hozuki love

I think I'm starting to get my printing mojo back. It's been missing a bit these last few months and I think it's because I've had so much writing to do for my other work that all my creative energy was going in that direction. So no mojo left for printmaking. But lately I've been getting out my tools and playing again. This makes me so happy.

Tonight I tested this screen print design. I hand cut the design on drafting film and did this wee test run on a scrap of natural cotton/linen blend. The design draws from a previous woodblock print of mine called 'hozuki', or Chinese Lantern plant in English. I think these plants are an exquisite, magical gift from nature. This lovely pic of one below is from jam343 on flickr.

particles in chocolate brown

For a long time now I've been wanting to put part of a screen print design I did a months ago on fabric. And yesterday I did! Introducing: particles in chocolate brown ink on natural Indian cotton. I don't have a professional set up at home so this was quite a challenge. Since my previous print on paper had been made with a hand cut paper stencil that had the lifespan of just that one printing session I had to hand cut the stencil for particles again. Mixing the ink for the exact shade of chocolate brown took longer than I expected. These pics make the ink look black but it's a delicious, dare I say very edible shade of chocolate brown.
And because the Indian cotton I printed on is in a lovely natural shade I'm quite excited about how well the chocolate brown sits on it. I printed about 2 metres of fabric using the placement method of screen printing which took a while as I had to take care not to smudge wet ink I'd just printed. I'd like to use the fabric to make a shirt for summer based on the design of one I already have. Or even some simple serviettes. Now if I only had a sewing machine and could sew!

fragile particles

Finally. Screen printed. Using a hand cut paper stencil.
Click on an image to see close up.
More pics here.