More Handprinted Stuff

 \

 More denim blue stamping done yesterday.. the same but different. The original stamping is the last photo. I did some strips of leaves to utilise as borders if i need it. If I do some more of these i think I will actually draw up a pattern next time, now that I have had a play with the stamps and have got a fair idea of placement.

I also printed off a few monkeys. When I made up my rainbow monkey quilt I was one monkey short and ran out of fabric to print on. So all those rainbow squares are waiting for one other monkey to join them to complete the quilt top ( or at least have enough pieces so I can sew it together to complete it).

Next days off

New Stamp, Blue Stamp

Printing more stuff... being inspired by the lovely detailed print of  Ernest Haeckel

It kind of reminds me of trilobites, the shape and form. When repeated a little like pebbled layers..

 So I added an extra layer with one of my first stamps .. a seed head from the Magnolia stamps, kind of  similar in shape.

I kept on dropping my new stamp on my material because i haven't fastened a handle on it yet ( a big block of wood.).So lots of blobs of ink and miss prints. You get to see the best bits! Photography is great because you can edit out the unwanted bits. If I get time I might invest in some perspex so I can see where I am placing the stamp as well.

Printed Stuff - A Compilation

I was looking in my stamp box after finishing printing the blue denim flower and saw I was getting quite a collection of stamp blocks. This led me to start to look over previous prints that I've made and I then  decided to put them all together in a quick photographic display.

Printed stuff and what I've made with it...

Well that's tha, back to the printing Block!

Denim Blue Stamping

Don't you just love blue and white colourings?  It is always fresh, never goes out of fashion and suits everybody.
For a while now I have been wanting to print in navy blue but can never find the right coloured blue printing ink, so I decided to mix my own colour.
The risk of mixing your own colour is that you may just produce muck - which becomes very expensive in terms of ink and when you do produce something you like you will never be able to produce that colour in the exact same way again...so how much do you mix??

Last night I decided it was time to carve a new stamp. I had been toying with the idea of producing something inspired by the Adelaide Festival Fringe artwork - By Ernest Haeckel, view here so see full display of this print.
Nature is very good at repetition and is very precise in its patterning.There is lots to inspire. I on the other hand am not so precise and would never dream of competing with mother nature, so have kept my design simple to make the carving a little simpler

By no means perfect, but in repetition is effective

Of course I ran out of ink and couldn't fill my length of material...so after mixing another batch I decided to change the type of print and mix it up a little.
It's hard to see here but there is a difference in colour - the second mixing is darker ( you can see it in the last photo)

So that's my afternoon of printing.. no plans for the material yet.
Cheers Monique x

Stamping = Geranium leaf

\

Trying to stamp an under colour and then over stamp to imprint veins - mmm my stamps dont match up and I think I knew that. There are elements of this I like but when you look at the entire printing cloth I am not really impressed, Luckily it can be cut up into tiny little pieces.. well bits and pieces.

Got  my marriage certificate = wrong date of birth! Go figure..well I have four months to sort that one out.

Ps.. The picture of the seed pods (2 posts ago = racous birds) is not Jacaranda but I do have access to them Sharmayne and will send them on to you... I dont know what tree that was but it looked like the jacaranda leaf...maybe its a stink bomb tree..anyway my apologies

Geranium leaf Stamp

I quite like the look of Geraniums and always think of those lovely sunny pots set out on the stairs - big red floral displays splashed against the white washed buildings in Greece with a brilliant blue ocean in the background. Sadly I can't stand the smell of the plant so refuse to keep them. They are a nice hardy plant in the blazing sun though and this would make them appealing to plant.

My neighbour has a pink geranium growing and it hangs over the fence. Sometimes when I walk out to hang the washing on the line I look up into the leaves with the sun shining through and am fascinated with the patterning of the veins in the leaves

This week I have tried some eco dying. I utilised old eucalyptus leaves and rosemary and only obtained a slight leaf imprinted ( I really should be more patient and leave my bundles much longer), So I decided to over print my naturally dyed material with my newly carved stamp

 

 I've mixed yellow red and a hint of blue to obtain a sour yellow colour - very subtle. I mixed only small amount as I am running out of yellow fabric ink and didn't quite make the full length of my material

Hence a bit of blue mixed into the left over colour on the stamping pad to make a bluey - green

And a little of the end of the day ( a stinking hot day)  spent on the balcony of the local looking over Seacliff beach (about 9pm)

Fan Stamp

Yesterday I started to make plans for a new stamp.

I wanted to produce a fan shape that would fit in rows and also be able to print a circle or repeat pattern with, (something like below.)

I've abandoned the idea of the zigzag line through the fan shape for the moment, at least until I can perfect the shape of the fan first and opted for plant life. It was just too hard to get the spacing right.  After meandering through some of my old pages I was quite taken by an ink drawing and thought it would lend itself to being carved in a stamp block.

And this is what I came up with. My curve is not quite right , it was right when I drew it but somewhere in the carving process my curve became very slightly off, so maybe I will have to chip a little off and try to improve the curve or just start again. Starting again will have to wait until I have more rubber blocks to carve.

That little effort took me all afternoon to do! And my stamping ink isn't very evenly spread as I used a sponge but as an overall effect it is quite pleasing to the eye. Still have to produce the leaf stamp and trial it together with the fan shape....always tomorrow because I dont have to go to work... yeh!!!!

Designing a new stamp

I really love the shape of the fan and am partial to circular shapes. I nearly always doodle in circles and add leaves and vine as I doodle. I do this particularly whilst listening to handover at work, you will find my hand stray to the edges of my sheet and fill in the white voids with pattern. Just amusing my hand whilst my mind focuses on the job at hand!

Today, whilst waiting for Jordana to complete her Maui board training with her surf life saving group, I sat down at the club coffee shop with my sketch book, pens and pencils and my Kaffe Fassett quilt book - Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts.(and ordered a large ice coffee).

1.sea urchin by monique'smess 2.3.4. Kaffe Fassett patterrn  5. Water & Sewage man hole 6.Kaffe Fassett inspiration 7.working on my pattern 8.Kaffe Fassett inspiration 9. linoprint by me

 I'm sure I must provide some amusement to all the beach goers as I spread myself out at the table underneath the umbrella and draw, rub and cut out shapes trying to find the perfect curve, adjusting a line and experimenting with pattern.
I was trying to design a shape that could be layered one on top of another to form  multiple fan shapes and then in another pattern fit in a square with leaves and form a circle.

I have also been out walking in the OHallaran Hill Reserve and photographed the golden light and colour.
The light was very sun drenched as the sun prepared to tuck away for the night bouncing the last rays for the day giving a spectacular display. Don't you just love thistles? Purple or dried they are spectacular plants, strong and bold limbs and  leaves but soft and gentle looking crowns. They make a statement wherever you find them.

Orange bugs on threaded pompoms!

 Even the greys spoke loudly in these gumnuts..

Hand Printed Fabric Swap

My son gets up really early for swimming training , usually between 0430 and 0445 am, and it is a rare day that I will sleep through his preparations to leave the house. I do admire his stamina at getting up so consistently and the effort then he ensures he puts into his studies, no matter how tired he is.

Any how this morning nothing was going to get me back to sleep. Rather than wake the rest of the household, I holed up in my bed and started to play with the stamps and ink on paper

Looks a little familiar but a twist on placement utilising the original centre of the lotus flower to pattern.

Still bored and wide awake I decided to carve another stamp. Something simple because I was lounging in bed! So I carved a circle with lines circling around., then I went crazy stamping.

This afternoon I tried to be a little more organized  in my placement. It took quite a few goes to get the right amount of ink on the stamp and to figure out the placement of the grey centres so that they would all fit without overlapping or looking to haphazard.

I've really got to work on my spacing

By the time I finished this lot my back was killing me! I have new found admiration for the girls who do this type of work all the time. Just reminds me I am not as young as I used to be.

 By the time I finished this material I thought it looked a bit bare - too may wide open spaces.

So I plopped another  pink circle middle of the paddock and filled the gap a little

So many ideas, so little time and such a sore back! I'm going to my sisters shortly and will anaesthetise it with a white wine or two. Have a great weekend!