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!

Sewing with Handprint Fabric (and Trouser Update)

I just thought I would show you what I have made with my first piece of block printing. You can read more about the printing process here.

Despite Andy, the teacher's, adversion/phobia to mushrooms, I still am glad with this choice. I used the tutorial on the link below to make a large pencil case. It is for my daughter to store some of her sewing tools, so is on its way to London. You can't see from the photo, but it has a dark denim back, blue cotton lining and red zip. The tutorial was really helpful, showing how to insert a zip neatly in a case with a lining. 

Youtube Sewing A Sewing Life 

Last Friday we went to a local primary school, helped with some blockprinting workshops. The children worked together to make banners, with insects, leaves and flowers, which hopefully I will show you. Fun beng back in a school. Now we have the rest of the course to complete our own banners for the school. Not very happy with mine, but there is still a bit of time left to work on it.

My daughter is now at her second internship in London. With the first company, Nicholas Daley, she went to the British Fashion Awards at the Albert Hall, and wore the denim trousers I made her last summer. We laughed a lot that her "intern trousers" made it to the big time. She did say that apart from her boss Nicholas Daley they were all quite underdressed, but somewhere there is a photo of the group of colleagues on the red carpet. I would so like to see that photo. She had such a good time with Nicholas Daley, learning a lot and being given a lot of responsibility. I think she fell on her feet here, so am hoping the next internship will be just as good.

Batik Printing (A Game of Two Halves)

I'm continuing with my community printing course in Okehampton, and was looking forward to moving on to batik. The above is an exercise we did the first week. The idea was to divide the fabric, and use different techniques in each quarter. Top right - looking at how the ink and water spread, top left - printing with the wax on various objects, bottom left - using brushes, bottom right - trailing the wax with a tjanting. I have to say I didn't really enjoy this week. I'm not very steady-handed, and I didn't see how I could ever do a nice design, controlled design.

So knowing that, I decided that my next piece was not going to be controlled. Haven't made that decision I had a great time. I told my husband it was echinacea flowers in a rain shower, and his reaction was "looks more like a blizzard". Still didn't really enjoy applying the wax, but there was something lovely about painting on the inks and letting the colours merge. A lovely lady on the course has got her husband to make her and me adjustable batik frames, so I think you may be going to see some more batik here.

So having learned all the techniques we are now moving on to the community part of the course. Two of us are going into a local primary school with the teacher, to help with some block printing workshops. We are all also moving on to combine some of the techniques we have learned, and each make a banner for the school based on the local park. So there will be more printing coming ... 

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.

Linoprint Christmas Cards

It has become my habit to linoprint my Christmas cards for my friends and family. This year some of them were of the "Nearly Home Trees" which are a distinctive clump of beech trees, that can be seen on the A30 just before the border with Cornwall. For anyone who lives where I live they really are a sign that you are nearly home, and we still play the game of who can spot them first.

At first I did not like my prints, as it does look like a steady rain is falling behind the trees, but perhaps for Cornwall that is fairly realistic. Below is a photo of the actual trees that I took a few years ago. I need to try and do more linoprinting, as it is really fun, and I will try and work on my accuracy of the cutting, and not snudging the prints, both of which I find difficult.

Knitting and Art

Went up to London recently, and was struck by this Picasso print at the British Museum. I wonder what other works of art contain knitters?

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

 

Linoprinting at Home

I had a lovely time with my daughter at Easter doing some more linoprinting. She did all the creative work on these prints, but I was there with my burnishing spoon. She based the design on some very old photo of my husband and son. The photos were not really great, and had not even made it into an album, but I just love the prints she made from them, I think really because of the subject matter. The ones with the feet resting on his shoulders may be a little bit odd, so my favourite is the hug.

Bramble Wine Labels

One the reasons that I did a short course on linoprinting, was with the idea to make my own labels. This is my first effort to make some labels for our Bramble Wine. Trying to reverse carve the lettering was really quite difficult, so I have sort of gone for a rustic homemade look. My blackberry also looks a little bit like a pineapple, but I had fun making these.

Yes, I know there are alot of bottles there, and now I am going to get going on the elderberry wine!

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!

Drypoint and Collagraph Printmaking

 

I have just finished an afternoon course over several weeks in drypoint and collagraph printing. It was really enjoyable to learn something completely new. My main reason was to meet some new people, and I was slightly in awe of some of the talented printers in the group. 

I did not really get to grips with the collagraph. It involves cutting surfaces, and building up textured material, and I think I just wasn't careful enough. I prefered the drypoint, where you are scratching lines onto a surface. 

But in both techniques the skill really seems to be in applying the inks. Below shows how different the results can be from the same plate. This is a manga version of my son for his birthday card. In the end I gave him the top one, where I applied the hair colour with ink. The bottom one was a black and white print, with the colour watercoloured on afterwards.

It was fun to try something new, and I have signed up for linoprinting in the autumn with the same teacher.

Art Deco Dress

I haven't written much about sewing for a while, but thought you might like to see my daughter's school art project. She insisted on editing the photos.

This is her final piece in an A-level art project. She printed the material with a lino cut. The theme of the project was art deco, and she decided to make her fabric into an art deco inspired dress.

Her bravery always amazes me, and I have to say that nearly every bit of advice I offered was ignored. "Buy a pattern" "V-shaped necks are difficult" "A v-shaped waistband will be tricky"  All ignored!

So despite my advice, she has made this beautiful dress, and without a pattern. She made the top initially out of calico and "shock" sellotape, so she could desconstruct it to make the pattern pieces for the printed fabric. It is all fully lined as well.
  

The photos are taken in the stairwell of our flat. The metal railing seem the perfect match to the gold print on the fabric. Though we were both keeping a look out for anyone coming in, ready to dodge back into our flat.

Just a reminder that there are still is still a little bit of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for November. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.