Block Printing

I had an interesting weekend following along with Jen Hewett’sBlock Printing e-course. A little frustrating as although the course started at 9am Saturday on the west coast of America I had to wait until 5pm for the videos to go on line here, which in reality meant that I had to catch up with the videos and Facebook posts on Sunday. There was a lot of enthusiasm with people sharing their work as they followed along with the course in real time.

 I learned a good deal and had a lot of fun. Some of the work was almost professional already, but we were of all levels so that was OK.

 Will I ever have the patience to do a proper measured repeat without ‘eyeballing’ it, I wonder. 

Fabric painting.

I have been painting some fabric pieces recently to demonstrate to a group  with which I work. I haven't done it for some time, I usually use acrylic paint for this but this time I had access to some fabric paint, which does leave the fabric much softer rather than using acrylic without any added textile medium.

The middle piece now has some added layers of monoprinting. It is hard not to get attached to ones’ layers but worth keeping adding more marks.Thanks to Alisa Burke from whose dvd I first learned this technique.

It is also difficult to cut up pieces but I wanted to show how pieces can be used together, particularly if they are unified by colours or marks used.

Over on the Sketchbook Challenge blog the theme is Trees for October, take a look.

New Bag for my Kindle.

First I tried Bubble Jet Set, then it was Ink Aid, now I am too old or too lazy for either and I decided to go for the printable fabric option. Now I must say that I think Ink Aid is excellent and have had good results when printing my photos or other work onto fabric, but the printable sheets are so easy and go through the printer without one having to hold ones breath and without all the careful coating of the fabric first, and even better there is no waiting involved. OK, I admit I am plain lazy. The fabric I used was non-washable cotton and it is quite thin.

I decided to print a couple of my Gelatine prints onto fabric to make a new cover for my Kindle. Firstly I had to rephotograph them as the ipad photos are in low resolution, ideal for the computer, but not ideal for printing. I then manipulated the colours a little on the computer. I did a draft print and decided to change the setting to black and white for the image with words. I also put my name into the print using a Photoshop brush.

 The book I took the pages from was given as a school prize in 1891 so I do not think there are any copyright issues.

 The tag on the side is useful and matches the lining but I have to admit it was probably not the best choice colour wise.Material left over from when I did my 'Noughts and Crosses' workshop.

 I quilted the lining as I have a slight mark on my Kindle screen where I dropped it and don’t want any more accidents (that is if I fall out of bed again!)  My execution is not perfect but I like it and it will be useful.

I must let you know that I will now be posting at least once a month to the Sketchbook Challenge Group, as Sue Bleiweiss kindly asked me to join the SC team. This month’s theme is Spirals.