One word of caution, and this is for those who use the Dr. Ph. Martin Bombay India Inks like I did on this piece, it smells when ironed and I imagine it may be releasing some fumes that are not good for breathing in, can't be sure on that but you don't want to take any chances. Do it in a ventilated space, use a cover cloth and don't iron for too long as I think it can scorch and change the appearance of the color. One thing I do like is that the hand of the fabric is not hard and stiff. You can tell it's not exactly the same as unpainted fabric, but it's not much change at all.
I got my FW Acrylic Inks in the mail yesterday and I'm anxious to try them and see how they compare to the Bombay India inks.
Overall, I'm very happy with how this quilt has turned out.
Up next is a before/after photo of my gourd progress. I'm still not completely finished with this project. I'm not sure if you can even really see much difference in the comparison. The differences are: I sprayed the gourd with a fixative and that added a bit of shine to the finish...but the main reason I did that was so that any of the dark lines I drew on wouldn't bleed or fade from further work on the surface. Then I added some shading on either side of the bolder swirly lines that run up and down the sides. I also added some white charcoal to add some highlights. Both the shading and highlights are to add dimension and at this point I'm not sure if they are too subtle or not. I may think on it a bit.
