Our show and tell was a little sparse this month.....but Denny as usual had been hard at work.....sandwiching 14 tops that had been shared with us in previous months.
She quilted two.....this one was done on 3 different machines.....standard home machine, mid-arm (Sweet Sixteen) and her newest mid-arm with movable head....sorry I didn't catch the name of the model.
I love a good scrap quilt.....and was so impressed with her quilting.....choosing to quilt the pattern, rather than an all over-motif.
Quilt back.
This month's focus was lino block carving. We met at Judy's.....and as always she had all the supplies on hand and organized.
Besides having a variety of precut lino to use (from Dick Blick), and blocks of 'easy carve' (feels like soft eraser material), Denny added some interesting dense Styrofoam that required only a pencil or stylist to mark.
I had watched numerous you-tube tutorials before hand and came away with a few tips to guide me. (1.) soften the lino (covered with a towel and warm iron) to make carving easier. (2.) to prevent the material from moving around too much use a special metal tray with a back wall and a overlap on the front that secures it to a table. I tried to find an example to post a photo for you, but it evaded me. AND..... since I didn't have one, I brought a small short lipped cookie sheet and a small terry towel to put it on (as seen above). It worked fine and helped to keep my fingers away from holding onto to the top as I carved.
I worked with a very narrow cutting blade fitted on this Speedball cutting tool. Just to get a feel of what I was doing, I started with small straight lines.
After feeling like I had some control, I transferred a design I'd drawn with the aid of transfer paper and did this piece. I knew only the smooth areas would print....but had hoped it would still be interesting. For my first attempt it was too daunting to carve any more than what you see. (A mistake on my part!!)
Thick print ink was applied to Plexiglas with a hard roller....when distributed nicely, it was rolled onto the lino.
......it was covered with a cloth previously printed with dyed shaving cream...and burnished with the back of a large spoon to transfer the ink/design.
And again and again......the images only got worse..... Next time I will carve the background instead! I was aware it takes practice to get good prints.....oh ya....so true.
This is one of Denny's Styrofoam blocks that carved like butter.
And the print....isn't it nice?
Judy marked this with just a stylist.....
The print is Denny's as she had done one too.....printed twice...black and red inks. Those that worked with this material found that it started to disintegrate, leaving debris when printed on fabric.
As usual, a fun and productive day was had by all.....of course I have dozens more photos....but you get the idea so I'll stop with these. Why not grab one or more of your fiber buddies and make a day of it carving your own designs?
4 comments:
I have done so little of this and so badly want to do more! What a fun day!
Your meetings always look like so much fun!
A fun day for sure. I've done a little stamp cutting, too, and it does take a particular mindset to be thinking about what will show and what to carve away. My success is only moderate. The styrofoam is an interesting product. Is it made specifically for stamp carving? I've used styrofoam trays from produce with a stylus, but this looks different.
In answer to Nancy's question.....Denny brought this material and said she didn't even remember she had it or where she got it.....but it was assumed it had been intended for carving. It felt like soft styrofoam.
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