Islamic Inspired Block Prints

Lately I have been looking at tile patterns from Islamic art and combining them with my star anise motif to create these lino cuts.

You can see that the triangle block is designed to be repeated 6 times to make these hexagons.

The square block can be repeated 4 times to make a shape with a flower-like centre or a cross centre. These combine together again to give the repeat pattern at the top left of the page.

Just because the blocks were designed to go together in a particular way doesn't mean they have to! I experimented with different repeats to make these patterns.

There are many other ways these blocks can be repeated, coloured and combined. Watch this space to see what I come up with.

Mono-Print Monday - How to Unpack Your New Gelli® Plate

Not the most exciting blog post today but an important one none-the-less. How to safely remove your new Gelli® plate from the packaging? First of all take care not to damage the clam shell packing as you open it. It's the best thing to store your gel plate in so you want to keep it. You'll see the plate is packaged inside between 2 plastic sheets. Sometimes these can be difficult to remove, especially if the weather is cold. Don't risk damaging the surface of the plate by pulling them off if they seem difficult to remove. Just soak the plate (still inside the plastic sheets) in some hand-hot water with a little dish washing liquid for a few minutes to warm it and you'll find the plastic comes off super easy. Keep those plastic sheets too as they can be used to cover your plate whilst you are not using it. 

Totally Addicted to Print

I've been having a fun day today combining lino prints with Gelli® mono-prints and freezer paper stencils. The piece above (and below) is a zig-zag book.

This stylised flower landscape was made using some torn paper masks.

You can see I have been trying out some newly cut, circle, lino blocks.

These are pebble, lino blocks with Gelli® comb prints.

I've also carved some simple erasers into blocks and used them to fill in freezer-paper stencil shapes.

All my printing stuff is still strewn about the table so I think there will be some more prints to show you very soon.

New Topic, New Sketchbook

Our next challenge for the 84 Contemporary Textiles Group is "Geographical". I've decide to narrow down that huge theme to international trade routes such as The Silk Road. I've been looking to modern day souks for inspiration along with, Islamic architecture, spices, ceramics and other items traded across the world.

The most photogenic spice is the star anise so I bought a packet and got photographing and drawing. I used my sketches to cut a new lino print block.

It's a new project so I'm starting a new sketchbook. I don't usually use spiral books because I don't like the separation the spine makes between the 2 facing pages. However this one was cheap and has fairly decent paper in it. I've given it a fabric cover so it's nice to handle now the plastic is covered up. The main disadvantage is that the A4 size includes the section of paper where the binding pierces through it so if I stick in a loose A4 page it's wider than the book. I've done quite a number of prints on loose paper which I've needed to trim down to make them fit.

Many of these pages are not finished yet but I thought you'd like to take a look at my work in progress.

These pages have pockets so I can store my pictures, photographs and templates.

Any mask or stencil I've cut out gets collaged into the book once I have finished with it. This page has a print on the left and the stencil used to make the print on the right.

Stencils on thick paper make great "window" pages.

Other pages have shapes cut into their boarder.

Tracings over photos are great for simplifying a scene. I've been colour mixing and sponge printing too.

I'm now starting to take my ideas into textiles.

This design came from a tracing of various sketchbook elements. I've pieced the background from some hand dyed fabrics.

I've also been Gelli® mono-printing onto fabric.

This one has been stuffed from behind to give the vase a real roundness.

These are examples of reverse applique and slashing.

Of course I've kept the pieces I cut out to use on something else.

Check back soon to see what I come up with next.