Printing Peacocks

At last.....Ive shut my Etsy shop for a week to re-stock and complete existing custom orders. Its been hard keeping up with orders whilst trying to gradually build up the stock that turns over regularly. I feel like Ive been chasing my tail for a while and my beautiful new wallaper blocks have sat un-printed and patient for months.
So finally today, I printed the Liberty double peacock block. No small feat, this block weighed a ton and my back and arms now ache. I was barely able to lift it alone but determination is an amazing thing.
I modified my printing pad by extending the size and making it larhe enough to take the large block with a simple double fabric padding as a base layer.

 Then to inking the block. I had to work at double speed as I had to sponge the ink on as a consistent layer right across the surface before it started to dry at the first end. As you can see gloves are now essential to prevent my hands being constantly in contact with ink and water and scrubbing it out of my nails frantically as I race out the door for the school run.

 Then manouevering it ontu indigo linen..I confess I simply had to let it drop from a couple of inches above the fabric as I couldnt take the weight of it after lifting it up and over to the pad.

 And after a couple of tester prints...a nice little batch. As you can see five or six imprints is all I could manage before my arms gave out and I conceded defeat. This is one serious heavy weight of a block.

And the prints...

Then I staggered out to the garden to clean the ink off this beauty..much to the utter hilarity of my children who found my shuffling steps and wheezing grunts pure comedy gold as I dragged the block to the patio hose.

So a good twenty minutes of scrubbing and hosing before leaving her to drain and  dry on the table.
Now lets see what I can make with this linen...

And as a real juxtaposition of patterns, here are some kawaii storage hampers I will be listing in my shop once I return from my week long hiatus: These are the finished linocut prints I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.

Finishing touches

Today just a few snaps of some finished custom orders - bizarrely Im struggling in our unexpected heatwave despite longing for a warm dry summer for months!
My ink is drying on the table as Im block printing, I spray the surface constantly -plus the exertions of working in such a physically demanding way with heavy blocks  is difficult in such intense heat ( I`ll try and remember this hot sticky humid heat come February...)
So here are a couple of finished totes:

Tommorrow evening I hope to post the kawaii pods and some exotic linocut orchid pods I just finished sewing... or maybe a large strawberry cider, my favourite tipple of this summer instead....

Sweet Summer July 14th

As the weather has been ridiculously beautiful and hot I decided to work off one of the garden patio tables (which has seen much inking up over the years) to test print a fabric block that has sat un-used for ages.

A cool shady spot under my pergola patio to ink up with classic FM!

The tree ferny is my main view before the main garden further down is visible.

 I inked the pattrn on some soft sheer indigo linen I always have ready for these tester prints:

I love the missing parts of the wood pattern surface and the dense repeat block look. The character of an old imperfect pattern often appeal more than crisp perfection.
Its now pegged up on the grapevine to dry whilst I consider its potential as a stand alone print or as a combination pattern that will work with another of my blocks.

Sometimes looking at a heavy repeat pattern from a  distance helps more than staring at it right in front of you on the print mat.Im still undecided on hot to use it..


And a snap of the fuschia Foo dog lino cut print for a custom order tote thats in progress:

Please summer.......never end.

July 2013

Now the weather is warm and days are longing to be lazy, I tend to print pinks and oranges to reflect my mood.
I havent printed my kawaii creatures for such a long while so now is a good time...

And while pink is the theme of the moment here are the finished pink pods from my last posting:

And finally a small hamper made from some unused linen I printed for a tote

Im making a custom tote at the moment with my lino foo dog in hot pink too so tomorrow I should have some pictures of the kawaii hampers and the first stage of the tote - all linocut prints which I havent done for months so a nice bit of variety to my usual tjap prints!

And on a last note Ive just made my 1000th Etsy sale... Hurrah!