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!

A simple guide to batik. 

Step 1

Pin the fabric tightly to a frame using silk pins or drawing pins. Draw the design on lightly using a pencil.

Step 2

Mix up a dye base using 1 litre warm water with 10 tbsp Urea and 1 tsp of Calgon. Mix 1/2 tsp Lemon Yellow Procion MX dye, 1 tsp of Soda Ash and 100mls dye base. Paint the design onto the fabric. Leave to dry.

Step 3

Put the tjanting into the hot wax and allow to heat. If the bowl is hot the wax will stay hot and ensure that it penetrates the fabric. Draw wax onto the fabric to retain areas you wish to remain yellow. 

Step 4

Repeat steps 2 & 3 with each additional colour. Using wax to retain each colour. We used Lemon Yellow, Scarlet Red, Magenta, Red Brown and Indigo building up the colours from light to dark. 

Step 5

Paint wax onto all areas you wish to retain. It is advisable to turn the frame over and coat the underside to ensure no gaps. 

Step 6

Paint the entire design with Indigo Procion MX dye. If you would like a crackle pattern on the design you need to remove the fabric from the frame and screw up the fabric to crack the wax before painting.

Step 7

Leave the dyes to react with the fibres for at least 24 hours. Leave to dry and then iron out the wax using a hot, dry iron and brown paper. Rinse and then wash the design using Colsperse to remove excess dye. 

Step 8

The finished piece!

A quick introductory guide to screen printing with a paper stencil. You can download a printable pdf. here!

You will need:

• Screen
• Squeegee to fit
• Paper to cut your stencil – photocopy paper is good – layout paper is better
• Craft knife
• Water-based fabric ink such as Speedball
• A padded surface to print onto – a folded sheet is good
• A Garment
• Newspaper

Step 1) Draw the outline of the image you wish to print.

Step 2) Using a craft knife, cut out the image. You want to keep the outline of the image and any infill pieces. 

Step 3) Stuff the garment with a sheet of newspaper to stop ink reaching the rear of the garment. 

Step 4) Position your stencil where you want the image to be, remembering to position any infill pieces. 

Step 5) Lay your taped screen onto the stencil. Check there are no gaps around the outside of your stencil. If there are add an extra layer of tape. 

Step 6) Put a thick bead of ink along the top edge of your screen. 

Step 7) Flood your screen with ink by pulling the squeegee across it lightly at a 45′ angle. Then repeat with a little force, when you have printed correctly there should be no ink on top of the mesh and the noise of the squeegee pull should sound a bit like a zip! 

Step 8) Lift the screen from your garment by pressing on one side and lifting the other (a bit like opening a book). Leave the garment to dry and then iron to fix. 

This new product landed on our shelves a couple of weeks ago and we are very impressed with the results. Printing on a dark colour is always difficult and opaque inks feel much stiffer on the finished article. Using Jacquard Screen Ink Discharge you can lighten pre-dyed fabrics at the same time as printing.

This product was designed for use with Jacquard Screen Inks but will work with other water-based, translucent Screen Inks such as Speedball or Permaset Aqua. Mix 7% of the Screen Ink Discharge into your ink of choice. 7% is roughly 3/4 teaspoon per 50g of Ink. The Discharge additive is liquid so if you use too large a percentage it will make the inks too runny to print with.

Screen your selected image onto your T-shirt as normal. We used a 43T mesh and a commercially dyed T-shirt. Leave the ink to dry for 30 minutes. 

Steam iron at the highest temperature appropriate for fabric until the image is developed enough – you can see this happening in front of your eyes. A strong odour is given off during steaming, we would recommend using in a well-ventilated area with a mask. 

The T-shirt can now be washed as normal. As you can see the image is much brighter than you could usually achieve when printing a translucent, water-based ink onto a dark T-shirt.

One plain white, cheap cotton T-shirt, made to look very Isabel Marant!

Here was our inspiration:

• Take one plain white T-shirt and soak it in water.

• Scrunch the T-shirt up and tie into a bundle.

• Mix 1 teaspoon of Charcoal Procion MX Dye with 100mls of warm water.

• Mix 1 tablespoon of Soda Ash into 100mls of warm water.

• Mix the two solutions together.

• Pour the mixed solution into a squirty bottle. And squirt the dye over the T-shirt. When the T-shirt is covered put into a plastic bag and leave for at least 2 hours for the dyes to react with the fibres. The longer you can leave it the better.

• Rinse the T-shirt under cold running water. First rinse it whilst it is still tied up and then when the water runs clear undo the knots and rinse again.

• After the water runs clear you can wash the T-shirt in a washing machine. We would recommend using Metapex on a 60′c wash. Metapex will remove the any remaining excess dye. (If you don’t have any Metapex you can use a non-biological washing powder/liquid).

The finished T-shirt!

These black and white leggings were purchased in the sale at New Look but never worn.

• We mixed up three squirty bottles of dye putting 1 teaspoon of Soda Ash, 1 teaspoon of dye and 1 teaspoon of Urea in each along with 200ml of warm water. The dyes we used were Golden Yellow, Scarlet Red and Bright Royal. (We used Urea as this was not an immersion dye and, as Urea is a humectant (sucks moisture in from the air), it would help keep the leggings damp which would assist the fibres to react with the dyes. 

• We then squirted the dyes onto the leggings, making sure that enough was put on so it would soak through to the other side, but not so much so that the leggings would be swimming in dyes and that the colours would all mix together. 

• We covered the leggings with a sheet of plastic (bin bags work well for this) and left for two hours. Then we rinsed the leggings under cold running water until the water ran clear. Then we washed the leggings on a 60’c wash with a teaspoon of Metapex.

The finished leggings!

Here is the last instalment of Tie Dyeing 5 Ways and it is a bit of a classic. We used the method for a Spiral Rainbow Tie Dye but only used two colours Scarlet Red and Bright Royal.

• We took a dry plain white T-shirt and placed a fork where we wanted the centre of the spiral to be. We then started twisting (as if putting spaghetti on the fork).

• When all the edges were in the spiral. We took some elastic bands to secure the twist. 

• Then we made a solution made from 2 litres of water and 2 tablespoons of Soda Ash and left the T-shirt to soak for 15 minutes. 

• We made up two dye solutions. One bottle of Bright Royal and one bottle of Scarlet Red. Each bottle had 200mls of warm water and 1 teaspoon of Procion MX dye. First, we squirted just over half the circle with Bright Royal (turning over the T-shirt to make sure we covered both sides), then we squirted just over half the T-shirt with Scarlet Red. We wanted the colours to overlap and blend.  

• We wrapped the T-shirt in clingfilm and left for 24 hours for the dye to fix well. (You need to leave for at least 2 hours, but the longer the better).

• After 24 hours we remove the T-shirt from the clingfilm and rinsed (whilst still in elastic bands) under cold running water, until the water ran clear. Then we undid the T-shirt and rinsed again until the water ran clear. 

• After the water runs clear you can wash the T-shirt in a washing machine. We would recommend using Metapex on a 60′c wash. Metapex will remove any remaining excess dye. (If you don’t have any Metapex you can use a non-biological washing powder/liquid).

The finished T-shirt! 

I was sent this lovely pic from Hannah Clay – they followed our guide and look what they made!