don't fence me in...

when the weather was nicer at the beginning of the holidays, the boys and i biked up to the little village playground. it's never busy there and it's rather picturesque - down a fairly long track, and snuggled in between a paddock with a horse called annie and the cricket field. the view beyond these things is pretty too - lots of grazing sheep and with meadows behind. the boys played, i played too - i took my sketchbook with me and drew in the sun. it struck me that there were lots of fences, both wire and wood - ugly in a way, but lots of different shapes and grids - some new, some bent up and old, different angles and lines. so i drew them all and turned them into this design, called, surprisingly, fences.

brushstrokes...

a few new things over at my shop today. a new pattern, brushstokes has been hanging around for a while and i've not got around to photographing it as the days are a bit dull. luckily i managed to get some decent light this morning, and just in time as it's tipped down with rain ever since! i've also made some sets of the little paper houses, i'm so happy with them, especially with those metallic ink roofs...which may give you an idea of what's to come from me in the near future, bearing in mind a delivery of new ink colours and the christmas season! hmmmmm...metallics...i've also got another design to release, the 'loops' one which looks completely delicious done in copper...double hmmmmm...

on the eve of my birthday...

so, tomorrow i turn 35. it's supposed to be a sunny weekend, so i'm rather excited about my birthday bbq with friends and family, and only a little bit depressed that i'm now classed as being in my mid thirties and i'm too old to be a super model, god dammit.

...yesterday i had a making day, for no other rhyme or reason than to please myself. it went nightmarishly wrong, nothing went very right, including this piece of canvas fabric - too many colours, and too many patterns. nonetheless i felt i had to try and save my making day from being a disaster and used the fabric to make a new handbag. it's actually a bit small, but it holds my purse nicely along with with my sunglasses, but not much else, opps. i even managed to include to inside pockets on the lining...it was only ever meant to be a protoype, so i'm not too upset. i leant a few things, so it's all good. and now i must run as i've had a phonecall to let me know my birthday present from sam is ready for collecting. bless him, it's a good 'un this year, it begins with 'apple' and ends in 'mac'. yay!

drawn

over the last few nights, as the sun has gone down, i've curled up on the sofa at the end of our bed overlooking our front garden and the fields beyond. armed with a cup of tea, my cartridge pad, new drawing pens and the hallmark channel, i've finished this new design. it's nameless as yet...but i have completely loved drawing it and getting out of my studio (where the computer proves to be a big distraction) expect new screenprinted fabric in a couple of weeks! i'm excited about this one!

new autumn colours

a fairly hefty printing session at the weekend has resulted in new colours in the shop. available singly (is that a word? it looks totally wrong) and in two different packs. it's certainly feeling more autumnal around here today!

busy...

day printing a new colour way in rose and plum - i love making up colour names, it's like eating something yummy. hmm, am i weird? prolly. anyhoo, i've decided to offer little packs of three as well as the individual colours. y'know, for colour matched fabric project goodness with little brain power needed on your account. result all 'round. as always, available here!

some help please? there's a prize...

i really ought to wait until tomorrow to post these, when i've had time to properly work out some really yummy colourways - but i'm just too impatient! i'm planning on selling them all as singular screen prints and also as a two colour print with the check as a background. the checked one will work on it's own acting as a 'plain' that will also go with the floral one or the original totem design in a project. i've decided to call the checked one (or plaid) 'weave' as it was inspired by a piece of scrim i had lying around. BUT i don't have names for the check background/flowers or the flowers on their own...which is where i hoped you guys might help. if you could come up with names for both of these pieces by leaving a comment below, to sweeten the deal i will of course have a little prize for the names i like the most (a piece each of 3 fabrics.) i'm after something a bit more original than 'flowers' or 'flora' which is boringly what i was going to call the flower one. i also thought the other could be called 'woven flowers'...but i'm sure one of you could be a lot more creative! thanks in advance, and shall we say deadline is thursday 11th at 12pm gmt? that gives you a day and a half. can't wait to see what you come up with :) x

tiny weeny

i liked making the other one so much, i've got a little collection of four tiny ones on the go...this one is 'green leaf' and is 6 inches (15cm) square. i haven't done anything like this for SO long - and i'm having a blast! i also printed some more 'seafoam turquoise' pieces of fabric this afternoon, it's by far the most popular colour in my summersville shop so i've made sure to stock up on it. what's the betting i don't sell any now for ages? ;) god, i had a nightmare the other day - (well, i suppose in the grand scheme of things it was no biggie, nobody died or anything) i went to have a mammoth printing session and found my screen had a huge rip in it, gah! so i taped up the rip, and luckily it's still usable, i just have to print everything in two goes instead of just one. because i had to order a replacement mesh, i also ordered two more screens in different designs. one is meant to go on the top of the other, so it'll be my first two-colour print, but it's not at all complicated, i thought i'd better go fairly simple for starters. actually, i've gone a bit mad today, i've ordered more of the lovely oatmeal base cloth i've been printing on, and also some new colours of the screen ink...so new designs in new colourways coming soon, exciting!

pile o' prints

well, i've been in a printing frenzy most of the weekend, trying out various colours on different fabrics and textures, and handwashing and ironing to make sure of colour fastness and so far so good. i've decided to put together little packs of small pieces (10 x 15 inches, 25 x 38 cm) for sale, i've just got to decide on colour combinations and have a mammoth print session to get them all done. i've chosen to print on this gorgeous oatmeal cotton - it looks a little like linen but has a softer handle. i shall also print on white calico (muslin) - it's amazing how vibrant the same colours look on white. it's a finer cloth though so would be best for lighter projects and in quilts. i'm just loving that leaf green colour above, and the bright pink is lovely too. the raspberry red colour is strange because the ink tends to bleed more, and it's not just on this fabric. it's a shame because it's a really rich colour - but that's why i did all this experimenting. anyway, i've got plenty of samples to start making some bits and pieces too - but what i really need is for someone to create the 40 hour day and babysit the boys. can anyone help? (oh my, school starts in just over a week...yay!)

a bit o' red

of course, i couldn't do all this printing without using red...

result!

well, these are rather quickly done - i managed a total of about 30 minutes printing, tops. it was nice and quick and clean-up was also easy, so just goes to show it needn't be a hassle.

i made a slight mistake with my screen - i put two photocopies of the same design together, and of course, it's about 2 mm out, so there's a bit of a stripey gap in the middle of the print which is a bugger, but a lesson learned for next time. i obviously need to experiment more, but i need a whole lump of time to do it, something that's unlikely to happen in the summers holidays! i mixed the ink myself, it's a lovely light seafoamy turquoise colour and there's plenty to make some bits and bobs with...anyway, gotta fly, ill child screeching.

hmmm...let's see shall we?

this is the first time i've used this...and i admit i'm rather sceptical. it's speedball drawing fluid for screen printing. the idea is you draw what you want to print with this blue liquid, then coat the whole thing in the red screen filler. i've actually already done that, it's drying as we speak. once dry, you spray the design with cold water, and in theory, the blue washes out leaving the screen red. then you print away. no prizes for guessing what i'll be doing this evening...and very probably in the morning in my jim-jams :) if the results are any good i shall post them. if i post tomorrow and there's no mention of the screen printing, assume the worst.

scribble

although i really, really would like a print gocco, it is rather limiting in size, and all those extra bit and bobs you have to have...anyway whilst trawling the net for some art supplies, i stumbled upon 'art discount', a fantastic art goods suppliers and they had this permaset screen printing ink. it's rather marvelous because it's eco-friendly, completely water based, and you can use it on fabric or paper for screen printing or block printing. for me, perfect. so i treated myself to every colour, and this morning set to work in my jim-jams. (because i couldn't wait, what a surprise.) inspired by my red 'plant life' in the last post, i played around with the 'scarlet' on various media. the best results were on photocopy paper (typical) and this lovely flecked oatmeal cotton. (the design is a really old screen from a million years ago, but a great background for all those layers i plan on building up!) next job: making more screens and playing around with all these lovely colours...does life get any better than this?