Hand Printed - Kim's Flower

 Made a new stamp for my internet buddy and new friend Kim.  It kind of reminds me of a hibiscus flower and has a little bit of a Hawaiian feel when printed in blue. I actually didn't know what I was going to print for Kim, I thought a couple of panelled strips and a larger piece of fabric might be able to be utilised together in some project she dreams up. Check out her lovely quilt in progress at Sarah Lizzies

Also completed a new panel for the Lotus Flower Quilt. New one below , followed by original where I dropped my stamp right in the middle of the quilt

Blue Stamp Mosaic

After yabbering about layers yesterday (and it being in the middle of the night, because once you start something and you just cant stop) I thought about the layers and how they relate to the painting i did a few years ago. I actually did two  in this theme. (the other is buried in the shed - I might revive it later today) Anyway I am blabbing cause I am tired but I thought I'd whip up a mosaic combining the two.

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

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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)