Wonder Undies

No way will I caption my undies.

I've never had the nerve to tell students to bring extra underwear to a workshop. But I often tell people there's no better test for a surface design product or technique than putting it on your unmentionables. That's the load of laundry that really tells you how things stand up in the wash.

Last year on Compost and Creativity, I wrote about some sampling I did using disperse dye transfers on 100% cotton painted with fabric paint. You can read the original post here and the follow-up here.

As long as you're looking at my granny panties, I might as well be completely honest. First, I never got any other sampling done on that batch of undies. Second, let's just say it would be an honest mistake in the emergency room to assume that wasn't surface design.

So yesterday while I was sampling a new image transfer product, I raided my underwear drawer. In addition to trying the product on Ultrasuede and woven cotton, I added another layer of "interest" to that batch of undies. And just in case they're someday seen by medical personnel, I labeled them as Surface Design Samples. It might not alleviate all their concerns, but it should give us something to talk about.

What's the craziest fabric you've experimented on?