Gams: a Block Print Pattern

Behold, my printing operation!

It's really not as complicated as it looks.  But it is just as low budget as I can manage.

I had a very specific idea in mind for what I wanted this fabric to look like.  I made a mock up in Illustrator (because that was where I designed the stamps I made using Speedball Speedy Carve), and used the fancy color picker tool to choose my color palette.  I found one that I really liked and then mixed up the three colors I wanted in little pots with lids (I wanted to have leftovers in case I needed to re-do things).

Then I laid out my fabric on my cutting mat and made a grid using thread and tape.  I did the horizontal lines first.  Since I knew I was going to print up two pieces of fabric (I'm making a bag), I needed to make it possible to move my fabric out of the grid and move another piece in for each color I printed up.  So I did the vertical grid lines so that they taped onto my long acrylic ruler on the top.  That way I could lift the ruler up, and wiggle the fabric out from under the horizontal lines, but could still put another piece of fabric in.  It worked pretty well.

After making the grid, printing was easy.  I use an old candle tray for my paint - it's just the right size, and it has that wide lip, so I can lay things down on it that I don't want making a mess on my desk.  I use a tiny foam roller for inking my stamps.

I probably should have put some paper between the fabric and my cutting mat to protect my cutting mat from paint, but I've already gotten paint on it, and I don't think that stuff is coming off, so what's a little more?

I'm calling this fabric print 'Gams', because the ladies I printed up here have very pretty legs.  I'm using this print to make up a pleated tote bag, which I hope turns out awesome.

Block Printing: Secrets Uncovered!

Block Printing Stamps and Things

You guys, I have learned the secrets of block printing.  Come closer, and I will share them with you.

First, Speedball Speedy Carve.  It's pink and squishy, and cuts like butter.  Squishy, rubbery butter.  It's excellent.  My cutter has never slipped on this surface and jabbed my finger.  I thought it would be far more difficult to make detailed designs in Speedy Carve, but it's not any worse than having lino crumble on you when you're trying to make tiny cuts.  So I'll be buying this stuff from now on.

If you are using unmounted linoleum, printing can be a pain, but you can make it easier by doing a very simple thing: put a piece of sheet foam between your carving and the block.  I use clear acrylic blocks that are meant to be used with clear scrapbooking stamps, and sheets of craft foam - you can find it in stores with the 'kids craft' stuff.  So it goes, block, tape, foam, tape, carving.  It helps to have the squish of the foam when printing, because that way you'll get more even pressure.  It doesn't remove the mottling problem completely, but it does make it better.

I never did get that rubber brayer.  Instead a got a tiny foam roller - it's 1 inch across - so it doesn't need to soak up tons of paint before you can start rolling, and I don't feel like I'm wasting paint.  Plus, it was only a buck, and while you could throw it away and use another, it washes up easily.

Things I hope to learn as I go:
How to make my prints more vibrant.  It's the mottling issue again.  I'm starting to like how block printing looks, but I wish there was a way to lay more paint down so not so much fabric shows through.  (The rubber brayer?  ...maybe.)  And once I figure that out I can print on dark fabrics!

Block Printing

Block Print Tests

This week I started to teach myself how to block print.

Things I Wish I'd Known About Block Printing Before this Week:
Amazon has very few options for block printing supplies, but it's all I have because Michaels and JoAnn Fabrics do not carry ANY block printing supplies.  I know, because I looked.  Twice.  If only a real art supply store would move in across the street...

So I ordered some of the gold colored Speedball Unmounted Linoleum from some random seller on Amazon, as well as some Speedball Speedy Carve (also known as 'the pink stuff'), which I didn't get because there was a mix up and the seller sent me ink instead.  And a Speedball lino cutter.  So I've got my stuff.

(I just found this website for buying supplies: www.stampeaz.com.  I think I'll go there next time, because their prices are actually better than Amazon's are, and they've got a much better selection.)

Block printing, letterboxing, relief print making, and so on.  All of them use the same stuff, thus all these terms are useful to use when searching for supplies or tutorials.

Speedball apparently has a monopoly on print making supplies.  There aren't many other options.

Carving Linoleum

Things I Wish I'd Known About Carving Linoleum:

This stuff is kinda hard to cut.  It requires quite a bit of force to gouge out, and my hands hurt at the end of the day.

It helps to warm it up.  Some sites said 'hair dryer' and 'electric blanket', but you can save energy by sitting on it.  Just stick it under your butt, and work on another one.  Switch them back and forth as needed.

Transferring images onto the lino is easy.  I have an inkjet printer, so I just print off whatever I need in the appropriate size and cut out the image.  Transferring is easiest if you use the flat side of something and rub the image onto the lino (I have a bone paper folder that works really well, but you can use the edge of a ruler and get the same effect.)  A warm iron also works, but not as well.  Plus, you're just likely to burn your fingers.

It really hurts to stab your finger with the lino cutter.

Use a cutting mat that you don't like much to cut on, because it takes a lot of abuse.

Foam Prints - Clouds, Stars, and Hearts

Things I Wish I Knew About Printing:

I'm having a terrible time with printing.  I've tried many different methods for inking, but nothing is giving me the results I want.  I suspect I'm doing something wrong.

Foam rollers leave the paint in clumps, which gives the positive areas of your stamp a mottled appearance.  This tends to go away if you press down REALLY HARD.  Sort of annoying when you want to make a lot of stamps on the same piece.

I've tried making ink pads out of a piece of felt and soaking the ink in it, but this also gives my prints mottled-ness, and it's ineffective for inking the stamp.

I can't get even pressure over the back of the stamp, so sometimes there are areas of the stamp that don't show up on the page.  It helps if I put a piece of felt underneath the fabric I'm printing, so there's some give, but with fine detailed designs it ends up inking too much.

I've ordered a rubber brayer, since that's what you're 'supposed' to use, but at this point I can't see how that's going to help.


I'm actually really excited about block printing.  I've known all along (since I started sewing) that I was going to wind up printing my own fabric.  I like having my mark over everything, and while I like designer fabrics, I want to do it all myself.  And this way every bag I make will really feel like I made it.  Every little bit of it.