Saturday, July 24, 2010

Some block printing....

So, over the past couple of weeks, I have begun block-printing. This is a craft which I have never tried before, but due to my love of fabrics, I felt that it would be appropriate for me to have some hands-on design experience. I began by reading up on block-printing and the various techniques and ways of doing it, including the type of inks that work best for textiles, the best block for carving, and the best way to heat-set fabric to keep the inks from washing out. Once I felt confident, I put together some sketches, ordered some supplies (from Blick), and got down to it! I sketched my design onto a rubber block, carved it out, and then I used a yard of basic cotton, teal-colored fabric and a Versatex brand ink in the color "Rubine" which is a very pretty reddish-pink. The results were a lot better than I expected, especially for my first time, and I have to say that I really enjoy the process of block-printing. There is a lot of preparation involved, such as washing, drying, and ironing all fabrics, then sketching and carving the blocks, applying the ink, letting it "cure", heat-setting, and washing, drying and ironing all over again. Although it is a long road to get to your final result, I find a strange comfort in the process itself and of course it is always great to see a finished product that you know you have put a lot of time into. Here are some pictures of my first block printing experience....more to come soon!!







2 comments:

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    or just glean tantalizing specimens for thy next best seller,
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    which has taken this sinfull mortal yeeeeers to compile:
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    with both sardonic, satirical wit Who’s savvy
    and avant-guarde-humility??
    Here’s what the exquisite, prolific GODy sed
    (with a most-excellent-detector of bull§ht):

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    the greatest of these is love –
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    -our Lord Jesus to Saint Gertrude

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why else does a moth fly FROM the night
    than to a bold, attractive candle Light??
    Don’t let His extravagant Brilliance be extinguished.
    You’re creative, yes?
    Then, fly-away with U.S. to the antidote…

    Whether you obtain morality4mortality to wiseabove
    or just glean tantalizing specimens for thy next best seller,
    you shall find in our blogs a lotta (subliminal) moxie
    which has taken this sinfull mortal yeeeeers to compile:
    I lay it ALL out for you, dear, with All-Star-Oxygems:

    Wouldn’t ya love an endless eternity
    of aplomBombs falling on thy indelible cranium?
    An XtraXcitinXpose with no zooillogical-expiration-date?
    An IQ much higher than K2 all-go-rhythm?
    An extraordinarily, anti-establishment-victory
    with both sardonic, satirical wit Who’s savvy
    and avant-guarde-humility??
    Here’s what the exquisite, prolific GODy sed
    (with a most-excellent-detector of bull§ht):

    “Faith, hope, and love,
    the greatest of these is love –
    jump into faith…
    and you’ll VitSee with love”
    Doesn’t matter if you don’t believe (what I write);
    God believes in you.

    Meet me Upstairs, girl, where the Son never goes down
    from a super-passionate, lucrative iconoclasm where you’ll find
    nonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsX…
    of deluxe-HTTP [<- pi] opportunities for excitement BTW.

    Do it. Do the deed, dude. Sign into the Big-Zaftig-House.

    PS “It is impossible that anyone should NOT receive all that they have believed and hoped to obtain; it gives Me great pleasure when they hope great things from Me and I will always give them more than they expect”
    -our Lord Jesus to Saint Gertrude

    ReplyDelete