Block Printing - how to

Hello and good evening! ^_^

Another week passed and with it more experimenting with hand printing on fabrics.
This time I was trying block printing.

Block printing is one of the oldest way of printing.
Carving your own stamps is a lot of fun too! 
A raised surface of the carved design that gets coated with ink, is transferred onto another material. 
Images printed using carved stamps and blocks turn out totally different than those done using screen printing method. They have very distinctive look, the edges are not crisp and each print differs from the previous one, some tend to be softer than others.


You will need:
-linoleum block
-textile ink
-various scraps of fabrics (previously washed and ironed)
- soft - lead pencil
-lino carving tools- use a U blade for cutting away large areas and a V blade for cutting details
-brayer- for applying ink

 I drew my design with a pencil directly onto a small linoleum sheet ( you can draw on a piece of paper first using soft- lead pencil and then transfer onto the lino using bone folder or what I also tried  -a spoon).

 
This is a great book full of inspirational designs^_^

 
The fun part starts here. Carving away what we don't want to be stamped- basically the raised surface that remains will be what gets transferred onto fabrics.

I am sorry I forgot to take a picture of the carving process of that same flower I used for printing so here is another example.

Once the entire block has been cut out I had to rinse it to wash away any crumbs left from carving. Make sure it's completely dry before you use it.

Time to apply ink. Note: in this tutorial I used a light cardboard  to scoop the ink onto which wasn't a good idea as it seemed to absorb the ink ( it's best to scoop the ink onto a plastic plate or a glass surface).

I rolled the brayer through the ink until the brayer was evenly coated. Then I rolled the brayer across the surface of my lino stamp a few times to make sure it's coated evenly.

 
I turned the lino upside down and pressed it firmly all areas onto a fabric giving it a few seconds to let the ink soak into the surface.

light weight linen fabric

medium weight upholstery fabric with satin like finish

Have you noticed that each print looks different? Not only depending on fabrics used as surface but also how much strenght I use when pressing a stamp onto it.

Note: All the equipment used has to be washed straightaway.

 

  I then cut out the flowers from all different fabrics and used them to embellish a bag which I made myself. You can see it below^_^

I've used free- hand sewing technique to embroider around the lines of my stamped flowers to give them more depth.

What do you think?^_^

If you decide to try block printing make sure to have a lot of fun with it! And please share the outcome, I would love to see how you get on!

Happy printing!

Gosia

xx