Last week I printed some more of my shell-design block print fabric, to use in making a clutch purse.
The small area of printed fabric on the right, I printed about 2 years ago, then the new green area is the first layer of my recent printing, with the lino block for this first colour sitting on the fabric next to its printed mirror image.
On the back of the lino block I have marked an arrow so that I can see which end is the top when printing, and two small lines halfway up the block because I want to print this design as a half drop design, where each block starts halfway down from the top of the previous image. I just line up the marks with the top of the image next to the one I'm printing. The half drop provides a more flowing pattern than if I repeated the images side by side.
I have a blanket on the table so that the fabric absorbs the ink when pressed, and it doesn't bleed out of the sides of the block due to the fabric being pressed against a hard surface. Then I'm printing the block by rolling textile ink onto the lino with a foam roller and just applying pressure with my hands to the back of the block. Results of printing by hand pressure can vary with different fabrics - it's a matter of trial and error for me - but it prints well on this pure linen fabric.
After printing the green layer, I printed a pink layer and finally a brown layer from a block cut to define the outlines of the shell shapes. I separated the three colours of my original design, and use a different piece of lino for each one.
