I have joined a new, local craft lab. I think of it as the crafty person's alternative to a book group. The hope is that we will get together once a month to learn a new craft (or revisit an old favorite). Our first meeting was this week. The project was block printing on fabric. I was excited to try this. I have silkscreened and tie-dyed and batiked fabric, but never block printed.
We all sketched our designs beforehand. At the meeting we carved our design into a rubber block and then, using fabric ink, printed onto our fabric of choice. I knew that I wanted to make a length of fabric, so I made a design that could be repeated in a methodical way. Others in the group carved single motifs that could be strategically placed on their fabric. For example, one woman carved an ornate rooster that she stamped onto the bottom edge of vintage dishtowels.
I ended up with a half yard of off-white linen with my fox and bird pattern printed over the entire surface. I'm not sure what I am going to do with it yet.
This was a fun project, and simple to do. Lena Corwin's "Printing by Hand" is a nice resource if you want to learn more about all sorts of techniques for printing on not just fabric, but paper, walls, lamp shades, and more.
The lovely woman who created our craft lab is the creative director at Storey Publishing. She is a new friend that I met last fall while standing on the side of the field while our sons played soccer. Storey has published many wonderful craft books. Check out the link for all sorts of crafty inspiration.