Author: handprinted

You will need:

• Speedball Speed Clean
• A nylon paint brush
• A nylon scrubbing brush
• Lots of hot water
• A screen that has been used with screen filler

Use a nylon brush to coat both sides of your screen with Screen Filler. Leave for 3-5 minutes.

Use a nylon scrubbing brush to work the Speed Clean into the screen.

Use a jet of hot water to wash the screen filler out of the screen. Repeat as necessary, if the filler has been on the screen for a while you might need
to repeat a few times.

Hold the screen up to the light to check that all the screen filler has been removed. The screen could be stained from either the filler or the ink but
as long as you can see through all areas clearly you will have successfully removed the blockages.

You can download the instructions here or watch the YouTube video here.

You will need:

• Screen
• Squeegee
• Screen Filler
• Disappearing Pen
• Ink
• Parcel Tape
• Kraft Paper

Draw the image on a piece of paper.

Using a disappearing pen or pencil, trace the image onto the screen.

Raise the edges of the screen away from the table by placing a wedge, such as a coin, under each corner. Using a fine brush, paint the screen filler around the outlines.

Fill in the rest of the image with screen filler. Leave to dry fully. When dry hold the screen up to a light any areas that you can see through will print. Paint extra screen filler onto the mesh where needed.

Tape up the edges of the screen with parcel tape.

Using a water-based screen printing ink, flood the screen and then print the image onto brown kraft paper. Repeat as necessary being careful not to place the screen onto wet ink.

Leave the paper to dry fully. The image can be removed from the screen with Speed Clean. 

The finished parcel ready to be torn open!

You can download the instructions to print out here!

Cut the Soft Cut to the size needed for the front of the greetings card. Draw on the image you wish to print using a marker.

Using a V blade, cut out the fine lines in the Soft Cut remembering that the lines you cut away will not print. When cutting either use a bench hook, hand guard or remember to keep your other hand behind the blade, never put your hand in front as these blades are sharp.

Squeeze some ink onto a flat surface such as an inking tray or a tile and roll out the ink until it sounds tacky and has a short velvet appearance. Roll this ink onto the Soft Cut. 

Place the card onto the inked up surface and rub with a clean roller or the back of a spoon to transfer the ink from the Soft Cut to the card. When you have finished printing wash the roller and Soft Cut with warm soapy water.

The finished print. Leave the ink to dry before folding (if the ink is oil based it might take up to 1 week).

For this project you will need:

• A high contrast image
• SolarFast
• SolarFast Wash
• T-Shirt
• Brush/Foam Brush
• Newsprint/Newspaper
• A sheet of Glass
• OHP film or similar
• A sunny day!

Create a negative image in a programme such as Photoshop by inverting a high contrast black and white image. We used one of our dog – Fletcher! Print this image on clear film.

Tape off the area you wish to print. You can use masking tape or parcel tape. Press hard to make sure that it has good contact with the T-shirt. If you do not need sharp edges you don’t need to tape.

Place a piece of newspaper or newsprint inside your T-shirt to stop bleed through. Paint the SolarFast onto your T-shirt. Making sure it is evenly distributed. 

Dab off any excess SolarFast with a piece of cloth or kitchen roll. 

Place your negative on top of the SolarFast and take out into the sun. Place a sheet of glass onto the T-shirt to keep it tightly together. You will see the colour begin to change – full sun works best. 

Remove the glass and take inside away from the sun before removing the negative. You do not want the SolarFast to continue exposing. 

Wash the T-shirt in hot water using SolarFast Wash. Washing in a machine is best. The colour will change at this point. 

The finished T-shirt (and Bag!)

Download a printable pdf here!

Speedball’s Fabric Block Printing Ink creates a bold print onto fabric so you can create your own striking designs! We’re using a piece of traditional lino to create our block and then printing it onto a piece of cloth to upholster a stool for the studio. 

Draw your image onto a piece of lino. We drew it in pencil first and, when we were happy with the design, went over the outline in permanent marker. 

Cut out the areas that you do not wish to print. This is a positive image so we cut away the negative areas.

Cut out the image shape with a pair of scissors. The shape of the image will help line up your prints.

Lay your prewashed fabric out on a padded surface. To help create straight lines of print we stretched regularly spaced threads across the fabric to act as a guide.

Thinly roll out some Fabric Block Printing Ink onto an inking tray until it sounds slightly sticky. Roll this ink onto the image.

Place the image inky side down on your fabric and press with a clean roller or hit the back of the lino with your hand to ensure good contact between the lino and the fabric so that the ink will transfer.

To finish leave the fabric to dry for a week. It can then be washed gently.

We also tried another piece where we printed the occasional red image. To do this we printed all of the black images first leaving spaces where we wanted to print the red images.

We used the fabric to upholster a stool and we love it!

For this project you will need:

• Lino (we used a 75mm square piece from a pack of ten)
• Speedball Block Printing Ink for Fabrics
• Lino Cutting Tool
• 2 x 100ml Lino Rollers
• Inking tray
• Scissors
• Pre-washed, dried and ironed fabric
• A stool 

Cut out the background image from Safeprint Polystyrene using a craft knife.

Ink up the polystyrene using Speedball Block Printing Inks. These inks are waterbased and intermixable.

Place the paper on top of the inked up block and, using a clean roller or brayer, press firmly so the ink moves from the Safeprint to the paper. 

Draw out the seed heads onto the Softcut. We used a piece of tracing paper for registration. Cut out the outside of the seed heads and a few lines on the inside for texture. 

Ink up the Softcut. Place the Softcut ink side down on the printed paper. Use a dry roller and press until the ink sticks to the paper. Turn it all over and re-press firmly.

Once again using tracing paper, draw out the final outline onto a Softcut block. Cut away everything apart from the details.

Ink up this plate and print as previously.

The finished piece!

Very excited about this new product. Transparent Polymer Relief Printing Block. It is similar to Soft Cut but with the bonus of being transparent so you can trace images through. It is a little stiffer to cut than Soft Cut but still softer than Lino.

Draw your image onto a sheet of paper and place under the transparent block.

Cut the paper to the same size as the block and place under the block on a bench hook.

Cut out the background of the block to give an interesting texture.

The finished block.

Thinly roll out your block printing ink and apply an even coat using a roller.

The inked-up block ready for printing.

Place your block on a hard surface, inky side up. Place your paper on top of the block. Use a clean roller to press the ink from the block to the paper, you could also use a wooden spoon or a brayer.

The finished piece!

Full instructions can be downloaded here!

We’ve just received some Safeprint – and it is fab (and quick!). I had a little go this afternoon with my friend’s daughter. It’s really easy to use.

Simply draw your image using a sharp pencil or biro or press objects into it (the end of a ruler or an empty biro works well). Remember anything you draw will be printed in reverse.

Roll out some ink thinly. We used Black waterbased block printing ink but the Speedball Bloc Printing Ink or the Caligo Safe Wash will work well too.

Then roll the ink onto the Safeprint.

Put a thin sheet of paper on top of the Safeprint. Press using a baren or a clean roller. You can turn the paper with the Safeprint stuck to it and press on the back of the Safeprint too. The Safeprint is really soft so not too much pressure is needed.

Peel back the paper and reveal your print.

Here’s one we made just by pushing an empty biro into the Safeprint.

Shibori is the Japanese term for creating a patterned cloth using tied/sewn/bound resists. It is what we would call tie dye!

A few weeks ago I taught a couple of Shibori classes at Artworks Studio in Chichester. We tied, sewed and bound the fabrics one week and dyed the next. All of the pieces were dyed using Procion MX dyes – mostly Magenta MX-8B, Lemon Yellow MX-4G and Bright Turquoise MX-G. Scroll down to the bottom of this post where I have put a link to download the dye recipe and instructions. Here are the techniques that we focused on:

ITAJIME NANAME GOSHI

NE-MAKI

MOKUME

HONEYCOMB

LARCH

MAKI-NUI

ARASHI

TWISTED

KNOTTED

HOSHOITO ICHIDO KAIRYO

ITAJIME SQUARE

TESUJI

Here are the links for the instructions and for the dye recipe.

Happy Tie Dyeing!

A basic guide to using the fabulous Soft Cut Discs. A downloadable pdf can be found here!

Step 1

Draw around the disc. Draw the image you wish to print in a dark pencil inside the outline. The image will print in reverse.

Step 2

Place the image face down onto the disc and then rub a pencil over the lines to transfer the image. 

Step 3

Use a fine blade to cut the outline. Use a larger blade to cut away the rest of the stamp you do not wish to print. Always keep your fingers on both hands behind the blade and cut away from you as the blades are sharp. 

Step 4

Peel off the paper backing and stick the stamp to the bottom of the baren. 

Step 5

Squirt a little block printing ink into a tray and roll it out smoothly using a lino roller. The ink needs to be quite thin and smooth. 

Step 6

Roll the ink onto the stamp. 

Step 7

Press the stamp firmly onto the gift tag. 

Step 8

The finished print!