Last call for Handprinted: a fabric swap III

Signups for the fabric swap end tonight so if you're still debating, check out these gorgeous examples of handprinted work and then visit my handprinted board on Pinterest to really push yourself over the edge...

Screen printed cushion cover by Kate Clarke

Screen printed fabric by Celina Macurti

Block printed by Jeanne McGee

Block printed by Seedpod

my blue period

I found out last Friday that I'll once again be taking part in the Finders Keepers market here in Melbourne in early April so I scored a little bonus printing time over the weekend to start replenishing stocks. I'm putting together some special edition sets in shades of blue and am loving how striking my Quill design is against this deep teal basecloth...


And a little sneak peek at a new design I'm calling Litterfall in Overcast ink, one of two newby designs I will have in my shop very soon...

Handprinted: a fabric swap III deadline for sign ups approaching

Only a few more days to sing up for the third fantastico Handprinted: a fabric swap! We already have over 65 people ready to start putting their ink to fabric, that is 65 new designs hitting the world in the next month which is pretty darn exciting. Check out the original post to find out what is involved in taking part and browse a couple more tantalising tutorials to get the creative gears turning...

A super simple but super effect stencil technique from Domestifluff.

Awesome foam block printing tutorial by Susie of Flowerpress.

oobees, oobees, everywhere

I've had a couple of people enquire as to whether or not I'll be doing oobee bunnies for Easter this year and happily, the answer is YES! I'm working on a small batch of 6 or 7 (still undecided whether or not one is destined for Sophie...). I was hoping to have them all in the shop by March 1st but have run out of wool stuffing so will have to make a trip to get some next weekend. I'll have four in the shop at the end of the week anyway and will add the rest a few days later.



The other bit of Easter fun hitting the shop March 1st will be DIY oobee bunny kits! It's actually going to be a bit of a bonus kit with some extra materials included that you can use to make either a traditional oobee OR an oobee bunny - fun!! I'll post some sneak peeks this week and show you the goods next Friday : )

Screen printing at home

Great tutorial from Lil Blue Boo on using Speedball photo emulsion with sunlight

Very comprehensive tutorial for creating your own screens with Speedball photo emulsion 

My tutorial for screen printing with a paper stencil

Small scale screen printing tutorial by Lotta Jansdotter

Handprinting tutorials

With so many of you signing up for Handprinted: a fabric swap III (nine groups already - woohoo!), I thought I'd better start filling your heads with the many ways you can tackle printing by hand...

A great tutorial from Line Across that shows just how easy it is to make your own stamps

Tutorial for a very cool monoprint technique from Design Mom

Learn how to print with stencils from Jezze Prints

And come back in a couple of days for links to some screen printing tutorials : )

Handprinted: a fabric swap III

Want to experiment with some fun new techniques and snag a meter of handprinted fabric for yourself? Read on!

::the gist::

You'll be sending one printed fat quarter to each of four assigned swap buddies and receiving four printed fat quarters from these same folk. Whether you want to print one whole meter (yard) and chop it into quarters or you want to print four separate 50cm x 50cm (18inch x 20inch) pieces is up to you. Designs must be your own and hand printed using whatever technique you want to play with. Please print on natural fibers - cotton, linen, hemp or a blend of these - and be sure you use ink/paint designed for fabric (you can read a post about fabric and paint/ink options here). You will be sent your swap mates' preferred colours but, in the end, ink colours and design are entirely of your own choosing.

::sign up::

Send the following information to handprintedfabricswap@gmail.com
Name:
Postal address:
Website/blog:
Preferred colours:

Signups will be open until Thursday, February 28th. Your swap group details will be sent to you by Sunday, March 3rd and the deadline to send your fabric is Monday, March 25th, giving you three whole weeks to play around with techniques. This swap is open to anyone, anywhere in the world, which means if you sign up, you have to be willing to ship fabric overseas (since we'll only be sending fat quarters, you should be able to sandwich your fabric between two pieces of card and send it in a C4 (8.5 x 11inch) envelope to keep postage costs down).

::resources::
my leaf printing tutorial

hand carved stamp tutorial
stencil and potato printing
foam stamping tutorial
lino stamping tutorial
homemade stamps turorial
stamp carving tutorial
contact paper printing tutorial
screen printing at home
screen printing tutorial
screen printing using drawing fluid
screen printing photo emulsion tutorial
my create your own screen tutorial

::inspiration::
my handprinted board on pinterest
handprinted: fabric group on flickr
printing by hand group on flickr


There are a ton of books on every kind of fabric printing you can imagine but one I can recommend wholeheartedly is Lena Corwin's Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens.  I'll be posting about tutorials and techniques over the course of the swap to keep you motivated but please feel free to add links to any other resources in the comments, there is so much great information out there! Once the mailing deadline has past, I'll be posting ideas of what to make with your fancy handprinted fat quarters : )

Here's a little sidebar button if you want to show off that you are taking part:

and please feel free to use the large image above to blog about the swap, the more the merrier!


::Sign ups for this round of swapping are now closed and all participants have been notified of their group details by email::

A little Valentines fun

I cut some hearts out of pale pink paper and set up a little glitter glue/sequins art station at the kitchen table while the kids were outside playing. They had a ball, although the glitter glue is so thick in spots I fear they will never dry in time for the big day tomorrow : )

And another little reminder that signups for Handprinted: a fabric swap III start tomorrow! Head back here in the a.m. to find out al the details.

Handprinted: a fabric swap III sign ups

Sign ups for Handprinted: a fabric swap III start this week!! If you want to get inspired and catch up on the last two swaps, you can read all the posts related to it here, (you can also find the link over in the sidebar for future browsing!) then head back here on Thursday, February 14th (Valentine's Day!) for all the information on how to take part.

making

A little peak at the custom quilt I am currently working on. I am SO pleased with how it is coming along. The client and I most definitely have the same aesthetic and it's been a real treat to see what has emerged from our discussions. I'm sending it off for some dense longarm quilting which is also pretty exciting (especially as I won't have to baste it myself - hooray!) and will show the completed quilt once it has come back and is bound.


I scored a couple of bonus hours yesterday as Sophie had one of her very-rare-these-days naps and so I whipped up this little leather bag to hold my phone for handy photo taking access. I usually have my big bag or backpack when we are out and about to hold the many water bottles, snack containers and other assorted kid rubble and when I don't have pockets, it is a pain to dig my phone out. Solution made - I'll give it a test run at the zoo on Friday!

assorted bits

New dropcloth artwork has finally made its way into my shop! There are new designs from dropcloths number 4 and 5, never before seen online and each pretty darn cool in their own right. I had these at my December markets so these are what is left of the editions, only a few of the smaller ones as they were pretty popular.



I did a whole shwack of custom printing over the weekend and used up the last of my Storm (deep, dark blue) ink. I have remixed a similar but slightly different shade to replace it so if you are a Storm fan, you may want to snap up some of the last bits of Stormy Weather in Storm and Tiny Forest in Storm while you can as I won't be able to reprint them.