Live it: Letterpress printing with Inky and the Beast

We are throwing it back a bit now and looking at a workshop we went to in June - seems like such a long time ago - with Inky and the Beast.  The lovely Jen has a lovely big studio at the end of her garden which means she can take people in to learn all about the art of Letterpress printing!  This is something that we both have wanted to do for ages.  Both being Design students when we met, we both get silly excited about paper thickness, print and type!  So this workshop was perfect for us!

Let's meet: Zeena Shah

Well hello there everyone, we have a treat in store for you today with our Let's meet feature.  We have been catching up with the very lovely Zeena Shah at events and markets for a while now and finally managed to pin her down for a chat.  She is one busy woman and so we are super happy she gave us a little insight into what she is up to and loving at the moment. So, over to Zeena ...

Make it: Dinosaur birthday card linocut print

Hey all, after my Geometric Print tutorial way back in January, I thought it was about time to step up the printing game and show you another technique of Linocuts.  This also shows one of the printing techniques in one of the craft books you can win over on the blog this week, see the post here for more details (competition only open until the 18th March 2016).

I have always been a fan of the easy carve lino, it makes life so much simpler and is easier to handle and gives you less cuts on your hand - always a good thing!  On that, one thing to note is that the tools are sharp, so watch your hands, always carve away from you or your hand and keep plenty of plasters around - just in case.  Just like papercutting, this can be a dangerous game!  So lets get started.

You will need:  Lino of some sort (I found this easy carve lino in Tiger), Card or whatever you want to print onto, ink roller, Safety hand guard, tea towel or something to protect your surface, paintbrush, pencil, lino cutter with different blades, rubber, acrylic paint.  You may also need a tray to put your paint in - not pictured.  You can buy a starter kit from places like Cass Art.

Step 1:  Start by drawing your design onto your lino, I chose to draw this cute dinosaur.  The pack from Tiger comes with some handy pieces of tracing paper to use so that you can get your design right before going onto lino.  But otherwise just draw straight onto it.  Pencil is better to use as then any ink will not bleed when you use any ink or paint later.  Remember as always with printing, anything you draw will be mirror imaged when you print.  So if you want something to be a particular way around, draw it the opposite way.

Step 2:  Then you can start to carve.  Always carve away from you and I like to try and get as much carving done in the same direction.  But sometimes it is easier to follow the outline first and then carve away from it.  It is up to preference of how you find it works better for you.  I would start with a simpler picture first, curves actually work out easier to do rather than sharp points and straight lines.

You could also use a hand safety guard if you prefer so that you can push against it for leverage and keep your fingers intact!  The idea with lino is to cut away any parts that you do not want.  This lino from Tiger is great as it has a different colour in the middle of it and so you can see when you have taken away enough.  It is also very thick, which helps as I like to cut down to about half the thickness of the lino so that I can make sure that the right areas will not come out when printing.

Step 3:  When you have finished carving you will have a lovely pile of lino to get rid of and be able to see your design in more detail.  You can then go around and make sure there are no parts that will go above your design, so that it will add to your chosen design when the paint is added.

Step 4:  Add some of your acrylic paint to an old tray or glass chopping board and using the ink roller roll it out to cover your roller and make sure all the paint is spread evenly.  I find acrylic paint is better to use as it is stickier and so keeps to the roller and lino better.

Step 5:  Then you can proceed to cover your lino with the paint.  At this point if there are any areas that are too high, then you will be able to see them and so can cut them away before printing.

Step 6:  Get your card or whatever you want to print onto and put it onto a surface where paint doesn't matter if it gets onto it.  I always use an old tea towel, so that it gives a good soft surface to press onto too.

Step 7:  Then position your lino on top of the card, making sure you don't move it, just press down.  Some people like to use a clean ink roller and go over the top to make sure it is fully pressed.  Then start to peel away the lino, again making sure you don't move it, or it will smudge.

You will then have your finished card!  This one is perfect for someone who really loves dinosaurs!

These are some of my other linocuts, I have so many more, but I thought a sample would do.  You can cut them so that it is only the outline you see, like the elephant.  Or you could cut around the lino to make an outline without having to carve the whole of the outside like the giraffe shape.  You can add a small cut to a block so that it is easier to handle for printing, like the leaf one here.

I hope you enjoyed learning how to do more printing, I think I will do a few more of these tutorials to show different ways of printing, as I find it quite therapeutic.

What would you like to learn to print?  Any who would you make it for, let us know in the comments below.  Also if you do have a go at any of our tutorials please do #livelovemake on twitter or instagram and so we can take a look.

H,xxx

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Make it: Geometric Print

Its always good to get back to doing a bit of something you enjoy while you are hibernating for the winter and so I thought I would start back with printing.  It's something I do quite a lot at work and I love, but I want to get back to doing more for myself and at home.  It really is a simple thing to do on a kitchen table on a rainy afternoon and with the rise of the geometric print all over Etsy and Not on the High Street, I thought it would be the perfect introduction to printing for those who have never done it before.

First up is the materials, you will need: Acrylic Paint in colours of your choice, paint tray - I use an old plate, funky foam, glue, pencil, scissors, paper, cardboard and a paint brush or sponge.

You will need to think about your design so that you can make your stamps first.  I kept this one very simple and decided to make triangles.  Draw your design and cut the funky foam out before glue-ing the foam onto a piece of cardboard.  You need something to hold onto when stamping so the cardboard works well, but it could be wood, bottle caps or corks, whatever works for you.  I decided to make 3 stamps for each of my colours, but you could reuse the stamps and just give them a clean off with some water in between.  Just make sure not to make them too damp or the water will make the paint too thin.

Once the stamps are made, I thought about how I wanted my print to layout and did a little sketch. You might want to do this sketch first and so you know which stamps to make but I knew I wanted to use triangles for this design and so it was just a case of how it was to be laid out.

Then get your paints out, my turquoise coloured paint was a bit too blue originally and so I added some more yellow to make it more green and mixed it up.  You can use a paintbrush or sponge to add the paint onto your stamp, just make sure it has a thin layer of paint and not too thick.  I would suggest keeping a spare piece of paper next to you to try out first, so that you don't ruin your finished piece.

Once you have your paint on your stamp, turn it over and press down on the paper, make sure not to twist it or it will smudge.  If there is too much paint on the stamp it will feel like it is moving when you push down and so this is a good indication of too much paint.

Press down on all the areas of the stamp and pull off directly upwards, this is where the cardboard becomes useful to pull up quickly and cleanly.

I printed each of my colours separately, but you could do a row at a time if you would prefer.

The last colour, was my copper paint which had a different consistency and so you can see from the bottom right of the picture that it leaked from the side of the stamp on the first one - too much paint!  But I quite liked it and so decided to stick with it for this print.

That's it,  you are finished.  Just to leave it for a good few hours for the paint to dry completely.  Then you can put it in a frame, stick it up with washi tape - a firm favourite of ours or give it to someone else as a present.

You can make this as complicated or simple as you like, some triangles interlocking down the middle of the paper, or circles in all kinds of colours would work nicely too.  Just make sure that if you are printing on top of another colour the top colour is darker than the bottom colour or it will show through.

So, what do you think?  Hope you like it, goes very well with my gallery wall and so I think I will keep this one.  I thought about doing a series of posts about printing and so showing you how easy it is and the effects you can get, what do you think?  Let me know in the comments below.

It's so great to see how easy it is to make your own artwork.  There really is so much of this about at the moment and so making your own unique piece is definitely that extra bit special.

H, xxx


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Makers Month: Super + Super Retro Lampshade Tutorial

Its our final day of Makers Month and what a treat we have for you today.  We  spoke to the very lovely Amy at Super + Super who are based in Brighton and now Nottingham, who gave us one of their lovely tutorials from their Printmaking book.  Go check out their other books too, they have Embroidery, Papercutting and Crochet too.

So over to Super + Super.  This is one for the textile lovers and is a slightly more technical project. Try to source some second-hand or vintage fabric to give this 1950s-inspired print a little extra authenticity.

What you need:  Old birdcage-style lampshade frame, Up to 39in (1m) of plain white fabric, Scissors, Pinking shears, Pins, Fabric ink or paint, Sponge roller, Small wooden block, Cotton string, Embroidery needle and sharp, Thread, 39in (1m) ribbon, Tape measure.

1. Remove any remains of old fabric covering your lampshade frame. Measure the top and bottom diameters of the lampshade. The biggest measurement will be the length to cut the fabric to.

2.  Now measure the height of the lampshade. Once you have these two measurements, you need to add 5⁄8in (1.5cm) at each end for the seam allowance.

3.  To make the stamp take a 20in (0.5m) long piece of string and wrap it around the width of your wooden block and tie in a double knot at the back. Then wind the string around the block about eight times. Move the string around a little until you are happy with the spacing.

4.  Pour some ink onto an old plate and load up your sponge roller.

Tip! Sponge rollers are cheap and are the best way to spread your ink evenly, especially on bumpy surfaces such as this string creation.

5.  Working from left to right or vice versa, print in straight lines across the length of your fabric. Turn the block 90° to the left and right between each print to alternate between horizontal stripes and vertical stripes.

6.  Once you have covered the entire surface, hang the fabric up to dry. You can speed up the drying process with a hairdryer.

7.  Pin 5⁄8in (1.5cm) hems along the longest sides of the fabric, which will be the top and bottom of your lampshade. Later these will be used to thread a drawstring through to fit the fabric to the frame.

8.  Sew along the length using straight stitches in a colour of thread that matches the fabric. You could use a machine for this if you have one. Secure at each end by sewing a few stitches backward and forward at the start and finish.

9. Now, with the right sides together, pin the two short ends together and sew 5⁄8in (1.5cm) in from top to bottom. Secure in the same way as you did in step 8.

10.  Now press the fabric to fix the ink and remove any creases, then turn your tube the right side facing out. Check it fits over the largest part of the frame, then remove again. Using your embroidery needle, thread long lengths of string through the top and bottom hems, gathering as you go.

11.  Place the fabric over the frame and pull the strings to gather around the top and the bottom edges of the frame, securing with a bow.

12.  Take your ribbon and tie it around the neck of the shade to pull the fabric into shape. Finally, readjust the string at each opening before knotting securely and trimming any excess length off.

As you may know H is a massive fan of printing and so this is such a great tutorial to try printing out on your kitchen table with simple materials.  You could also print tea towels or t-shirts in this simple way.  What would you print?

Thanks to Amy and Super + Super for the great tutorial, you can take a look on their website or facebook page for more and follow them on Instagram @supersuperhq.

And Thank you for reading all our Makers Month Posts, we have had great fun once again with our themed month of Maker joy.  We hope you enjoyed them too, which was your favourite?  Let us know in the comments below.

See you Friday!
H & Sammy

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Summer fun - Week 2

Week 2 of the summer holidays is starting to get busy now at The Lightbox and one of this week's activities is fabric printing.

There are two sessions of this on one day for 4-8 year olds and then 8-16 year olds.  They made their own stamps, stencils and printing equipment and printed up their own tote bag.

This was my effort and I had fun especially using a rolling pin to make a repetitive wave pattern.  Something I have not tried before, but I definitely think I will again.

Have you made your own stamps?  What have you made?

Make it

H

Link for the week: Easy Printing from A Beautiful Mess

This week's link is about making your own little print to make some personalised stationary from A Beautiful Mess. I think you could just as well make the print from a rubber rather than necessarily buying the speedy carve that they suggest (although I do use it and it's brilliant!).  It keeps the costs down and helps you to have a play around without spending too much money.

Printing has become one of my most favourite things to do and making prints from all sorts of items is one of the great things about it. When your little you use potato prints and you can also use vegetables to make patterns.  I have even used bottles and toys to make printed patterns, so give some of these a try and see what you can print up.

Send us a picture or comment below with something you have had a go at.

H

Live it: Japanese Gocco Printing Workshop at Craft Central

Last week I attended Craft Central in London.  I have been to one of their workshops before and so was really looking forward to it.  About a week after I booked the hugely popular (it has sold out in hours previously)‘Craft It Yourself: Printing using Japanese PrintGocco machines’, they emailed me to tell me that the workshop was going to be slightly different than advertised.