Screenprinting for Beginners (Me!)

Kings Theatre Creative is a local creative community space and art gallery in Kawakawa, Northland (home of the famous Hundertwasser public toilets).  I've had quilts hanging there as part of their exhibitions, and sold at least three, woot!!

As part of their Winter program they've organised some one-day creative workshops.  One of them was Introduction to Screenprinting.  I jumped at the chance to get a hands-on with a teacher who really knows the ins and outs of this technique, because I've dabbled in it a little on my own, but there comes a point where you really need proper instruction.

Jasmine was our teacher and she hails from Te Kowhai Print Trust in Whangarei - a facility with traditional and modern printing equipment and techniques, established to teach and support people of all ages in the art of printmaking.

I had a blast and learnt so much!  We started by having the process explained to us with a simple example that Jasmine had constructed.  We watched her pull a print from one layer of stencil and it got us all itching to get stuck in.

But first we all had to draw our own drawings and create newsprint stencils from that.  I chose a cormorant drawing that I've used before in my quilts as an appliqué motif, but thought it would lend itself nicely to a screenprint stencil.

In the photo above, you can see the original sketch top left, then the tracing I took off it with colour notes bottom left, and on the right are two of my newsprint stencils.

Then we were allowed to start printing!  It was really interesting to see everyone's drawings come alive with the layers of stencils.  My first two stencils were of the tiny yellow and blue eye details of the cormorant so were not very exciting, but once I started layering on the wings and body, I couldn't stop grinning!

I have a lot to learn and of the ten prints we made, probably only four of them are of a standard that I'm really pleased with.  But not too bad for a first go!

My quilty friend, Suz, pointed out that she can see a lot of influence in this from my 100 days of scissors and paper cutting project that I'm doing.  And I agree.  It's interesting how much unconscious crossover there is when you start comparing the different strands of your creative projects.

So yay!  I can see more screen printing in my future.  In exactly what form I'm not sure, but now I know more of the ins and outs, I'm confident to try it again and continue my learning.

Three Stand Sentinel

One of the consolidation tasks I'm doing in my quilting life is putting together a quilt register.  It would make my life a lot easier if I had all the details (especially the size) of all my quilts at my fingertips.

And whilst inputting one of my latest quilts, I realised that I had never shown you the final product.

This is 'Three Stand Sentinel' and it's 18 inches by 34 1/2 inches.  It was begun in a class by Sue Benner, then grew and evolved once I got it home.  I showed plenty of in progress shots, but never a finished one.

I'm still not entirely happy with my watermark program.  I'm now using Photobulk and I still think it notches up the saturation of my colours.  Any suggestions?

Some detail shots for you.  The background is monoprinted and hand dyed fabric, then the ripples, wharf posts and birds are fused collage.  Mostly using my hand dyes but some repurposed shirts and commercial solid fabrics made it in too.

I used a little organza for the shadows on the poles and I used prismacolour pencils for the faces.  Can you see where I butted up two background panels and joined them using a wide zig-zag?  No quilt police around here!

And then lots of free motion quilting to hold it all down.  To finish it I went with a binding.  I liked the lift the turquoise solid gave the quilt and the quilt was way too stiff to attempt a facing, which is my usual way of finishing off art quilts.

I'm really pleased with the final product.  I think the hardest thing was coming up with a name.  Some quilters seem to be able to do that effortlessly.  Not me.

And the seagulls seem to like it too.  Cheeky!  I would have cried if he'd pooped on it, but I had to grab a shot before I scared him away.

What's on Your Design Wall Wednesday

I'm trying to modify my working habits.  Usually I would flit from project to project.  If I get a bit stuck or frustrated, I'd put down whatever it was I was working on and start or work on something else.  I don't have the room to keep lots of projects spread out here and I know that if I put them away, a lot of them wouldn't surface again!

So I'm trying to stick one thing through until the bitter end.  With a bit of hand work when I'm out and about and a fairly simple piecing project for quiet times at work, I think I might be able to make it work.

The project I'm currently working on is one I started in my class with Sue Benner.  I made the background panel in class and then played around with different ways of constructing the shags/cormorants.  I was trying for a sketchy or loose look and the first two weren't right.  The last one was, but was too big for the panel.

Once home, I constructed more background panels to enlarge the quilt to fit the first bird.  I constructed two more birds, loosely working from photos I had taken out at Urupukapuka Island.

I played around with balancing the layout of the birds.  I'm trying to convey how I feel when I watch these birds - peaceful and calm and enjoying of the beauty of the scene.  So I want a balanced, tranquil feel to the quilt.  This means getting the layout right so nothing feels 'odd' or 'unsettled'.

Next I worked on the poles that the shags are standing on.  The mix of fabrics I used was too contrasting and too red to start with, so I used a bit of coloured pencil and a bit textile paint to tone the colours down and blend them together more.  These little changes can make a big difference.

More playing around with the layout of the birds.  Now that I have it up on a design wall I can use white cropping strips to see how it will looks once trimmed.  And that changes how the birds sit in the space.

Lastly, the reflections of the poles in the water.  The poles need to be placed in space with relation to their surroundings or they just look like they are 'plonked' there.  A few ripply reflections is giving them a relation to the water.

I think it's slowly coming together.  And I'm enjoying just keeping with one project and seeing it through the little sticking points.

So what's on your design wall?

Photography

Today was the last day of school holidays.  Big sigh of relief from me!  Yesterday we thought we'd make the most of our last day with visiting cousins and get out and about.

My hubby picked us up from Parekura Bay in his boat and took us for a short trip to Urupukapuka Island.  Looks really picturesque, huh?  Well you could lean at about a 45 degree angle and not fall over...howling gale!

We took a walk to a slightly more sheltered beach where I practiced my photography.  These are variable oyster catchers.

The endangered dotterel was tricky, they don't stand still for long.  He was flipping seaweed over to look for critters.

Aren't these colours intense?  And not a photoshop in sight I promise!  See the shags?  (Comorants, for those non-Kiwis).

Here they are closer.

And closer still.

They were having trouble drying their wings because the wind gusts would buffet them too much.

And just a couple of shots of a couple of my beautiful nieces.  They sometimes sit still longer than a dotterel...

It was a beautiful day despite the wind.  And then we finished it off with scallops for dinner.  Yum!