Batik Seaside Banner

Since my printing course finished I have been thinking of trying some batik at home. One of the ladies on the course got her husband to make her, and me!!, a wooden batik frame. Very kind.

It took me a few weeks to get organised - buying two tjantings, and also some fabric inks. I had a little of the wax anyway, which I think was my daughter's from a school project. Not quite ready to invest in a wax melting pot, so improvised with a little metal dish, some tea lights, and the kitchen laser thermometer to check I was up to the right temperature. It worked well, so I am thinking to keep going with this method, unless I can find a secondhand melting pot.

These first attempts were an experiment. The first attempt, the mackerel, I really was not certain I would be able to get the wax to the right temperature. I feel I got better as I worked down the fabric. I think I am getting steadier with the wax, and braver with my colours. I don't want to get too good with the wax, as part of the charm is the odd splash and splatter in the wrong place.

The shape of my banner was determined by the batik frame, but it meant I could work each section on a different day. The part I enjoy most is the painting with the inks. It is lovely letting the colours flow into each other. It also takes very little ink, just a few drops, so I have plenty left for other projects.

So the banner is up in my bathroom. Spent quite a while looking at frames online, but in the end I spent £2 on a ripped block picture in a charity shop. Removed the ripped picture, and fixed my printing to the frame with a staple gun. Job done!

Printing Course

 

Over the last few weeks I have been going to a community printing course run by West Devon Arts. We have been working with stencils, and the above were my first attempts at screenprints onto fabric. We did a bit of practice on paper. I was very happy with these, and am now thinking of a sewing project to use them, so you may well see them again.

Another week was printing from handmade blocks. Because of the snow and a cold I missed this session, but Andy the teacher gave me a link to a video and the materials to have a go at home. In some ways I enjoyed this technique more, as the results look more handmade. Also no tricky cutting with a craft knife, but simply scissors and scoring the patterns into the foam with a pen. The blocks were made from sheets of craft foam, and really the only other thing needed is the printing medium to mix with the paint. So I ordered these and plan to do some more prints on fabric at home.

 

This week we are going to do batik, which is something I have always wanted to have a go at. The community part of the course is that some of us will then go into a primary school, to help Andy do some printing workshops with the children in a few weeks time.

Linoprinting

In the Spring my son and I did a linoprinting course, and was thinking at the time about printing Christmas cards. So over the last week or so I have had a go at this, using one of my old carvings and making a few new ones. I wasn't going to post about this, but if my friends and family do see this post they still don't know which card they will receive.

I had the idea of putting some cards in my Etsy shop, but think I need to work a bit more at my carving precision and printing, which as you can see is sometimes a bit smudgy. I printed straight onto the card, but see a lot of cards in the shops and fairs print onto cartridge paper and then mount this. Perhaps this would be better, as I have had to wash my hands between each print, and also then it would be easier to get the print nicely centred on the card.

I had a lot of fun doing this, and have some ideas for some more prints.

The robin's red breast was added with water colour

 

Wire Art (Part One)

Following on from our linoprinting course, my son and I signed up for a short wire art course. Some of my London friends said there would be nothing to do in the country, and I would say they are wrong, as there seems just as much, although perhaps you have to hunt a bit harder.

We started off learning different techniques to shape the wire. We used pliers, and were also taught how to shape the wire around other forms. Then we were taught some different ways to join the wire, and the piece below is really all my learning pieces joined together. I was quite pleased when it was held up to the class, and the word "Picasso-like" was used!

That week we then all went on to work on flowers. Mine on the left is meant to be a poppy seedhead, and my son's is more cowslip. He had the inspired idea for twisting the wire at the base to make a stand, which most of the class then copied.

The following week we moved on to other projects, although still guided by the teacher. My son and I both decided to make a fish, and in this project a 2-dimensional fish was made, and then built outwards to make him 3-D.

Below is my son's fish, who is now hanging in the kitchen under a trailing plant. Mine is not quite as good, but you can see the edge of his fin.

Next we were allowed to move onto our own projects, and although the course is now finished, I still have to add legs to my creature. My son has gone for something very ambitious, which I am really hoping he will finish so I can show you in a few weeks.

Linoprinting Part Two

 

I wrote a few weeks ago about the linoprinting course that my son and and I were doing, but forgot to show you our final prints. I had decided to try to make Christmas cards, so sorry family, but hopefully by next year you may have forgotten. I was quite pleased with my single colour prints, but then the teacher showed me how to cut a piece out of the lino and use it as a stamp for the red breast.

My son was more ambitious and did his prints with two sheets of lino, and several layers of colour by masking out certain sections. His prints are of Hornet, who is a character from Hollow Knight.

On the last week I thought I would have a go at doing a two sheet print, which although I think the concept was not too bad, I was not careful enough linking up my two prints. As you can see below. But now the course is over I have ordered a roller and some paint, and am going to try again at home.

 

Linoprinting

I am a little aghast at how long it is since I posted anything on this blog. So to start a very belated Happy New Year! 

Often at the turn of the year I set out my plans, but as this rarely works out, I think this year I will keep it a bit vague. I have been crafting away, and there will be new photos of some of the ranges of yarn where I work when they are released. I also am writing a knitting pattern for a baby set (3 patterns in one), which is taking me far longer than it really should. Apart from that I am sure there will be more from the veg garden, and probably some wildlife photographs.

My son and I have been enjoying learning to linoprint - and are half way through a course in Tavistock. The first week we learned the basics of carving into the lino, and the whole class were set the project of a positive and negative leaf. The second session we started printing, and the picture above shows my most successful prints, and the one below my son's.

The most exciting prints were when we overlaid the positive and negative images, and I think my son was more successful with this, as he had actually thought about how his two images would work together as he was carving. The course is nearly all ladies of my age, and they also seemed to love his bright choices of ink.

So next week we are given free rein to work on whatever we choose. I have an idea, so watch out family for some homemade Christmas cards, while my son is going to do a character from gaming!