#printingmaking

THIS IS A PRINTING OFFICE

Crossroads of civilization

Refuge of all the arts against the ravages of time

Armoury of fearless truth against whispering rumour, incessant trumpet of trade

From this place words may fly abroad not to perish on waves of sound, not to vary with the writer’s hand

Fixed in time, having been verified by proof

Friend, you stand on sacred ground, this is a printing office.

-Beatrice L. Warde

First creative session at the God of Prophecy in Handsworth with Hatty Sutton.

We spent the first session exploring techniques that enrich fabrics. We covered print, rubbings, and distressing techniques working on white cotton poplin.

The ladies met and were shown a variety of textile samples and resources including books and magazines.

Initially, we made rubbings from texture boards with wax based fabric crayons and then washed over the fabric with watery fabric paint.

We looked at ways of distressing fabric using brushes, sponges, and toothbrushes. The ladies produced a variety of outcomes, some with regular marks, others irregular

Finally, we looked at monoprint on fabric using acrylics. Different tools and cotton buds were used to make marks on the ink bed. The results were strong and effective.

The fabric samples were dried and will be used to develop designs, using patchwork and applique techniques. We will look at textiles artists and some commercial design for inspiration.

Following a discussion and having looked at the resources the ladies have decided that they would like to try silk painting in future sessions.

It was a pleasure to work with the group and see their ideas and skills develop. They were prepared to give new skills a try and produced some successful samples.

Hit the North

Vertically Screen Printed Wall in Belfast

More of the sequence here