It takes a while to get to the stage of having a heat cured piece of fabric thats ready to sew into a finished product. It can be such a labour of love you get lost in the process, so often its worth stepping back and  realising its really worth it after all.

Did I mention the tedious bits?

Like heat setting after printing your pattern, which in my case is by hand using an iron - its patience and experience knowing when your fabric is set - just before scorch and when a slight wisp of steam comes off the iron - or if Im watching Tv at the same time when I smell a caramalised crispiness and find to my horror that a whole scarf is ruined.....

Block printing with an oak and wood block 1

This is how I block print using my oak and wood blocks. I print my lino patterns very differently using a rolling pin to roll over the back of the sheet but today I`ll focus on the solid blocks.
This pattern is Raja, one of my best sellers but very hard to print perfectly in alignment as a repeat pattern by eye hand, hence why I produce a very small batch of work each time with it (in this case two scarves).
Firstly I set up with my inks (water based), the print block and two sponges for each colour as this will be bi-colour. I print the big blocks on the ground rather than on the table as it needs more space with a long run of fabric, so I put a padded sheet with hard backing down for the fabric to lie on.

Block printing 2

The next step is inking up the block with the two colours and having a "test print" to ensure the  colours have gone on evenly. I use any old scrap of cloth for this.

Block printing 3

Then its a case of printing away, aligning and repeating the flow to complete the two bottom ends of the scarf.When it comes to the edges I put a piece of paper to prevent the ink from getting on the printing pad.

Block printing 4

Then its a case of printing a paisley center pattern in the middle of the scarf length with another print block to complete the full pattern.

Block printing 5

Pattern complete. The next stage is hemming and sewing them into the finished double sided scarves, one side will be this print and the reverse will be a deep indigo blue.

So to work..... Soon I will post the process of creating a finished item from the humble beginnings as a roll of linen, through the block printing stage then the sewing heat setting etc till its a bag, scarf or pillow case.

New patterns

A lot of work goes into formulating new patterns. It can take a few hours of inking up my blocks and trying different lay-outs, different blocks, over and over again.
Sometimes the simplest of patterns work the best. A new one Ive been working on for my scarves range is a blowsy trailing poppy (albeit a rather exotic twist on one) Ive pictured the basic ink up - and now im happy with it I will print on fabric next, probably on exquisite duck egg blue linen Ive now got in stock.


Another pattern that I have already printed on the duck egg linen is my suki blosssom. Its just as beautiful as I thouht it would be with the sweetest tiniest star blossom in chalk white.