the Textile Medium is dry, you can iron the fabric to fixate colours permanently

5. Now you can embroider with backstitches or stem stitches over the lines; I use one strand of DMC
silk for that, similar to the colours of the paint, or in a darker colour if I want more contrast.

Don’t be afraid to try this out once…..it so nice to do! Enjoy your painting!

Examples of Malgorzata J. Jenek, done with Inktense pencils