Painting Around Dandelion Fluff on Silk & Saving my Back

Well, as I have said before I LOVE working with these thickened French dyes! I love the painterly texture you can get and the primitive, blotchy shading that can be achieved. There is only one draw back I have noticed, it kills my neck and back! When I paint with fluid dyes, the dyes move very quickly to fill large areas with a single stroke. Because of that fluidity you are not staying in one spot bent over for long. With the thickened French dyes you are pushing the dyes around like paint so it involves a lot of standing with you back and neck bent. Today I realized that I was asking for trouble when it started to ache but I wanted to keep going so, I lifted my printing table top up on an angle and grabbed my easel stool. Ahhhhhh.....so much better on the back and neck. Below is the progress I am making on Ladybugs and Dandelions.

I couldn't resist painting in the red on the ladybugs first. Then I painted the leaves and started to add  shading to them.

Next came the big yellow dandelions.

How could you not love ladybugs and dandelions! (I am sure someone will post a response to that LOL)

Painting in the deep blue summer sky. Painting around all that dandelion fluff with the thickened dyes was a real pain. Now here is an example of how painting with liquid dyes and resist would have gone much faster. The dye would have just rapidly flowed around all those little seed fluffs. With the thickened dyes I had to push the dye around each one. 

Here is my modified print tabletop and it was so much less strain on my back set up this way. My print tape top is made up of thick rigs insulation, wrapped in felt and covered with a sheet of muslin that can be removed and washed.