Rust Dyeing

I've been doing a bit of rust dyeing.

1:1 water:white vinegar. Soak with some old nails or keys for a few weeks - you'll see the colour change and intensify. I put a copper pipe on top but it didn't have much effect. It's useful to put things in a transparent container so you can see underneath.

Hey presto:

From underneath

Love how the screws show up

Looking forward to take this further in the future.

Making Tyvek Lace

I saw this short video on making lace with Tyvek and had to immediately try it.

Results not too shabby:

Not terribly successful but you learn from mistakes

Shown under the baking parchment

Shown still stuck to the stamps, cooling

I used the printing blocks/stamps I'd made in my August post on visual exercises.

A few learnings:

• set the iron between wool and cotton
• use rubber stamps (try one out beforehand) - I used this Super Soft Lino Block
• use baking parchment above and below
• be fast and press hard
• let the stamps cool after a few uses before carrying on

I love the randomness of the results even when you get the technique under control.

Really exited about the possibilities.

Another Visual Exercise

Having really enjoyed exercise 13 from Finding Your Own Visual Language - a practical guide to design & composition by Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan I decided to try nr 2.

The goal is to "explore the possibilities of stamping as a design tool."

Simply cut one lino block a day for 30 days. Or, if you can't wait, cut six in one go for five days. Then print, print, print.

They suggest using rubber erasers. I bought some 'soft lino' which is essentially a rather slim piece of rubber which is indeed very easy to cut into. A pleasure compared to real lino although the deeper you go and the nearer the sides the less sharp is the edge of the cut. Or perhaps that's just my tools.

Here's how it went for me:

Penciling in a pattern

The pattern cut - you can see how the edges 'fray' in this lino; this was happening when I was going over a previous cut with a deeper one - this lino doesn't like it

Cutting the lino

I had some plain acrylic paints and rollers from way back and decided to try out some samples.

Inking up a perspex plate

First impressions

The inking plate after an impression

First results - the orange block here has a full border and a lot of positive

Immediately soaking the blocks - acrylics dry really quickly

The next colour and some other tools to make impressions

Second sample

I also tried some out on fabric in my class.

Hodge podge of prints (this includes impressions from some screens as well as the blocks)

One block in a small range of colours

Detail - I love the painterly effect of brushing on the colour instead of impressing it

I veered noticeably towards the blocks that had less positive carved into them. This made me realise how many of the blocks I'd made with too little negative and full sharp borders making them heavy and 'blocky'. The full borders are much harder to line up than blocks that don't have borders.

So I started to reverse some of the blocks I'd made.

Two versions of the same pattern - positive and negative

And made some blocks that were all borderless and mostly negative.

Some more samples:

The green block is printed out three times left to right before re-inking therefore getting fainter each time

I also made a traditional lino cut which I overlaid on my soft lino block (printing out four times top to bottom). I love the surface quality of the leaves (plus they look so 'tumbly')

So far I haven't quite cut 30 blocks. I started out well, with a couple of consecutive days of 6 each time but then fizzled a bit. I'm finding it hard to come up with motif ideas. Partly because I'm restraining myself instead of letting loose on the lino. One evening I decided to get really angry and do whatever even if it meant slashing the lino to bits. And even though there was no-one watching I just couldn't!

So this is where Slasher Frankie has got to:

22 blocks

If you fancy taking this to another level then how about designing and printing a half drop repeating pattern?

Making my own Screens for Printing (and Thermofax Orders)

I decided to make my own screens for printing having seen how flexible (literally) the Thermofax screens are. There's nothing to say that screens have to be framed and heavy and unwieldy.

I made two types. One from plain mesh which I bought from Hunt The Moon and one from some screens I had made up by Thermofax which I bought unframed to keep the cost down.

Making up the screens

For the plain mesh I went for white 43T which is good for fabric printing. If you want to understand the mesh sizes I found these links useful: Catspit Forum and Catspit site. But you can as easily go and buy some sturdy net curtain.

The Thermofax screens come ready cut to size.

To make a frame I used a card envelope that I'd had some books delivered in as it was a good mix of flexible and stiff. I also made some without the card frame, just duct tape.

You can buy ready-cut plastic frames from Thermofax but I thought they were a bit thick and that the mini sized ones have really narrow edges on the long side. But I have yet to try them out.

Measure out and cut the card frame

Cut the opening of the card frame

Put double-sided sticky take around the edges to hold the mesh screen; if you are using a Thermofax screen then make sure to place it the right way round (they include clear instructions)

Surround the frame with duct tape

Turn over and surround the frame with more duct tape making sure to line it up with the tape on the other side of the screen

Neat corners

If you are making up a Thermofax screen then be sure to mark your screen with which side is up; I've also add a reminder to wash the screen

I also made up a totally frameless screen and this is how I did it.

Tape the mesh screen to a cutting board with masking tape - make sure to get it nice and flat by readjusting one corner at a time (I stretched this one out a bit more than you see in the photo)

Place duct tape all the way around on one side then turn over and place duct tape on the other side taking care to match up exactly over the tape underneath; or you could just fold the tape from underneath over itself - remember that you need to create a 'well' for the ink

Tidy up the edges.

Thermofax screens

I bought some thermofax screens both framed and unframed. You can pick from their ready-made range or send them an image to make up a custom screen. Their turnaround is impressive at just a day or two.

Making my own thermofax screen

I even looked into trying to make my own thermofax or similar type of screen. Here are a couple of links I found useful (spoiler: turns out thermofax machines are impossible to find and expensive):

• http://thermofaxconfidential.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/buying-thermofax-machine.html
• http://www.gericondesigns.com/weblog/?p=307

Enjoy your screen making.

A Fun and Productive Visual Exercise

This is exercise 13 from Finding Your Own Visual Language - a practical guide to design & composition by Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn & Leslie Morgan.

The goal is to "explore value, colour and textural arrangements within a composition, using a random selection of elements within a structured collage format."

This is how it works:

Step 1: make a selection of  same sized coloured or patterned paper - I've used these Japanese papers I had but in the end there was probably too much white on them; best to use something where the colour goes right across. Ideally, also, use more than 4 as you'll have more mixing choice later.

Step 2: cut a shape out from the whole stack - I've used a template. 

Step 3: exchange the cut out shapes - I wanted to do this randomly but found I couldn't!

Step 4: tape everything together.

Step 5: now cut a line - straight or curved - right across the whole stack.

Step 6: join the halves up randomly

Keep going cutting shapes and lines from the stack until you want to stop.

I ended up with this which actually joined two of the 'pieces' together as one.

There are of course lots of variations and the exercise goes on to explore what you can do with the pieces you end up with.

Here are some more:

Each one of these is A6 sized. 

This is something I tried in Paint out of curiosity - the line is a little wobbly but it captures the gist.

Some of these came out well. The bottom two were the ones I liked least as they were progressing but there's something 30s-ish about them that I don't mind now. Persevere!

Now that I look at the one above having made a montage of thumbnails I am really liking the way the top three rows work together at that scale. And I especially like the second row right hand piece.

I didn't like the end result of this one at all but it ended up in my sketchbook and then I started to doodle with some pastels around it and ended up with all this.

As an aside, I have been to see the Sonia Delaunay exhibition (read a Guardian review) and it has definitely influenced an interest in repeating pattern along the lines of wallpaper (above and below).

This colour scheme is inspired by some wallpaper I saw at work - this photo doesn't do it justice - which had a mix of colours I would never have put together: vibrant electric blue with red and terracotta.

I got a lot out of doing this exercise just in terms of using one of the pieces to suggest something different. But I'm sure there's lots more potential to unlock, just that I'm not able to see how to yet.

But I will learn.

Do you have any exercises you do that get you going?