Woodcut Postcards

A simple step by step to printing postcards using Japanese Ply and Caligo Safe Wash Relief Inks.

You will need:

Draw your design using the pencil onto thin paper (photocopy weight works well)

Place your image facing down onto the Japanese Ply and rub the back of the image with a pencil. Do not press too hard as you do not want to cause indentations
in the Ply.

Carefully lift the paper away and you should be able to see your image faintly printed onto the Ply. This method is great for lettering as it reverses
it.

Go over the faint image in pencil – again do not press too hard as you do not want your pencil marks to indent the Ply as this will make it difficult to
print.

Cut away the outside edge of the image using a small U gouge. Remember to always cut away from yourself, keep your hand that is not holding the cutting
tool behind the blade at all times. You could also use a hand guard or a bench hook.

Clear the remaining Ply that you do not wish to print using a larger U.

Sand down your Ply to remove any excess bits that will spoil your print.

Brush away any sawdust using a dry brush – a nail brush is perfect for this.

Roll out a thin layer of ink onto a glass slab or an inking tray.

Roll a thin layer of this ink onto your Ply.

Place your postcard on top of the inked Ply and holding the card firm use a Bamboo Baren in a circular motion to transfer the ink from the Ply to the postcard.

You can hold one corner down firmly to check how your ink transfer is progressing and if you need to concentrate on specific areas.

Remove the postcard and leave to dry.

The finished card!

Registering Screen Printed Layers on Fabric Without a Registration Table

You will need:

  • Mount board cut into an ‘L’ shape right angle
  • A plastic sheet such as table covering with a true right angle on the bottom left-hand corner. It is useful to put some coloured tape on this corner
    to make it more rigid and easier to see

Line up the bottom left-hand corner of the plastic sheet with the inside edge of the mount board right angle. If you are using a paper stencil, place the
stencil in position on top of the plastic.

Align the screen with the inside edge of the mount board right angle.

Print the image onto the plastic sheet.

Remove screen and check alignment. If you are not happy, realign the film and the mount board right angle.

Remove the plastic sheet but keep the mount board right angle in the same position. Align your screen with the mount board right angle and print.

The image is now printed onto the fabric in the correct position.

Align the next print on top of the next image and position the mount board right angle at the bottom left-hand corner. Use the mount board corner to align
the screen.

Continue until the fabric is printed. This method is really low tech and you have lots of flexibility with rotation, positioning etc.

The film can be wiped clean with a damp cloth.

To download the instructions please click here!

Here’s one we made earlier!

Registering Screen Printed Layers on Fabric Without a Registration Table

You will need:

  • Mount board cut into an ‘L’ shape right angle
  • A plastic sheet such as table covering with a true right angle on the bottom left-hand corner. It is useful to put some coloured tape on this corner
    to make it more rigid and easier to see

Line up the bottom left-hand corner of the plastic sheet with the inside edge of the mount board right angle. If you are using a paper stencil, place the
stencil in position on top of the plastic.

Align the screen with the inside edge of the mount board right angle.

Print the image onto the plastic sheet.

Remove screen and check alignment. If you are not happy, realign the film and the mount board right angle.

Remove the plastic sheet but keep the mount board right angle in the same position. Align your screen with the mount board right angle and print.

The image is now printed onto the fabric in the correct position.

Align the next print on top of the next image and position the mount board right angle at the bottom left-hand corner. Use the mount board corner to align
the screen.

Continue until the fabric is printed. This method is really low tech and you have lots of flexibility with rotation, positioning etc.

The film can be wiped clean with a damp cloth.

To download the instructions please click here!

Here’s one we made earlier!

Using Speedball Speed Clean to Remove Screen Filler

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.

Using Speedball Speed Clean to Remove Screen Filler

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.

Screen Printed Wrapping Paper Using Screen Filler

You will need:

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!

Soft Cut Printed Greetings Card

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).

How to use SolarFast on Fabric

For this project you will need:

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!

How to Block Print onto Fabric with Speedball Fabric Block Printing Ink

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:

Safeprint and Softcut Cards

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!