Kuba Cloth Progress

After trying my hand on a few fabric projects, here and here, I can appreciate why hand blocked fabrics are sooo expensive.  This is a very time consuming endeavor but one that I very much enjoy.  So I made significant progress yesterday on my kuba-inspired cloth but my back officially hates me.   Let me back up for a minute and answer a few queries on my process.  I draw an image on my block, usually a linoleum covered wood block; carve out the image; if printing on fabric then I spend some time figuring out my pattern – which involves sketchy math, wonky measuring, and copious amounts of wine; the actual printing part is tedious because I re-ink my block for each impression.  For this particular project, I used two blocks to create my pattern and did a simple linear repeat.  I could have done both images on one bigger block but I didn’t have one on hand so I used two small scraps of linoleum.

And here is where printing on fabric gets sporty.  My original intent was to create a simple rectangular border as this printed fabric will be turned into a table cloth.  But then I accidentally screwed up my own pattern and had to switch gears.  Next, I planned on an all over pattern, alternating my 1-2 pattern for each row.  For instance, row 1 is a 1-2 order.  Then row 2 in a 2-1 order.  So I carried on in that fashion printing all my 1-2 rows first, doing this to allow for dry time.  But then I realized that an all over pattern, while awesome, would take me FOREVER.  Plus, my ‘client’ came by yesterday to watch some of the progress and declared that she loved it as is – no alternating rows necessary.  So stripes it is – which works because it looks sort of like an African version of the Greek key in this manner.  Thumbs up.  But I still love the idea of the all over pattern and plan on doing it for myself and making some pillows.

I’m off to give my lower back a break!

kisses,  mrs. V