flora in triptych 2

Flora in Triptych 2 is now finally listed.

I printed this small edition of etchings in April before I went to NY and love the deep richness of those dirty reds. It's a tiny edition of 5 only as with all the messing around involved in inking up and laying three 10x10cm plates exactly on the printing bed, not to mention getting a good print (which means me not bumping that paper before I run it through the press) I would need to be printing for an aeon to have any more. I have a few others from this run that are quite quirky (plates positioned differently) and may list those separately at some point.

What have you been printing?

banksia pod red

My banksia pod tea towel is now available in a deep, dirty red after a morning spent screen printing. These are 100% linen and I've printed on both the warmer 'flax' type (pictured) and a slightly cooler 'oat'. So you can take your pick. I'll be listing the oat one in the shop later today. If you haven't tried these towels before then you're in for a treat. The quality in Russian linen is exquisite and will soften over time as it's used and washed and loved.

thoughts on making

This post is about the importance of making.

A no-brainer for those who make, and no doubt also for many who have art/design/craft/making blogs of some kind or other. You already know how valuable the act of making is.

But it's interesting to see how all the wonder and goodness and beauty that makers know comes from making is now starting to be recognised in broader society. People are starting to sit up and take notice of making and makers. Which is a great thing because it doesn't seem so long ago that craft and other making type domains were looked down upon and seen as, well, kind of quaint, but not much more than that. And the thing I'm also noticing is the boundary between art/design and making generally is blurring. And I, for one, am very happy about that blurred boundary.

David Guantlett's book 'Making is Connecting' is one that pulls ideas about the value and place of making together along with a dash of history for good measure. It's quite a good read and for an academic (he's Prof of Media & Communications at the Uni of Westminster), David writes in a very accessible way.

Yesterday Lindy Osborne, an architect and academic, was live tweeting (@LindyOsborne) from the 2012 Experience Conference - a national architecture conference in Brisbane. Two of her tweets caught my eye:

'Students take note: 'The hand is the most important method of learning.' Murcutt wisdom.'

and

'Murcutt keeps focussing on importance of 'making' in his discussions with Wang Shu. Wish every QUT archi student was here.  '

Her enthusiastic references to Murcutt were from Glenn Murcutt, also an architect, who was hosting one of the sessions at the conference. I was intrigued and also elated to hear an architect valuing making and work done by the hand as a way to learn given how digitally savvy that industry has become. 

And every time I watch an episode of Grand Designs lately there is a story about somebody needing to make with their hands, the result often being they give up indoor day jobs to work onsite building their dream houses. Long gone are the days when it was somewhat shameful to work with our hands and more desirable to do 'clean work' indoors, most often behind a computer. Tradies are valued quite highly these days for the skills and practical handwork they can do. And why shouldn't they be?

So makers of all kinds. It feels like the wheels are turning our way. Do you feel it too?

succulent flowers in red

Succulent flowers in red block printed by hand on cotton/linen blend fabric.

I had a lot of fun printing this piece. Unfortunately the light in these pics (especially that third one, what's going on there I wonder) makes the base fabric look slightly pink. Rest assured it's not. Instead it's a lovely natural shade. More like ivory. I have a piece printed with the succulent flowers in black ink that I'm tempted to sew into a skirt. I like the idea of using it in one panel at the front and perhaps the rest of the skirt in a dark light-weight denim. Sewers out there - is this idea a bit crazy?

hozuki cushion

All finished as of this morning: hozuki screen print cushion cover. Printed on a natural cotton/linen blend fabric. I know the hozuki pattern is quite bold and might not be to everyone's liking but it sure does give that old green arm chair of ours a lift. We've been meaning to get that chair (and its pair) recovered for several years now. See this previous post for an explanation of hozuki.

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.

giving

Ask anyone and you will find I'm not known for my joyful approach towards the 25th. But I do have nephews & nieces. And we have a family kris kringle. So to decrease my contribution to the consumerist drive at this time of year if I can't make stuff for gifts I make the wrapping paper. And the cards. It's the least I can do.I use plain old brown paper by the roll as my back drop. Last year I made ginger bread for my work colleagues and wrapped them up with little home made gift tags. I don't know if I will get that excited again this year. It was like a factory in our kitchen getting all that organised.

Do you have any handmade tricks for this time of year? Ways to escape dishing out bucket loads of money?

hanabi print tea towel

Screen printed by hand on cotton/linen blend fabric in bone. I even made the tea towel! Now that was a lot of fun. It didn't take long for my teenage memory of sewing to kick in again once I put my hands on a sewing machine. The tea cup in the first pic is one of my favourite pieces from a pottery village called Shigaraki near Kyoto.

Hanabi means fireworks in Japanese. Thanks to hiki-san for the name suggestion.

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!

handmade nation

Someone and something exciting I discovered by going to the Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair last weekend was Faythe Levine and Handmade Nation. Faythe is a filmmaker, author, independent curator and creative director. In 2006 she traveled around the US interviewing more than 50 crafters and made a documentary film on the rise of DIY and the new wave of art, craft and design titled Handmade Nation. The film is set for release later this year and the following clip is a sneak preview. It looks really really inspiring: