The Traveling Yard - A fabric print exchange: Interest and Ideas

[Mary Diamond]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:21 AM, Stynky Tudor said:

So what elements are going into our boarder(s)? 

Floral themes and scrollwork were popular at the time… if the tile layout is diamond instead of square, that can create a nice lattice effect. 

[Black Syren]

On 3/12/2023 at 4:53 PM, Duchess said:

There's a bunch of different things you can do! A not exhaustive list of things to use:

• Piece of wood lumber (pros: small pieces are often cast offs and easy to find, con: grain can be a pain work with, just do all your carving with the grain, absorbs ink)
• Linoelum block (pros durable, can be carved in any direction, consistent. cons: can be expensive, might want a way to hold it while carving, set size unless you want to saw)
• unmounted linoelum (pros, easy to cut to size, straightforward carving. cons: not rigid, easy to accidentally cut through, still kinda expensive)
• rubber blocks for printing, ie Speedy carve (pros: pink is super easy to carve, easy to cut to size cons: kinda expensive, might be hard to source, not long term durable)
• pink eraser blocks (pros:cheap, easy to find, easy to carve. Cons: small size, hard to hold while carving)
• potatoes (Pros: easy to care, easy to find, cheap. cons: kinda wet and starchy. rots)
• 3D printing (Pros: I dunno? Fun to combine lots of skills, no hand strength needed Cons: expensive, time consuming, high learning curve)

Other things that aren't exactly carving or block printing that you could do:

• Mono printing, basically painting with the ink and then making one print of that
• Found objects, finding material with interesting texture/relief and printing with those this is really easy to do with leaves

 

[Black Syren]

This looks like a lot of fun!

[Stynky Tudor]

 Considering I have a (limited) background in printing - silkscreen, vinyl, plex/channel letters, neon, hand painted signs, xerox, pmt photo prints, surprisingly I've never noodled around with block print making. Does anybody have a suggestion for a solid set of gouge tools?

These maybe a bit steep, but was highly recommended by someone on YouTube.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006FHM3G6/?coliid=I337Y3JZCMPW09&colid=2D7342J2H6MNS&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it 

[Mary Diamond]

From experience, I can say Pfeil make lovely, high quality steel gouges. I will probably use my existing gouges, but offer some links for consideration below…

 

https://www.dickblick.com/products/esdee-mastercut-stamp-carving-kit/

https://www.dickblick.com/search/?q=Lino cutter

Flexcut is quite good - what I particularly like about this set is the included sharpening strop and compound Sharpening is important to maintain the cutter sharpness, preventing tear out.

https://www.dickblick.com/products/flexcut-lino-relief-printmaking-set/?fromSearch=%2Fsearch%2F%3Fsearchword%3DLino cutter

 

 

[Duchess]

On 3/25/2023 at 9:15 AM, Stynky Tudor said:

 Considering I have a (limited) background in printing - silkscreen, vinyl, plex/channel letters, neon, hand painted signs, xerox, pmt photo prints, surprisingly I've never noodled around with block print making. Does anybody have a suggestion for a solid set of gouge tools?

These maybe a bit steep, but was highly recommended by someone on YouTube.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006FHM3G6/?coliid=I337Y3JZCMPW09&colid=2D7342J2H6MNS&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it 

I'm sure I replied this already, but I have no idea what happened to the post. Maybe I never submitted it?

 

Anyway.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/carving-tools/111761-palm-handle-basic-carving-set?item=57D0602

 

I'm reasonably certain this is the set that I have. I can't recall the brand for sure, but they look identical. It was recommended to be by some folks in a print studio as a good beginner set. Good enough to not hold you back, cheap enough to be reasonably accessible.

[Stynky Tudor]

7 hours ago, Duchess said:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/carving-tools/111761-palm-handle-basic-carving-set?item=57D0602

...Good enough to not hold you back, cheap enough to be reasonably accessible.

Excellent! A friend is offering to loan me a set that he hasn't used for years.

But I like the set you have/suggested, much easier on the pocket book.

[Stynky Tudor]

Getting ready!

[LadyBarbossa]

Can't wait to see the block designs and the block print! 😁

[Mary Diamond]

1 hour ago, Stynky Tudor said:

Getting ready!

‘Tis a fine looking set you have there, sir!

[Mary Diamond]

Looking forward to starting this! Any ideas on size?

[Stynky Tudor]

9 hours ago, Mary Diamond said:

Any ideas on size?

I was thinking 2x2 or 3x3 to start.

[Duchess]

On 5/5/2023 at 7:27 PM, Stynky Tudor said:

I was thinking 2x2 or 3x3 to start.

Hey Stynky, what units?

[Mary Diamond]

A bit late for our period, but good information nonetheless-

https://blog.americanduchess.com/2012/01/v24-block-printing-18th-century-fabric.html

[Stynky Tudor]

3 hours ago, Duchess said:

Hey Stynky, what units?

I was thinking inches - start out small with something simple, maybe boarders and the like.

Mary Diamond insists that's too small and that we need to go bigger.

Duchess, what do you think - what size should we start at?

[Mary Diamond]

Ah, I am not completely adverse to a smaller size, as it does make it easier to get started carving. This might be especially useful if a border is going to be incorporated as a separate block.

And, yet another link to share:

https://tinyworkshops.com/block-printing/

 

[Duchess]

I think we could look at doing a handkerchief size of light weight material for a first go round. That way it could be a wearable item or decorative at the end depending on what folks decide to do with their piece. I've got some cotton blanks 24" square that I could donate to the project as along as we don't get more than 5-6 participants. We can source more if we want to.

From there I think we could suggest a maximum size for each individual block. It might be useful to choose a standard size for folks who are buying premade blocks. Smaller images could always be repeated as needed to fill space. As an example, if we use the handerchief blanks and had six participants, each participant could be suggested a maximum size of 4"x4"

Another option that might work well would be for everyone to carve their block and send it to one person for printing. That way an esthetic arrangement could made and patterns repeated nicely if needed. This also reduces the amount of overhead, since not everyone would need ink, brayer, etc.

[Mary Diamond]

3 hours ago, Duchess said:

I think we could look at doing a handkerchief size of light weight material for a first go round. That way it could be a wearable item or decorative at the end depending on what folks decide to do with their piece. I've got some cotton blanks 24" square that I could donate to the project as along as we don't get more than 5-6 participants. We can source more if we want to.

From there I think we could suggest a maximum size for each individual block. It might be useful to choose a standard size for folks who are buying premade blocks. Smaller images could always be repeated as needed to fill space. As an example, if we use the handerchief blanks and had six participants, each participant could be suggested a maximum size of 4"x4"

Another option that might work well would be for everyone to carve their block and send it to one person for printing. That way an esthetic arrangement could made and patterns repeated nicely if needed. This also reduces the amount of overhead, since not everyone would need ink, brayer, etc.

Yes, yes, and yes - I think all the above sounds like an excellent course of action!

[Stynky Tudor]

YES!

[Duchess]

I'll volunteer to be the host then. 🙂 I need to get through the next few weeks of work intact and then I'll start putting this together.

 

Folks, start your sketches!

 

 

[Stynky Tudor]

10 hours ago, Duchess said:

I need to get through the next few weeks of work intact and then I'll start putting this together.

Not a problem, but we'll still nag you.

[Mary Diamond]

I am already mentally designing, ready to put pencil to paper soon 😊