Open cueB 2015

I am taking part in an exhibition in Brockley, South-East London, from tomorrow, the 13th February. The exhibition is Open cueB 2015, and I will be exhibiting this picture, "Drift I", which I made last year:

The exhibition will be open from 13th February to 15th March 2015, at: cueB Gallery, 325 Brockley Road, London SE4 2QZ, www.cuebgallery.com

2014

box set 2014

I was happy to take part recently in the East London Printmakers' Box Set 2014 - where 30 or so members each make about 40 limited edition prints then distribute them in boxes and each have a set of prints by each artist who took part. There are no constraints of medium (as long as it's print) or subject, only the size of the paper - about 30 x 30 cm.

I took part in a half-studio and half-handmade printing way - I exposed a screen with images for my screen print in the studio, as I don't have an exposure unit at home, but then printed it at home using the screen in some clamps I had previously fixed onto a wallpaper pasting table...

One of the images I had taken to the studio (my print had 4 layers) didn't expose properly, so I did have to make that design by hand on the screen as well - painting it with drawing fluid and screen filler.

I don't usually print 40 pictures at a time, and I don't have a drying rack, so to dry the prints looked like this:

Every surface in my living room was covered with prints. I had to keep the cats and my son out of the area for the duration of the printing session!

Prints...

...and prints...

...and more prints...

This is what the completed print looks like... I call it 'Green Birds.'

lichen curtains

I finally finished making the lichen fabric that I printed last year into curtains...

I deliberated over making them into curtains, as I'd started the print on grey linen but hadn't realised the linen was a remnant at the fabric shop where I bought it, and they didn't have enough left when I returned for me to make curtains.

However when we got a sofa that was more black than grey I decided the the print I had done on a second, darker fabric I had bought (denim) matched the new sofa well, so used it after all.

My mother-in-law did a lot of the sewing for me, as I'd never made lined curtains before, and she measured and attached the lining.  It then took me a while to get around to finishing them by hemming the curtains and lining, and attaching the curtain tape. But it wasn't too difficult in the end (just big, when you're used to only sewing small things like pouches and bags).

They're not perfect (my part of the sewing anyway! my mother-in-law's sewing together of the lining and curtain material was great), but now they're up in our living room and it's nice to see my print in use as curtains, similar to how I envisaged it.

So, in conclusion - if you print onto fabric, I'd recommend you to make your own curtains out of printed fabric, and I found a useful video on youtube which helped me to finish sewing them.

handmade screenprinting workshop

Last month I taught a workshop on handmade screenprinting in Peebles, near Edinburgh.

Firstly the workshop participants cut out paper stencils based on previous sketches they had made and printed these onto fabric, using screen mesh stretched in an embroidery hoop as a screen and printing with fabric paint:

Then participants prepared second screens using drawing fluid and screen filler stencils, and printed these as a second layer on their textile prints:

Some more prints:

...and more:

...and a selection of the final prints laid out on a table:

The aim was for participants to try out handmade screenprinting, and to make the base for a textile artwork that could be added to with embroidery or worked on further if the artist wishes.

The workshop participants came mostly from the Peebles Creative Space art group which meets regularly with their teacher, artist Claire Blyth.  They all worked hard throughout the workshop and I think they made a variety of beautiful and original textile prints.

nasturtium prints

I printed my nasturtium designs using paper stencils and a handmade screen-filler screen...

I printed the first layer using paper stencils under an embroidery hoop with screen mesh.  I used discharge paste to print these designs - it takes the colour out of fabric, to leave a negative-looking shape.

When you print with discharge paste you can't see the print, except as a wet mark where the paste printed.  Then you have to wait for it to dry, then steam it for about 20 minutes (e.g. in a colander above boiling water in a big pan - wrap your printed fabric in tea towels or some other fabric before putting it in your homemade steamer).  After steaming you can wash the print and that's when the discharge print appears, taking the colour out of the fabric.

After the discharge prints had dried, I printed on top of them with normal printing paste (orange screenprinting ink), with the screen I made previously using drawing fluid and screen filler.

I'm planning to embroider over these pictures and make more layers using stitch.

how to make a stencil on a small screen using drawing fluid

I prepared a small screen for printing, using an embroidery hoop, some screen mesh, drawing fluid and screen filler...

First I cut out a square of screen mesh (you can buy this from George Weil, or just use net curtain fabric) and put it over the inner hoop of an embroidery hoop:

Then I trimmed the screen mesh and put the 'screen' face down over an image I wanted to trace, and traced it onto the screen mesh with a pencil (the pencil doesn't show very well in this photo, but I could see it well enough to paint over the lines).

Next I painted over the pencil lines using screen drawing fluid (the blue-coloured liquid in these photos, made by Speedball), left the drawing fluid to dry, then spread some screen filler (also by Speedball, you can get it online) over the screen using a plastic card.

The front of the screen (where I spread the screen filler) will now have some filler over the blue drawing fluid image, but if you check the back (inside) of the screen, you should still be able to see your drawing fluid painted image clearly, without too much screen filler blobbing over the edges of your image.  As long as you can see your image from the back of the screen, it should wash out ok...

I left the screen filler to dry (you can speed up the process with a hairdryer) then held the screen up to the light, to check if there were any holes in the screen filler, and painted over these with some screen filler and a small paintbrush.

When all the screen filler was dry, I just washed out the drawing fluid under the tap.  You can use a fingernail or toothbrush to pick off any bits of screen filler that are blocking your stencil, then hold the screen up to the light to check that your drawing fluid image has washed out...

Your embroidery hoop screen is now ready for printing!

Imprint exhibition

I went to the private view of Imprint - an exhibition of printed design, at Craft Central in Clerkenwell.

I was invited by my friend Katherina Manolessou, an artist and illustrator who makes screenprinted artwork.  Here's Katherina at the private view:

Katherina's screenprints are witty and full of fantastic creatures.  They're great!

I also liked some printed textiles by Kate Clarke in the Imprint exhibition.  I saw bright screenprinted pouches featuring blown-up fruit and flower designs.

Imprint exhibition continues until 21st September.

Marimekko pear tea towels

I saw these great pear tea towels by Marimekko today, for sale in Heals:

I love the simplicity of the design.

I've been a fan of Marimekko before I saw these images. Marimekko is a design company from Finland who hand-screenprinted all their textiles during the 1960s.  Perhaps their most well-known design is this one, called Unikko, designed by Maija Isola:

One thing I love about Marimekko designs is that although they are now a global textile and interior design company, their designs are brilliantly simple and look like they could be printed at home by hand - those pear designs could be printed with a stencil or screenprinted with a couple of paper stencils. And I mean that as a compliment - as I say, I love the simplicity of these designs.