Horizons - ideas developing

16 March 2013

A spurt of creativity last night and this morning.

First off, a new print block.


This is part of an ongoing project based on the theme of Horizons.  I have been using the the Medina al-Zahra is Southern Spain as my inspiration for this.

This print block is made with my favourite technique - using childrens play foam sheets which you can get from places like The Works or Hobbycraft.  I literally blew up a photograph from my Medina collection, used a soft pencil to  mark/draw on the the photograph the lines I wanted to transfer, then turned it over and pressed again onto the foam.  The lines transferred enough to give me the template to cut out.

I just stick the cut foam onto a piece of stiff card.  Then I marked the detail using a soldering tool.  Now, dear reader, this does give off pungent fumes so if you use this technique you do need to do this is a very well ventilated space (it certainly isn't a technique to take to a workshop!) so WhippetX and I had the back door open - on a very chilly March evening!

And here is the first print off this block - in one of my sketch books.


I was happy with this, and felt no more tinkering with the block was needed to went staight on to try it out some more (by the way I am using a fairly fluid acylic paint here - again one from Hobbycraft - it's like a Golden Acrylic I think - but it isn't that brand).




These are printed onto papers prepared from that old recipe book. I described the process here.

Now, my thinking is to work on these paper backgrounds a bit more and then use a service such as Fingerprint to get the papers printed up digitally onto a single piece of cloth and then quilt/embroider.  The top piece I feel has more potential.  I was thinking about entering this into a Contemporary Quilter's Guild Challenge, but I don't think the orientation of the piece will be right.  I need to go with my gut instinct here, and while I love the idea of entering a piece don't feel I can compromise to fit the brief (or at least not with this design).  But this is a WIP so we'll see.

4 comments

  1. Thanks for the information about how you make your print block, this seems very straightforward. Your cloth is looking very interesting.

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    Replies
    1. Yes - using foam is dead easy. You don't get very 'clean' lines with foam and certainly not with acrylic paint, but currently this is the effect that I like. I have built up quite a collection over the last year or so and use them quite a lot.

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  2. Ooh! Need to find my sticky foam stuff!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It doesn't have to be the sticky stuff. Agreed, that's convenient but it sticks onto card just fine with PVA glue. Such a great way to make print blocks!

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