New Beginnings, New Adventures

It has been over a year since my last post and so much has happened since I last wrote. So... we moved to Spain last year and despite a few bumps in the road on the whole it has been a very positive move. So much of what we moved for has started to be realised and we are starting to see, now the dust has cleared, some of the trees. Initially I was not ready to begin to create art again and having a break creatively has helped as I have had time to reflect on my creative journey.

The Three Amigos

I knew there would come a time that I would want to begin my artistic journey again and with little access to printing resources I started to write down ideas which I kept in a sketch book. These scribbles and notes started to develop into little stories and poems which normally formed the base of my lino images.

Rufus the Rat Bandit

It felt as though I was saving the images in my words, but the words had a mind of their own and hence my stories were born.  Now the stories are pouring out as fast as Spaniards say Salud! So things change and develop and I am embracing my new life and new opportunities that it has to offer. Besides nothing stands still and I hope that you will enjoy following how I progress creatively over the next year....exciting times ahead!

Would you trust these pesky rats?

Personalised Wedding

Personalised printed wedding bunting

Spring is finally here and summer is around the corner....for some it's that time of year when people all over the world tie the knot, get hitched, elope and say I do all in the name of love! 

Yes it's Wedding Season and now more than ever couples want to add that personal touch to that special day. With so many decisions to make and things to plan here are a couple ideas on how to personalise aspects of your wedding.

Not to forget the lucky couple here are some great ideas to create a unique gift list- yes it's in Australia but lots of couples plan honeymoons to the great land of OZ so why not think big...

Champagne Dreams

http://www.champagnedreams.com.au/product/helicopter-true-blue-mountains-experience/

From helicopter rides over the Blue Mountains to a chocolate indulgence for couples there is something to suit all budgets.... 

Create that gift list with a difference!

For couples who are concerned about ethical and sustainable gifts how about using personalised Jute bags for favours and/or placing table gifts and name placings within them. They are great for filling with toys to keep little hands busy during any speeches.

Available in a range of colours and feature the Love Birds design by Dawn Sheridan. 

This design is also available as cards for invites... visit...http://folksy.com/items/3147086-My-Fluttering-Heart

https://www.facebook.com/sheridanart

Folksy have a great feature for the handmade wedding here...http://folksy.com/themes/handmadewedding

Happy wedding planning....

Getting your own designs digitally printed on fabric

Ever wanted to take your designs to the next level? Have a fabric project but can't quite find the fabric you want? I'm going to explain how you can do it with basic computer know how with the help of Spoonflower as the fabric provider of choice.

As a printmaker and illustrator I see the benefits of both traditional methods such as screen printed and relief printed images onto fabric but I also appreciate not everyone has access to the facilities to use these methods. For the purpose of this post we are going to look at how this can be achieved by using digital methods.

Firstly, if you have your own image (copyright owned of course) that you would like to use you need to capture the image so that you have a high resolution- this basically means that it is nice and crisp and won't blur if enlarged. I scan mine but some people use photos, but in our British weather is not always possible. OK so here is the 'how to' part....

1- Scan image at 300dpi JPEG or similar file format (I use a local printers they charge a small fee)

2- Using a simple image editing programme such as Adobe or Paint.net is a free one chop off any spare space around the image, delete any small imperfections. If you don't really like using the computer much I suggest before you scan your image use a good old fashion rubber and cut the image to size, then you can skip this bit!

3- Upload the image to the spoonflower website and hey presto- repeat it, mirror it and do what you like using their image editor to get the fabric you want. http://www.spoonflower.com (No I am not getting paid for advertising!)

Here are some examples of the fabrics taken from my lino cut designs and repeated in Spoonflowers website.... Have a go it's easier than you think...

Digital Printed Fabric

Why Digital?

I wanted to experiment by using my lino cut designs by repeating and reducing the images to create a design for fabrics. Was there a way to get my designs in multi-colour/smaller/larger etc? I could use the lino itself but there are a few factors which influenced my choice. Lino is great for printing one or two images upon fabric after that screen printing is a much more economical process in terms of time and possible errors when wanting to print a large area and meters of fabric. For the best visual design, depending on the size of the lino when using digital you can adapt the design very easily. For example when carving an image which you would like to repeat and turn it will only face one direction and you would have to carve another if you would like the two images to mirror each other.

So I started to explore what other options there are for fabric design. Spoonflower seems popular but I wondered what is out there a bit closer to home and whether Spoonflower is worth all the hype? So far I have found a few companies based in the UK, so it is a limited investigation so far but most quality ones have swatch testing and colour matching, here are the ones I have sampled so far...

Price:

HTS Web Site   Under 10 meters around £31 per meter on Linen not including postage. Over 10meters then it goes down to £23 per meter without postage.
Liberty Press Web Site   Small quantities £23 per meter on canvas cotton includes postage.
Spoonflower Web Site   Small quantities £18 per meter on linen/cotton mix includes postage.

As you can see it is tricky to beat Spoonflower on price, but what about quality?

Quality:

Colour matching- HTS offer the best quality in terms of fabric and best match to my colour design, the Linen is a natural colour and lovely and heavy perfect for cushions. After them Spoonflower were a close second and unfortunately Liberty came a poor last. After a cool wash the Liberty Press fabric was a real disappointment, patchy and faded! The Liberty Press fabric arrived within a day but I won't be ordering more. Such a shame as the Liberty Press site is easy to use and they offer wall paper and scarf design service which I can not pass comment on.

After washing @30 degrees reduced spin cycle-Liberty Press- Left side.

Compare that with the quality of what you can achieve by hand, even after washing it is light fast.

Lino relief printing

OK so you could hand wash the Liberty Press fabric but it still can't compare to hand printing.

If you like the idea of using a British based company and are going to order several meters of fabric then HTS would be a good starting point, with good customer service and quality fabrics, if however you only want a meter or so then Spoonflower is a great option if you are in no rush for the fabric as it takes 3 weeks minimum to arrive to the UK.

I never realised how complicated it would be just to get my designs onto fabric, there are lots of types of printed fabric and as a savvy customer I like to know my options! You really need to have an idea of the types of printing that is available, this page was helpful in developing my understanding... Types of Digital Printing:  I think as digital printing develops it will become more readily available to the end user but as for now it really is only affordable in the UK on larger quantities. 

So for me Spoonflower came out on top but I think, after all the best results for me, in terms of colour and fastness has to be using the Lino directly! Full circle! I think I will be having a go at screen printing also so I will keep you posted on my results. I have just found a gorgeous heavy Russian Linen so I can't wait to print on that :) Here are samples of my hand printed cushions...

Please feel free to share your explorations into digital printing...

Hand Printed Cushions

I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Year!

A new year a new project for me and my deadline is tight which is one of the reasons I am very cross with myself! What's the saying, "Less haste, more speed!" I don't like negative posts as I am a positive person and negativity is never productive but a problem shared and all that...

A Lesson Learned:

Always Plan Thoroughly!

I have been making hand printed fabric for some prototype cushions and took time to sew the cushions first, adding piping and everything, printed on lovely 100% linen!

Because I decided to make envelope cushions I had a nice thick seam on the back which would cross where the image would be printed. If I had planned and printed first this would have been avoided! I should know better-slaps back of the hand! Well, in reality I can make another and mistakes are there to be learnt from but time lost I can't get back. Hopefully others can learn from my mistake!

unacceptable uneven image

On the upside I was able to print some other images onto fabric... on a natural mixed cotton:

3 pigeons in plum

Watch this space as I will be printing more of the Red Doves until I am completely happy with the result.

Handmade Lampshades 30cm Drum

Unique Bespoke Hand Printed Lampshades

I have been printing and designing on fabric with my linocut designs and wanted to use my own hand printed fabric to make a lampshade. Having searched the Internet it was becoming pretty clear that making lampshades is a very guarded affair. I'm not totally sewing illiterate but there are certain specifics which really help when venturing into making your own bespoke lampshade. So I hope this blog post gives you some useful tips when getting started...


YOU WILL NEED:

1) Lampshade parts- either bought separately or in a kit via Need Craft/Amazon
2) Fabric of your choice- at least a meter long for a 30cm drum shade.
3) If you have a fabric which frays I recommend a binding webbing tape which can be bought in all colours and sizes- it's not an actual tape but lovely woven strips of cotton for seams.
4) Fabric glue- general purpose is fine.

Notes on fabric choice...
I chose a natural cotton canvas fabric and linen.  Beautiful to print on and you can use oil based printing ink which when dry is permanent. If it is your first lampshade go for a basic pattern as you could find difficulties when cutting straight lines and matching up the seams and fabric direction- start simple at first.

SEE PREVIOUS BLOG POST ON PRINTING THE FABRIC, ensure you measure the amount needed which is roughly 100cm in length and 25cm in width.

Ironing the fabric after printing as well as before will help 'cure' the ink.

When you have printed the fabric ensure your design stays within the allocated measurements for the lampshade allowing for seams and when it is dry you are ready to add the self adhesive backing which comes with the kit- there are other ways to make your fabric rigid but the PVC backing provided is really strong, fire retardant and easy to use.

TIPS
*If like me and don't do straight lines very well or in general draw on the back of the fabric a straight line so that when you roll out your backing it will stay straight and not go 'wonky!'

*Tape your fabric to the table so that when you stick on the backing it won't curl up.

*If your fabric frays once you have cut it to size paint a thin layer of PVA on the edge to minimise the fraying.


If you can not see where your design is when adding the backing fold the fabric until you can see your design and fold, this will leave a visible crease in the fabric that you can make sure you cover with the backing.

When backing is added the fabric is rigid and extremely durable. Smooth and make sure there are no creases in the fabric. If you buy a kit it gives you instructions on how to add the tape and the metal rings, it gets a little awkward adding the rings but not too bad.

This is the part that can make the lampshade look really high quality and well finished...The hand rolled edge and neat seams.

I add the webbing tape along the hand rolled edges as it adds a really lovely and neat finish along the seams. Using the double sided tape and glue on the inside it is a great way to attach the binding tape and looks great when finished.

Before the binding tape was added.

The finished lampshade: This is listed in my Etsy and Folksy shops:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/168623695/handmade-hand-printed-lampshade?ref=shop_home_active

Personalised lampshades:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/169348653/personalised-hand-printed-bespoke?ref=shop_home_feat

Hand Printed Fabric- Relief Printing

Block Printing on Fabric Update:


I have been using my lino print designs to print directly onto fabric. Cotton and linen in it's natural form looks great combined with the images and prints really well. I wash the fabric first to remove any anti-creasing coatings that can be on the surface of the fabric.

Before printing iron the fabric (linen is notorious for creasing so use plenty of steam!) It looks like I haven't bothered in the photo but believe me I did! More ironing once the ink is dry! Typically my iron has never seen so much action so now has decided to give up!

Having tested the permanency of the oil based inks on the fabric by leaving the ink to dry, ironing and then putting through the dryer for 10 minutes it has survived the washing machine test at a 40 degree wash.

Speedball do an ink especially for block printing onto fabric currently available at Intaglio Printmakers in London. Added to my Christmas wish list!

The Fish Tea Towel coming soon to my Etsy shop:

Tea Towel is a big as my son! Arms up son!

Next blog post will give you a sneak peak into my lampshade making tips from hand printed fabric...

Thanks for reading :)