Further Reading

Firstly I source a vintage textile, (100% cotton so that it dyes well)
Then I wash it in the washing machine. I use fabric dye to dye it a dark shade, usually DYLON Machine Dye Black, or Navy Blue, sometimes a different colour- but dark. I use it as per the instructions (with salt).

Then I dry it and iron it. I also tab the fabric with extra black fabric at the top and bottom, sewing a channel which allows a dowel of wood to go through, this allows me to hang it and the one at the bottom makes the fabric hang taught.

I then find my image; I often take photographs of models in costume, or capture a film still from a movie, or source a photograph. I use Photoshop to get the desired contrast, pulling in other images, and drawing with a Wacom Graphics Tablet. This becomes my reference image I use to paint from, which I print out. 

I paint using household bleach with sponges and paint brushes. I use gloves and a mask with a chlorine gas filter specially for chlorine bleach, as bleach irritates both skin and lungs. I keep gloves and mask on when I wash my paint brushes, as chlorine vapour is released when washing bleach brushes and sponges.

I let the bleach stay on the fabric for up to about an hour, sometimes as little as 10 minutes, wash off the fabric with a shower (using mask and gloves again) and then wash the fabric with detergent, either by hand or machine. I dry, iron, repeat by bleaching again, sometimes I do up to 10 layers of bleach, washing and drying each time, washing out at the end to remove all the chemicals. The fabric sometimes need repairing at the end by darning holes with hand or by machine stitch. Often I use discharge medium to further lighten the cloth, using steam to develop the image. I then often use fabric inks to lighten and colour some areas of the image.

The resulting artwork is ironed, framed by either stretching it over a canvas frame, or framed in a box frame, using nylon thread from each of the 4 corners of the piece, which makes the work look suspended in the frame.