print, print, print

I love hand printed fabric and paper. So I'm on a quest to try different print methods and maybe combine a few techniques in one fabric to make some soft loose pants or homeware items. 

My latest venture is carving rubber stamps to use with textile dyes or ink pads for paper.  The possibilities are endless so for my first effort I have focused on traditional Indian shapes for inspiration.
I used a block of Ezy carve rubber, Speedball lino cut tool, an Exacto knife, Archival ink pad, some old corks, uhu glue and the usual 2B pencil, paper and ruler.



 I drew my design on a 2.5 cm cross grid for the small stamp and a 5cm grid for the lare stamp. Then  placed the rubber block over my design and pressed it firmly so the design would transfer to the block. Then I cut around the shape with the exacto knife and carved out the background with the lino carver.

 I found some old corks in the kitchen cupboard ( who me?? a hoarder??) and stuck my stamp to the cork so that it is easier to handle.

 I'm playing around with ideas for my signature- to put on my screen prints and hand stamped gift cards and papers.

This is my test paper and even though it looks a bit rough I quite like the imperfect effect. I am going to try using my screen printing ink to do a run of stamping on fabric - fun, fun, fun.