We are often asked for recommendations on books to get started on various methods of printmaking. Here is a round up of our favourites for anyone thinking
about learning how to print at home. 

Fresh Prints by Cristine Leech. 25 projects to make at home. Suitable for complete beginners. Good pics and clear instructions. Mostly
relief printmaking using found objects, safe print foam and even the odd sweet potato! Lots of info regarding colour mixing, inks and tools. Great
section of templates that can help to get you started.

Simple Printmaking by Elizabeth Harbour. Elizabeth Harbour is a printmaker, illustrator, teacher, designer and maker. She very
much believes in using products that are readily available and trying to make printmaking inexpensive. The printmaking techniques covered in
this book are vast covering Monoprinting with a Gelatine Plate (these are the original Gelli Plates), Marbling, Stencilling, Block Printing,
Screen Printing and Coca Cola Litho Printing. The surfaces that are printed vary hugely from lampshades, cushions, greeting cards through to
table cloths, china and bags.

Print Collective by Jenny Doh. Jenny is an American Artist and Author. I love this book. It is a great guide for anyone wanting
to set up there own dedicated Screen Printing space. She writes in depth about the various options and even gives a simple step by step on
how to create an exposure unit. She also gives brief instructions on other types of printmaking such as cyanotype. The downside is that the
suppliers listed are only to be found in America so unfortunately we didn’t get a mention! The projects within the book are all created by
different designers and photographed within their studios. There is also a CD within the book that contains 200 downloadable motifs to get
you started.

 

Making an Impression by Geninne D. Zlatkis. Geninne is a fantastic illustrator living outside Mexico City – her blog was always
a constant source of inspiration for me – unfortunately she doesn’t appear to be blogging that frequently anymore 🙁 but it can be viewed here:
http://blogdelanine.blogspot.co.uk/ – the photos are always great too. This book is focussed on relief printmaking using rubber stamp carving
blocks – we stock Moo Carve and Speedy Carve for this process. The projects are mostly for fabric and paper and she shows the versatility of this kind
of stamp making. Great in depth instructions.

 

 

Carve, Stamp, Play by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. Julie is a self taught mixed-media artist based in the US. The techniques taught in
this book is similar to Making an Impression but the end results are quite different. I would recommend this book for people more interested
in mixed media, who love layering and collage. Making an Impression has a cleaner, more graphic design than Carve, Stamp, Play. This book again
uses Speedy Carve but unlike Making an Impression focusses more on pattern
making and creating repeat patterns.

 

 

The Print Making Book by Vanessa Mooncie. Loads of different techniques including sun printing, relief printmaking, screen printing,
monoprinting, stencilling and image transfer. The Printmaking Book contains 23 projects for the home. The instructions are illustrations with
a photo for each of the finished projects. The items printed are very varied from fabric, paper through to shrinkable plastic and mirrors.

Print Workshop by Christine Schmidt. Another author from the US, Christine runs Yellow Owl Workshop a great design led giftware
and craft supply business. This book was first published in 2010 so a little older than the other books in this review but the designs are
still really current. Great in depth instructions and advice. Techniques covered are relief printmaking, stencil printing, screen printing,
sun printing and image transfer printing. A really good starter book for any potential printmaker.

 

Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin. This book is a ring bound book and as such opens flat so is great if you are following the step
by steps! Mostly aimed at people wanting to print on textiles, the book covers block printing, stencilling, screen printing. Unfortunately
although the book talks about using photographic screens it doesn’t instruct you how to do it but directs you to a ‘screen maker’. (We can
do this for you but it can easily be done in your home/studio with very little equipment here is our instruction sheet on how to do it). Pictures are lovely though so would be a good introduction to printing home wares.
Again it is a American author so some of the products used are hard to find.

 

 

 

 We have also written an indepth review of Jenny Mcabe’s The Handprinted Home – another book perfect for a person wanting
to start printmaking – the full blog post can be read here!

We are often asked for recommendations on books to get started on various methods of printmaking. Here is a round up of our favourites for anyone thinking
about learning how to print at home. 

Fresh Prints by Cristine Leech. 25 projects to make at home. Suitable for complete beginners. Good pics and clear instructions. Mostly
relief printmaking using found objects, safe print foam and even the odd sweet potato! Lots of info regarding colour mixing, inks and tools. Great
section of templates that can help to get you started.

Simple Printmaking by Elizabeth Harbour. Elizabeth Harbour is a printmaker, illustrator, teacher, designer and maker. She very
much believes in using products that are readily available and trying to make printmaking inexpensive. The printmaking techniques covered in
this book are vast covering Monoprinting with a Gelatine Plate (these are the original Gelli Plates), Marbling, Stencilling, Block Printing,
Screen Printing and Coca Cola Litho Printing. The surfaces that are printed vary hugely from lampshades, cushions, greeting cards through to
table cloths, china and bags.

Print Collective by Jenny Doh. Jenny is an American Artist and Author. I love this book. It is a great guide for anyone wanting
to set up there own dedicated Screen Printing space. She writes in depth about the various options and even gives a simple step by step on
how to create an exposure unit. She also gives brief instructions on other types of printmaking such as cyanotype. The downside is that the
suppliers listed are only to be found in America so unfortunately we didn’t get a mention! The projects within the book are all created by
different designers and photographed within their studios. There is also a CD within the book that contains 200 downloadable motifs to get
you started.

 

Making an Impression by Geninne D. Zlatkis. Geninne is a fantastic illustrator living outside Mexico City – her blog was always
a constant source of inspiration for me – unfortunately she doesn’t appear to be blogging that frequently anymore 🙁 but it can be viewed here:
http://blogdelanine.blogspot.co.uk/ – the photos are always great too. This book is focussed on relief printmaking using rubber stamp carving
blocks – we stock Moo Carve and Speedy Carve for this process. The projects are mostly for fabric and paper and she shows the versatility of this kind
of stamp making. Great in depth instructions.

 

 

Carve, Stamp, Play by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. Julie is a self taught mixed-media artist based in the US. The techniques taught in
this book is similar to Making an Impression but the end results are quite different. I would recommend this book for people more interested
in mixed media, who love layering and collage. Making an Impression has a cleaner, more graphic design than Carve, Stamp, Play. This book again
uses Speedy Carve but unlike Making an Impression focusses more on pattern
making and creating repeat patterns.

 

 

The Print Making Book by Vanessa Mooncie. Loads of different techniques including sun printing, relief printmaking, screen printing,
monoprinting, stencilling and image transfer. The Printmaking Book contains 23 projects for the home. The instructions are illustrations with
a photo for each of the finished projects. The items printed are very varied from fabric, paper through to shrinkable plastic and mirrors.

Print Workshop by Christine Schmidt. Another author from the US, Christine runs Yellow Owl Workshop a great design led giftware
and craft supply business. This book was first published in 2010 so a little older than the other books in this review but the designs are
still really current. Great in depth instructions and advice. Techniques covered are relief printmaking, stencil printing, screen printing,
sun printing and image transfer printing. A really good starter book for any potential printmaker.

 

Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin. This book is a ring bound book and as such opens flat so is great if you are following the step
by steps! Mostly aimed at people wanting to print on textiles, the book covers block printing, stencilling, screen printing. Unfortunately
although the book talks about using photographic screens it doesn’t instruct you how to do it but directs you to a ‘screen maker’. (We can
do this for you but it can easily be done in your home/studio with very little equipment here is our instruction sheet on how to do it). Pictures are lovely though so would be a good introduction to printing home wares.
Again it is a American author so some of the products used are hard to find.

 

 

 

 We have also written an indepth review of Jenny Mcabe’s The Handprinted Home – another book perfect for a person wanting
to start printmaking – the full blog post can be read here!

We’ve been having a lot of interest in Gelli Plates recently so thought it was about
time we posted a few of our own Gelli Plate experiments for you to have a look at. If you haven’t already heard of Gelli Plates, they’re reusable,
durable printing plates that allow you to mono-print without a press. Intrigued? Read on…

These plates feel and work like gelatin plates but there is no gelatin or any animal products in the plates. Hooray! With good care, they will last years
and can be kept at room temperature.

There are loads of ways to use Gelli Plates to make prints. Here is one way we used our 8″x10″ plate to make a print.

Peel off the plastic layer from the Gelli Plate and lay it flat on a wipe-able surface. Squeeze a little acrylic paint onto the plate. We used System 3 acrylic paint which worked very well as it didn’t dry out quickly. Use a roller to spread out the paint evenly all over the plate. You really don’t need to use much paint here – a thin layer is better
than a thick one.

At this stage you can draw into, press into or paint into the paint. You can use anything to do this as long as it won’t scratch or damage the surface.
Scrapers, stampers or the ends of paint brushes work very well for this. Place your paper on top of the plate and press all over with the flat of your hand.

Peel the paper off to reveal the first layer of your print.

If there is paint left on the plate you can use a sheet of scrap paper to pull it off in the same way as you take a print. For our next layer we rolled
out pink.

We then used a piece of bubble wrap that we had inked up with red acrylic paint. We used this bubble wrap to stamp onto the plate on top of the pink…

…and then placed this little paper bear on top to act as a mask.

When the print was taken, the mask left this little bear in the brown from our last layer.

We felt he needed a little detail so rolled out a darker brown and used the bear mask and the negative cut out of the bear to print some darker lines.

We tried to get our bear down in the same place but ended up with a slightly mis-registered print. We’re still quite fond of him though.

We tried lots of other techniques with our Gelli Plate too, such as drawing into the paint with the end of a paintbrush, graduating the paint in stripes
on the plate, and overlaying lots of different textures on top of one another. Working with Gelli Plates is really addictive! Here are some photos
from more of our experiments:

We even printed some Christmas present tags using our Gelli plate textured with bubble wrap!

We used a 8″x10″ Gelli Plate, but they’re also available in 3″x5″, 6″x6″, 5″x7″, 8″x10″ and 12″x14″! You can find them all here.

We also now have a starter kit that we have put together you can find that here.

You will also need:

• A roller
• Various tools such as these scrapers and these stampers to create textures
• Scraps of materials such as bubble wrap, sequin off-cuts and lace
• Paper stencils and masks cut out with scissors or a craft knife
• Acrylic paint
• Papers to print on

There are lots of books out there on Gelli Plate Printing – This one has to be one of our favourites: Gelli Plate Printing: Mixed-Media Monoprinting Without a Press by Joan Bess.
This book is the ultimate guide. Joan Bess is one of the founders of Gelli Arts who designed the Gelli Plate. The book contains lots of step by step projects,
on how to use your Gelli Plate in numerous ways plus a great section focusing on Artists working with Gelli Plates. Loads of pictures – really inspiring.

 

We’ve been having a lot of interest in Gelli Plates recently so thought it was about
time we posted a few of our own Gelli Plate experiments for you to have a look at. If you haven’t already heard of Gelli Plates, they’re reusable,
durable printing plates that allow you to mono-print without a press. Intrigued? Read on…

These plates feel and work like gelatin plates but there is no gelatin or any animal products in the plates. Hooray! With good care, they will last years
and can be kept at room temperature.

There are loads of ways to use Gelli Plates to make prints. Here is one way we used our 8″x10″ plate to make a print.

Peel off the plastic layer from the Gelli Plate and lay it flat on a wipe-able surface. Squeeze a little acrylic paint onto the plate. We used System 3 acrylic paint which worked very well as it didn’t dry out quickly. Use a roller to spread out the paint evenly all over the plate. You really don’t need to use much paint here – a thin layer is better
than a thick one.

At this stage you can draw into, press into or paint into the paint. You can use anything to do this as long as it won’t scratch or damage the surface.
Scrapers, stampers or the ends of paint brushes work very well for this. Place your paper on top of the plate and press all over with the flat of your hand.

Peel the paper off to reveal the first layer of your print.

If there is paint left on the plate you can use a sheet of scrap paper to pull it off in the same way as you take a print. For our next layer we rolled
out pink.

We then used a piece of bubble wrap that we had inked up with red acrylic paint. We used this bubble wrap to stamp onto the plate on top of the pink…

…and then placed this little paper bear on top to act as a mask.

When the print was taken, the mask left this little bear in the brown from our last layer.

We felt he needed a little detail so rolled out a darker brown and used the bear mask and the negative cut out of the bear to print some darker lines.

We tried to get our bear down in the same place but ended up with a slightly mis-registered print. We’re still quite fond of him though.

We tried lots of other techniques with our Gelli Plate too, such as drawing into the paint with the end of a paintbrush, graduating the paint in stripes
on the plate, and overlaying lots of different textures on top of one another. Working with Gelli Plates is really addictive! Here are some photos
from more of our experiments:

We even printed some Christmas present tags using our Gelli plate textured with bubble wrap!

We used a 8″x10″ Gelli Plate, but they’re also available in 3″x5″, 6″x6″, 5″x7″, 8″x10″ and 12″x14″! You can find them all here.

We also now have a starter kit that we have put together you can find that here.

You will also need:

• A roller
• Various tools such as these scrapers and these stampers to create textures
• Scraps of materials such as bubble wrap, sequin off-cuts and lace
• Paper stencils and masks cut out with scissors or a craft knife
• Acrylic paint
• Papers to print on

There are lots of books out there on Gelli Plate Printing – This one has to be one of our favourites: Gelli Plate Printing: Mixed-Media Monoprinting Without a Press by Joan Bess.
This book is the ultimate guide. Joan Bess is one of the founders of Gelli Arts who designed the Gelli Plate. The book contains lots of step by step projects,
on how to use your Gelli Plate in numerous ways plus a great section focusing on Artists working with Gelli Plates. Loads of pictures – really inspiring.

 

As Halloween fast approaches, it’s time to get those costumes ready. We think it’s a perfect opportunity to try out Speedball Night Glo Fabric Screen Printing Ink! Print glow in the dark Halloween messages, pictures, or even your kids’ spooky drawings onto their own costume.

We’ve chosen to print a skeleton and here’s how we did it:

Start by drawing your design onto copy paper, making sure that it fits onto the surface of the top. We’re using a dark green school jersey – this project is perfect for up-cycling your kids’ old worn out ones.

When you’re happy with your design, cut it out using a craft knife or scalpel. Remember that the cut out areas are the parts that will print.

We also made an arm-bones stencil for the sleeves of our top on a separate sheet of paper.

Place a piece of newspaper inside your garment, just in case any ink goes through to the other side. Lay it flat on a slightly padded surface. Place your stencil where you would like your design to be printed.

Use parcel tape to tape up the edges of your screen on the front and the back of the mesh. Place the screen on top of the stencil. Make sure there are no gaps around the edges of your stencil. If there are, add more more tape to the screen to fill the gaps.

Spoon a line of Night Glo ink along the top of the screen.

Use your squeegee at a 45 degree angle to gently drag the ink down the screen. This floods the mesh with a thin, even layer of ink.

When you reach the bottom, scrape any excess ink off the squeegee. Bring the squeegee back to the top and pull it down the screen, again at a 45 degree angle, pressing firmly this time. The Night Glo ink is pretty thick so will require a quite a lot of pressure to get through the mesh. You may want to get someone to hold the screen still as you might need to use both hands on the squeegee. If you are printing with your kids, you might have to help them push hard enough on this bit.

Carefully remove the screen to reveal your print! Peel off the stencil and wash the ink out of the mesh straight away.

When your screen is dry, repeat the process with any additional stencils. We used our arm-bone stencil on each sleeve. Don’t forget to wash your screen right away or the ink will dry and ruin the mesh.

Our finished skeleton top!

For this project you will need:

• Garment to print on (we used a dark green school jersey)
• Pencil or pen
• Craft knife or scalpel
• Cutting mat
• Screen with 43T mesh
• Parcel tape
• Squeegee
• Padded surface
• Speedball Night Glo Fabric Ink
• Spoon or spatula

As Halloween fast approaches, it’s time to get those costumes ready. We think it’s a perfect opportunity to try out Speedball Night Glo fabric ink! Print
glow in the dark Halloween messages, pictures, or even your kids’ spooky drawings onto their own costume. That will keep ’em busy this half term.

We’ve chosen to print a skeleton and here’s how we did it:

Start by drawing your design onto copy paper, making sure that it fits onto the surface of the top. We’re using a dark green school jersey – this project
is perfect for up-cycling your kids’ old worn out ones. The tattier the better!

When you’re happy with your design, cut it out using a craft knife or scalpel.

We also made an arm-bones stencil for the sleeves of our top on a separate sheet of paper.

Place a piece of newspaper inside your garment, just in case any ink goes through to the other side. Lay it flat on a slightly padded surface if you have
one. Place your stencil where you would like your design to be printed.

Tape up the edges of your screen on the front and the back of the mesh. Place the screen on top of the stencil. Make sure there are no gaps around the
edges of your stencil. If there are, add more more tape to the screen to fill the gaps.

Spoon a line of Night Glo ink along the top of the screen.

Use your squeegee at a 45 degree angle to drag the ink down the screen. This coats the mesh in a thin, even layer of ink.

Scrape any excess ink off the squeegee. Bring the squeegee back to the top and pull it down the screen, again at a 45 degree angle. The night glo ink is
pretty thick so will require a quite a lot of pressure to get through the mesh. You may want to get someone to hold the screen still as you will need
to use both hands on the squeegee. If you are printing with your kids, you might have to help them push hard enough on this bit.

Carefully remove the screen to reveal your print! Peel off the stencil and wash the ink out of the mesh straight away.

When your screen is dry, repeat the process with any additional stencils. We used our arm-bone stencil on each sleeve. Don’t forget to wash your screen
right away or the ink will dry and ruin the mesh.

Our finished skeleton top!

If you would like to have a go yourself (of course you do) you will need:

• Garment to print on (we used a dark green school jersey)
• Pencil or pen
• Craft knife or scalpel
• Cutting mat
• Screen with 43T mesh
• Parcel tape
• Squeegee
• Speedball Night Glo Fabric Ink

It can be difficult to find the right inks for block printing onto fabric, especially if you haven’t got a few days to wait for it to dry. We have loved screen printing with Permaset Aqua Textile Inks, so we wanted to try block printing with them too!

You will need:

• Permaset Aqua Textile Ink
• SpeedyCarve
• Lino cutters
• Craft knife or scalpel
• Soft pencil, permanent pen and paper
• Inking tray or sheet of glass or perspex
• Ink spatula
• Piece of think felt or similar thick fabric slightly larger than your block. We used a heavy cotton wadding. You could also use a piece of foam.
• Tea towels or other fabric items to print
• Table salt

Start by making your blocks. We embraced the autumn and created a pretty two layer pine cone print! We drew around our template and cut the shape out of SpeedyCarve.

Carving around the edge of the shape with a thin lino tool first made it easier to follow the line with a scalpel.

We made two of these identical blocks for our two layer print.

Transfer the design for your second block onto the second piece of SpeedyCarve. We used the classic soft-pencil-scribble-drawing-on-the-back method seen here:

After the image was transferred, we used a permanent pen to make the lines more prominent before carving our block using a lino cutter.

Scoop out a small amount of Permaset Aqua onto you inking tray or sheet of glass. These inks are inter-mixable so create whatever colour takes your fancy! We used Mid Green mixed with Standard White.

Now for the clever bit: when you’re happy with your colour, sprinkle a few grains of table salt into the ink. As you mix it in, the ink should start to loosen up into a runnier consistency. Please only add a few grains at a time, not a liberal sprinkling as if you were trying to save a bland soup – you can always add more but you cannot take it away, as everyone’s mother once said.

This clever trick from Jezze Prints (who makes all kinds of beautiful things), creates an ink that coats the block in a lovely thin layer of ink without diluting the colour or affecting the colourfastness of the print. Nifty huh?

When you are happy with the consistency, which should be loose but not drippy, lay on your piece of felt or thick fabric. As you press the block onto the fabric a few times, the ink should begin to come through, and lo and behold, you’ve made a stamp pad.

You are now ready to print. Load up the block with a layer of ink and press it onto your fabric with the flat of your hand. We folded up the bottom of the tea towel to act as a guide to printing in a straight line.

Continue to load up the stamp and print in this way…

…until you have printed over the whole surface.

While this first layer dries, use the same method as above to mix up the ink for your second layer. We mixed Mid Green, with tiny amounts of Standard White, Black and Orange R to make this grungy darker green. Use a fresh piece of felt, or if you only have one piece, ring as much of the previous colour ink out. Don’t wash the piece of felt out at this stage or the water in the fabric will mix with the ink making it too runny. Press in your new stamp a few times, until only the new colour comes through.

Repeat the process as before. As the two stamps are the same shape, it should be easy to register the two layers.

When the second layer is finished, wash the ink off your stamp to use another day! When the prints are dry, iron the fabric on the reverse to set the ink.

Our finished tea towel!

It can be difficult to find the right inks for block printing onto fabric, especially if you haven’t got a few days to wait for it to dry. We have loved screen printing with Permaset Aqua Textile Inks, so we wanted to try block printing with them too!

You will need:

• Permaset Aqua Textile Ink
• SpeedyCarve
• Lino cutters
• Craft knife or scalpel
• Soft pencil, permanent pen and paper
• Inking tray or sheet of glass or perspex
• Ink spatula
• Piece of think felt or similar thick fabric slightly larger than your block. We used a heavy cotton wadding. You could also use a piece of foam.
• Tea towels or other fabric items to print
• Table salt

Start by making your blocks. We embraced the autumn and created a pretty two layer pine cone print! We drew around our template and cut the shape out of SpeedyCarve.

Carving around the edge of the shape with a thin lino tool first made it easier to follow the line with a scalpel.

We made two of these identical blocks for our two layer print.

Transfer the design for your second block onto the second piece of SpeedyCarve. We used the classic soft-pencil-scribble-drawing-on-the-back method seen here:

After the image was transferred, we used a permanent pen to make the lines more prominent before carving our block using a lino cutter.

Scoop out a small amount of Permaset Aqua onto you inking tray or sheet of glass. These inks are inter-mixable so create whatever colour takes your fancy! We used Mid Green mixed with Standard White.

Now for the clever bit: when you’re happy with your colour, sprinkle a few grains of table salt into the ink. As you mix it in, the ink should start to loosen up into a runnier consistency. Please only add a few grains at a time, not a liberal sprinkling as if you were trying to save a bland soup – you can always add more but you cannot take it away, as everyone’s mother once said.

This clever trick from Jezze Prints (who makes all kinds of beautiful things), creates an ink that coats the block in a lovely thin layer of ink without diluting the colour or affecting the colourfastness of the print. Nifty huh?

When you are happy with the consistency, which should be loose but not drippy, lay on your piece of felt or thick fabric. As you press the block onto the fabric a few times, the ink should begin to come through, and lo and behold, you’ve made a stamp pad.

You are now ready to print. Load up the block with a layer of ink and press it onto your fabric with the flat of your hand. We folded up the bottom of the tea towel to act as a guide to printing in a straight line.

Continue to load up the stamp and print in this way…

…until you have printed over the whole surface.

While this first layer dries, use the same method as above to mix up the ink for your second layer. We mixed Mid Green, with tiny amounts of Standard White, Black and Orange R to make this grungy darker green. Use a fresh piece of felt, or if you only have one piece, ring as much of the previous colour ink out. Don’t wash the piece of felt out at this stage or the water in the fabric will mix with the ink making it too runny. Press in your new stamp a few times, until only the new colour comes through.

Repeat the process as before. As the two stamps are the same shape, it should be easy to register the two layers.

When the second layer is finished, wash the ink off your stamp to use another day! When the prints are dry, iron the fabric on the reverse to set the ink.

Our finished tea towel!

I don’t know about you, but thanks to years of being in school followed by forever being surrounded by children and teachers, Autumn will always signal the beginning of my year and a time to learn something new. This year’s September-knowledge-thirst led me to a weekend-long batik course run by Noel Dyrenforth in Hove.

The course was organised by Angela Lenman and was full of passionate batik artists, all with more skill and experience than I…

Over the weekend we worked on three batiks, using a variety of traditional and more experimental techniques. Below are some pictures I snapped along the way to give you a feel of what we got up to.

First we drew our designs onto cotton and stretched it onto frames. I used a
castellated frame as it meant I didn’t have to make one the right size (it also was a little easier carting it on the train from Chichester)!

We used Procion MX Dyes mixed with soda ash to fix the dye. Here is the fabric after the first layer of turquoise dye:

We used a blend of beeswax and paraffin wax which gives you the right amount of crackle whilst staying smooth. Here is my first batik after the next layers of waxing and dyeing:

As it turns out, making a batik has a lot to do with being patient. If you put the hot wax onto dye that is not completely dry it will not penetrate the fabric and wont resist the next layer of dye properly. Thank goodness for cold hairdryers and cups of tea.

The last layer of dye after a final hefty waxing.

We all used Tixor Malam Batik Pots (Guild members were bringing them in by the box-full) which seemed just the right size for a honey coloured pool of wax that lasted the entire weekend.

The second batik we worked on gave us the opportunity to play with a lovely range of Procion MX Dye colours.

Throughout the weekend we used a variety of tools to apply the wax; from Javanese Tjantings to kitchen roll and decorators brushes (natural bristles only unless you want to end up with a melted plastic blob on the end of a stick). One batik artist even broke out a Kistka in order to achieve even more detail whilst we all ooh-ed and aah-ed.

I was particularly proud of this juicy looking pomegranate, drawn with a Size 1 Tjanting:

We ironed the batiks between sheets of newspaper to remove most of the wax, but they will need to be dry cleaned or boiled to remove the rest. The dark blue marks around the fruit below are where the ironed wax has melted and spread and will disappear after the fabric has been cleaned.

Etching into the wax was another technique that was new to me – using a tool to scratch into the wax creates details that the final layer to dye can pick up.

Below is a batik created by a fellow batik enthusiast – far from the fiddly white-outlined paintings often associated with batik!

My final splashy, dynamic batik, created by splattering and brushing on wax between four layers of dye.

The weekend’s most important lesson from Noel: If you’re wondering whether to create movement, dynamism and expression with wax or dye, it should always come from the wax.

Lesson learned.

If you fancy having a go yourself, information about the Batik Guild can be found here and lots of lovely batik supplies can be found on our website.

We thought it was about time to write a blog showing you how to make this funky rainbow spiral tie dye T-shirt. They come out slightly different every
time so once you’ve made one, you’ll want to make one hundred. It’s that addictive. Here’s how:

You will need:

• White cotton T-Shirt
• Large bowl or bucket
• Elastic bands
• Soda ash
• Cling film
• Procion MX dye in Lemon Yellow,
  Magenta, and Bright Turquoise
• Clothes peg
• 3 squirty bottles
• Metapex or non bio detergent
• Rubber gloves
• Funnel
• Measuring jug and measuring spoons

Start by prepping your T-Shirt. Lay the shirt out flat on a table. Use a clothes peg to pinch the middle. Make sure that the peg holds both the front and
the back of the shirt. Using the peg as a handle, start to twist the shirt. Try to get fairly even peaks and troughs: if you get any mountains of fabric,
just tuck them in. 

When your shirt is twisted into a vaguely round shape, use elastic bands to hold it together.

Use three bands over one another to create six segments.

Soak your shirt in a solution of warm water and soda ash. Use 1tbsp of soda ash for every litre of water. For just one shirt, we used two litres. Soak
the shirt for at least fifteen minutes.

Whilst the shirt is soaking, prepare your dyes. Add 1tsp Procion MX dye to 200ml warm water. We recommend that you wear rubber gloves as the dyes will
stain!

Use a funnel to decant the dye into one of the squirty bottles and shake to mix.

Repeat this for the other two colours of dye.

Your six segments are going to form a colour wheel. Each of your three primary colour dyes will be squirted into three of the segments. Every other segment
will have two dyes squirted into it, creating a secondary colour!

After your shirt has finished soaking, squeeze out any excess water and lay it onto a piece of cling film.

Take a bottle of dye and squirt your first colour into three of the segments (half of the shirt). Turn over and do the same on the other side.Wipe any
excess dye off the cling film. You don’t want your shirt sitting in it or the colours will mix.

Next, take the second colour. Squirt into three segments, starting with the last segment of the previous colour. Wipe down the cling film again.

Finally, take the third bottle and squirt into the final three segments. Make sure you have put all three colours on both the front and back of your shirt.

You should end up with a wheel of shirt that looks a bit like this! The dyes will start to mix and you will begin to see the orange, green and purple segments
appearing.

Wipe off any excess dye again, and wrap the shirt up in the cling film. Leave for 24 hours for the dye to set. Don’t be tempted to move it around too much
or the dyes could mix!

After 24 hours (well done for waiting, we know it was tempting), unwrap you shirt and, leaving it tied up, rinse in cold water until it runs clear. Remove
the elastic bands and wash with Metapex or non-bio detergent (if using a machine, please run on the hottest wash with detergent and an empty drum before
doing your next load or prepare to have multicoloured socks).

Here is our finished T-Shirt!