production series: tea pots -- part 2

ok, so in part 1 of this production series, we left off at the carving stage... & then i was going to take you through some printing.

so... carving lino is all about cutting away the lino where you don't want it, & leaving it in place where you want to have your print highlighted onto the fabric (or paper, wood etc). i made a little video for you... it shows how i carved the inner detail of the tea pot.

 you will notice the line i am carving is very fine... i am using the narrow-est carving tool of my 5 tool set. i use this tool first to carefully go around and cut along the drawn design.

you use various size tools to carve away different levels of detail & surface area. use a bigger tool for quick removal & not so precious areas.

i also use this large tool to carve all the edges away, so i don't leave too many cut marks visible on the final inked print. (a few is good as it adds to the appeal of a hand-pressed blockprint).

... to also help prevent these marks, i cut (with scissors) the outer edges  - leaving about 1cm all around the design

next i glue the my design onto a wood block. mounting onto a block aids the inking & pressing processes of printing.

after the glue dries overnight, its into the shed we go for some printing. i gather my fabrics and sit & ponder for a while about what colours i want to print with...(sometimes this decision is made for me when i have custom orders -- i like custom orders!)

but for today i want some red tea pots! and so i get out my tub of red water-based printing paste, sponge up & ink my block...

flip it over... press into some fabric & hurrah!! we have a print

next week i will show you all the lovely items i have been making with my new tea pot print. 


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:: for a sneak peak, you could head over to my madeit shop and check out 'this' & let me know what you think?