Petroglyphs for Lynda

The theme for January at The Printed Fabric Bee was Petroglyphs.  My family loves petroglyphs and we have taken many hikes to explore areas with glyphs. One of the images that has always stayed with me are the hands.  I feel a connection to these hands and their drawings.  They were people that really lived thousands of years ago.  I decided I wanted to add my own hand to the images I would put on a stencil so I scanned my hand and traced it using the design software for my Silhouette electronic cutter.

Of course I had to make my hand much smaller to fit on the fabric. . .

I started the fabric out by dyeing it a burnt orange to represent the beautiful rocks of southern Utah.

 To add a little texture I decided to spatter some silver onto the fabric, but honestly I think I ended up with more paint on my fingers than anywhere else!

 Next came the painting of the stencil.  I opted for using cosmetic sponges rather that the quick and easy silk screen method because I didn't want the petroglyphs to be a solid color.  I wanted them shaded.  I used Speedball silk screen fabric paint in turquoise. . .

. . .and covered the entire piece.

 I thought it needed a little more of something so I went back over the images with more silver paint.  Some areas are lighter, some are darker.

But overall I like the effect!

If you would like the opportunity to win a piece of the above fabric along with ten other  6"x6" hand designed petroglyph fabrics for yourself, go to Lynda's blog at bloombakecreate.com or theprintedfabricbee.blogspot.com before February 14th and leave a comment!

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Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll leave a comment here too and tell me if you have seen petroglyphs too!