How to block print your own fabric

A few people have asked me how to block print. I don't know if this is THE way to do it, but this is how I print my own fabric. Got my L plates on, here goes...

You will need:

• Printing block (use a ready made one, such as a rubber stamp, or make your own)
• Block printing ink suitable for use on fabric (such as Deka)
• Brayer (a fairly hard foam roller used for rolling out ink)
• Flat, smooth surface for inking up the brayer (I use an old ice cream lid. An old tile or piece of glass would be perfect too.)
• Fabric, pre-washed and ironed (I use cotton with a dense weave. Something with a smooth finish like calico works better than rough textures.)
• Newspaper
• White spirit and kitchen paper to clean up

1. Set up a working area on a sturdy surface. Lay newspaper down - the ink gets everywhere!
2. Lay out your pre-washed and ironed fabric over a couple of extra sheets of newspaper. This helps provide a slight cushion so the block presses right into the fabric. Make sure there are no bumps and creases or the ink will miss these areas.
3. Squeeze a small blob of ink on to your ice cream lid (or tile, etc) and roll out with the brayer. Keep lifting and turning as you roll to spread it smoothly and evenly over the entire brayer surface.
4. Transfer the ink on to your block. Keep applying ink until it makes a dense, smooth layer. Apply more ink to the brayer if necessary.
5. TEST your design on a scrap of fabric to check you are using enough ink and pressure before committing to a whole piece of cloth!!!
6. When you're happy, re-ink your block and place it on to your fabric carefully to avoid smudging. Press down HARD all over the block, apply your whole bodyweight if necessary (this is why you need a sturdy surface).
7. Peel the block away carefully to reveal your printed design.
8. You will need to ink up between each print and top up the ink on your brayer too.
9. Clean up by wiping down all the tools with white spirit on kitchen paper. Rinse in warm soapy water.

This ink takes a few days to dry in warm weather (or on a heater) but I'd usually leave it about a week before doing anything with it. To fix the ink when it's dry, iron on the reverse for a few minutes on the hottest setting suitable for your fabric. Wash as for delicates.

Here's a video you may find helpful...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soVrto5reI0

Happy printing!

Block printing - a shoe that fits

 

My romance with block printing began a few months ago, and my obsession is starting to blossom into a solid friendship! I feel as though I'm starting to get to know the process a little better. I’ve bought some kit that works, and so far I haven’t produced any masterpieces, but every now and then I stumble upon something that really excites me. It’s a shoe that fits, combining my love of textiles with a background in art & design.

I do not have a class or mentor to turn to for advice and inspiration, so I have had to begin with processes that I am familiar with and innovate a little.

I started with a sketchbook. I chose one I really loved because I remember how much I enjoyed working in one during my design course at University. It was a little indulgent at almost £15 after P&P, but here it is, already thick and grubby, smelling of ink and paint. My very own sketchbook.

Making my own blocks began with a piece of lino from my Speedball block printing starter kit. The stuff was rock hard and as difficult to cut as I remembered from school art lessons! Made worse because I forgot about the trick of warming it with a hairdryer... Well, when that ran out, I was delighted to accidentally purchase some Soft Cut from eBay (I thought I was buying lino – amateur!). This stuff is brilliant, carves like an eraser, and allows me to do fine detail that I could never achieve with traditional lino. I have used old bits of wood as backing to stick my finished designs to, making printing much easier and more uniform.

A brief foray into the world of rubber stamping inspired me to try backing my designs with acrylic off-cuts. The main advantage of doing this is you can see where the edges of the design are, making repeats much easier to align. I’m a bit sad that I’m almost out of acrylic now and have no idea where to get some more! Will cross that bridge...

I’m still experimenting with craft foam for making larger, less detailed blocks. It holds the ink really well and I’ve managed to make designs that would be impossible in one sheet of lino, due to size and cost. I have designed this motif to print my son some curtains. I’m thinking navy on white would work well, but for now I’ll have to imagine as I don’t have enough white fabric for that project.

I bought a range of different inks to test on fabric and settled with Deka oil based block printing inks. In the UK they can only be bought from George Weil and are not cheap, but gave by far the best result for what I’m doing. Downside: they don’t make magenta! A big deal for someone who has a little weakness for a particular shade of plum purple that can’t really be matched by mixing any other colours in the range. If anyone out there knows of another brand of fabric block printing ink please get in touch or leave a comment...

 

Discovering block printing

In the Autumn I attended a Wood Fair. While I was there I came across these beautiful hand carved Indian printing blocks. I had no idea how to use them, but couldn’t resist buying them anyway.

 

 

My fascination continued when I discovered some hand block printed fabric from The Cloth House in London. I wanted to see if I could use this technique to print my own designs on fabric, so I did a bit of research online and bought a kit to carve lino. The ink supplied was for paper, so I started by making handmade cards (available to buy at http://folksy.com/shops/MyCreativeExperimentalLife).

 

I wondered if I could use something I already had in my craft supplies to print on fabric, so I tried oil colour on cotton calico. I used foam cut outs stuck to wood using PVA glue to make a simple pattern. It went on well but took weeks to dry!

I’m hoping to buy some fabric ink so I can make cushions too. Watch this space!

Possibly the most fun I've had in a kitchen... ever!

A friend of mine had us round the other night to learn how to decorate cupcakes. I was completely inspired! I ordered a few piping nozzles and other essentials off the web, watched a few YouTube videos and voila! This is what I made...

A handmade gift

This is for a girl who is always fashionably late...
...and a girl who I'll always have time for :)

Happy happy birthday lil sis x

Re-purposing old jeans

I have been making clothes for my little lad out of his Dad's old jeans. I really want him to be comfy when he's playing and so much of the clothing in shops is too restrictive, so this is my design for dungarees. I also made his little friend a pair for her birthday!

Building my nest

Today, while looking around the bland rented magnolia box that I call home, I realised something.

I have always longed… no, ached… for my own bricks and mortar, a space for our family to make its mark. I have dreamed of buying an unloved, decrepit little place that would need so much work we’d have to live on-site in a caravan while we remodelled it inside and out! We’d toast marshmallows on an open fire in the fireplace while we talked about how we’d breathe life into its empty shell. The kids would get to draw all over the wallpaper in their rooms before we tore it all down. We’d roll away mouldy threadbare carpets to discover what lay beneath. We’d get really excited, get it exactly the way we wanted it, and then when we had finally finished we would feel at home, settled and content.

But it dawned on me today that I would never “finish” a project like this because what I really love is the process of creating a space to do life in. It’s the thrill of simply rearranging the sofas, then realising they were better the way they were, then thinking “oh well, it was a good opportunity to get the hoover in!” It’s the excuse to make curtains to fit the windows in a new house, and needing some light shades because the old place had tacky chandeliers. I love the challenge of bringing personality and colour into a room to give it ambience, without picking up a paintbrush (well, maybe just to paint a colourful canvas…). After a while the artex and clashing carpets become invisible to me, as I imagine all our renovated ebay junk shop furniture finds one day positioned in my beautiful dream home…

I could live my whole life wishing and wanting after that house. We could plough all the money we ever have as a family into that dream, but I’m so happy I realised today that the house is not really what I’m longing for. It's the creative journey.

And so I choose to dive even deeper into my Creative Experimental Life. That is all.