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
