Autumn draws in.....

It feels like the weather has suddenly switched and now the blustery wet months kick in..... no point in being despondent - Im printing flat out at the moment, two craft fairs in the pipeline so stock to amass!
Ive decided to extend the colours of my dyed tea towels to include red, yellow and deep petrol blue to the grey and green I already do. The darker the colour the better the white ink comes out, especially with block printing as I apply pressure by hand rather than machinery I need the impressions to be crisp and bold. So here are some recent patterns, both ornate and bold, destined for the craft fairs ..

The handmade ribbon part 2

So creative juices were flowing and I finally stopped printing fabric and painting ceilings(!) to make some ribbon to go round my hand printed wrapping tissue.
So I bought a roll of high quality cotton herringbone tape - the stuff normally used for apron ties etc. Then I pre-washed it to remove sizing, cut it to size required and ironed each piece nice and flat. Next I chose the three sets of patterns I was going to use - a gorgeous kawaii pony brown rubber stamp set, a maneki neko goodluck cat and a wooden indian butterfly floral set.
I inked them up using versacraft black (tried red but it wast as impactive) and got stamping.
The last step will be to iron them, so once heat set they can we safely washed ad re-used if the recipient wants to keep them.....some will be binned no doubt with the rest of the packaging but either way I want to make it special. So which pattern do you like?










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Making wrapping tape

I love packaging....I try and make every aspect of my packaging appealing and hand crafted - my wrapping tissue is hand printed with a large orchid and I used to tie a simple hessian string around that. Now though I want something more sophisticated than hessian string -and more reflective of my style, so Im going to use one of my lino patterns as a template for a print block - something Ive been wanting to do for years - create my own wooden print blocks - Im used to carving lino and making patterns from that but now ive found a fantatstic company in india which will emply artisans to carve your own pattern in wood.
The next step will be to use my print block to print on cotton ribbon instead of the hessian as part of the packaging - Im going to make three or four ribbon patterns - some kawaii, some ornate blooms, some geometric - which will reflect the types of patterns I print, so for example a kawaii pattern tea towel will be beautifully presented and wrapped in kawaii themed packaging, all hand made.
But first look at this massive vintage wallpaper printing block, almost a foot in length and a beast of a wooden slab, with thousands of tiny pins embedded in the wood to create the most beautiful and ornate architectural repeat pattern. This is an example of some of the finest workmanship in Maccelsfield, where they made wallpaper and fabric printing blocks that were envied the world over. Im thinking of creating a repeat on a larger piece of linen - such an intricate pattern needs a longer run than my normal tea towel size, possibly in greens and russets to suit the season.
I print with these huge blocks in a rather uncoventional way as I dont have any press or equipment (yes the studio is still work in progress and a mini building site) so I
Hand press the old fashioned way. Each massive block is inked with a small sponge and then once placed on the fabric is weighed down with weights (I often stand on the block and walk around it to distribute the ink evenly)and hey presto! carefully lift the block and the pattern has transferred beautifully. I should download some footage of me doing this but its pure comedy in reality - jumping up and down on a massive slab of wood whilst my children watch round eyed and slightly suspect of their mothers sanity.....

Block printing repeat patterns

So its been a creative time, so not enough hours in the day to squeeze in much of what I want to - hence few posts here. I have been block printing, and sourcing new vintage printing blocks to piece together new patterns - this is one of them, made from three different print blocks, some wood, some copper - my daughter seems to like it!