my lovely friend Cyndi joined me last night for a handprinted fabric trial. we had both used block printing before, but neither of us had used it to print on fabric. so we carved some birds on a block and just jumped in.
this was the first piece we printed (on cotton canvas)... my original idea was to print the birds and then also print horizontal lines on the fabric that would look like wires the birds are sitting on. after the printing of all the birds, we scrapped that idea and moved on to using the block to form a pattern.
these are the results of the second piece we printed. rotating the block made an interesting pattern with the birds; i especially like the place where the birds come together to kind of form a square.
for the third print, we incorporated three colors (not including the neon orange from print two). here's a little action shot and a pic of the block we used for all of these prints.
we used pebeo setacolor, which seemed to have good reviews from what i've read online. i've used their glass and ceramic paints before and have been happy with them. i do feel like the paint did not adhere evenly to the fabric, but i have no idea if that is a factor of the paint, the fabric, our blocks, the way we applied paint to the blocks.... so many factors ;)
i'm happy with the results of the third fabric. this was printed on a cotton batiste an i like the way it picked up the paint, though it did definitely pick up more of the other areas from the printing block as well. because this fabric is less textured than the canvas, the areas where the paint didn't fully print have a really interesting texture. to me it looks very organic and works with the fact that the print is birds. i'm not sure that i'd like it so much for a geometric print.
still a work in progress, but i'm happy with this as a first effort. have any tips, tricks, or suggestions? please share!
very nice! I wish I had heard about this project before last friday! I am looking forward to seeing more of what you send and what you receive!
ReplyDeleteSo fun! Glad I was able to share in the experience :)
ReplyDeleteOkay... I keep saying "awesome" and "adorable" and "beautiful" and all of your stuff is! This is really cool. I've been wanting to screen print and have all the tools, it's just taking the leap. So what are you going to do with the scrapped fabric?
ReplyDeleteSorry I don't have any tips or tricks. I think you'll be the one to teach me a few things!
i am totally excited to see what i get! some of the people in my group are seriously pros and print some awesome stuff!
ReplyDeletevenus, i heart you and i feel the same way about your stuff! i have been thinking about projects for the scrapped fabric - maybe some roll-up tote bags? suggestions? and you should totally do it! even if it's a disaster it will be fun and you'll learn something, right? ;)