I've won the lottery..

Well, the Ebay lottery.. 

 

4 fab books £10 + £3 post. I am so thrilled with my bargain. The total cost if I'd brought  them around £80.00.. Can't believe my luck and the good fortune of finding them on Ebay.. Now all I've got to do is get a wiggle on and use them. So many ideas racing through my head... I Just need to find a house with a studio/spare room.

My screenprinting taster day at the...

Kiwi Print Studio, Camborne.  I'll start showing you my final print onto fabric. It looks simple, but it made my brain ache.  It doesn't look much at the moment, but I hope with a little stitching it will be transformed. Ha!   When?  Who knows..  We are STILL! House hunting!

I had such a great day.. We started off with a sketch, I used one which I'd done at the Falmouth sketch club.. Imaginary fish and boat. My first mistake. Too complicated for the emulsion which you use to 'draw' your image on the screen. It's thick and sticky, so my fine lines didn't work.

This is the print onto paper.. Good job that you can learn from your mistakes.. And boy I made a few.... Hundred!

 

 This is Dena in full swing showing us how to produce a repeat  print..

We all had a wonderful day, the class was small the studio large bright and airy.. At the end of the day we were exhausted and we all wanted to learn more..

Week 9. On my work bench....

Not at my desk this week..... And out of my comfort zone... 

I'm on a course at the new Firstsite gallery with Jaqueline Davies, textile artist.. We are now on our second week, so a quick catch up is in order ..... Our first session.

We were given a 'brick', yes you did hear right.... A brick! Which we covered it in bubble wrap then wadding.  It was about a play on words such as  'one brick shy of a load', 'like talking to a brick wall', 'come up against a brick wall', 'your a brick' etc. etc

My brick was an 'Olde Essex Red' or 'soft red', ( for those that don't know its a type of brick).  So after covering it in bubble wrap and wadding I covered it in... I wonder if you guessed which was mine... Well it's the red velvet one... An 'Olde Essex Red' is a soft red brick.  So I wanted my brick to feel soft as it's description..

This is our lovely tutor.. Jacqueline Davies who has a passion for fabric and pattern which is inspiring. So, today's lesson... "To grasp the basics of creating a repeat pattern".

 

This is how we started, firstly with an idea and a drawing, mine was birds. You start your drawing in the center then cut the paper in half, moving the bottom to the top and tape on the reverse, you fill in the center section with a bit more of your design. Then the drawing is cut lengthwise and the right hand side is moved to the left and taped into place, you now complete your drawing, once again in the center of the four sections..  Now you cut it and return it to it's original state with your initial drawing in the center. Phew! I hope that it all makes sense.

 

 Then it is traced. Scribbled on the back and you then placed on your piece of board..

That is as far as we got, now we have some homework to do...  I think that mine will become a lino or collagraph block... I'm hoping that these workshops will translate into my work..

Other examples.

Hand printed. Slow cloth. Stag Beetles..

Still feeling horrid....Bored.... Concentration non existant... Nothing new there I hear you say.

 

This is all I could manage yesterday, thinking maybe I need to get the printing a little clearer...?  On the other hand I like it's random qualities, less production line, more hand made, definitely slow cloth....Slow motion cloth.

 

I now have another bug

This one is much better than the one I've had since Christmas. After chatting to Nicole, my darling daughter, about printing onto felt and fabric over dinner, last night, I decided to get my finger out and give it a go.  Not on felt, that's Nicole's thing, but on some quilters calico that I had hanging around.. As you do.

Our inspiration is a book that I borrowed from the library called Print-Stitch-Techniques... I love it, have a look... Print-Stitch-Techniques-Hand-printing-Stitching - Janet Edmonds

I have had all the 'stuff' for a long, long time but as always it got put on my to do list... Which I might say is as long as my arm. So one of my new years resolutions will be to tick some off of my incredibly long list....

 I decided to try with a lino block of a stag beetle

 

Printed onto washed calico, I just need to give it a good press it to set the fabric ink. I shall definitely be doing this again... wish I'd tried it along time ago... I think I've got the bug...

What do you think?

I would love to hear from you, good or bad....Even if it's only to hear where I've gone wrong and how I could improve my print.