printing

July Progress

The summer is racing along and my summer residency at the Art College is more than half way done. How did that happen? I feel this is a wake-up call and I will be more focused on printing for the next 6 weeks. Today I spent most my studio time working on new screens. I had been thinking about some design ideas while visiting my folks in Lethbridge. I couldn’t get any work done there, but I spent time working out ideas in my head. The notebook that I took with me was untouched. Obviously, it wasn’t necessary.

Here are rough prints made from the new screens. I’m too frugal to waste too much ink testing them, so there are a few light spots that will print properly with enough ink.

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You need to use your imagination to clean up the images. I printed them onto my drop cloth because it was handy. The first screen is very delicate and might prove useful when I’m creating overall patterns on fabric. The second screen was the one I planned last week and I think I’ll redo it with a few minor adjustments. Overall I like the effect. The last screen was a surprise and I really like it. The only problem is that the giant orb almost fills the whole screen. I need to figure out how to use it, or how to modify the design to a smaller size. It’s a never-ending job. It’s a job I love but the pay is terrible.

Cutting this short so I can get it posted before it gets lost.

BTW I see that I can preview my post the way it looks on a computer, a tablet and a phone. The only one that is readable is the computer. If anyone can help me make it more viewable in the other formats, I’d love to hear from you! Thanks

 

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Busy Busy Busy!

Aren’t we all? Let me give you a little rundown of what’s been keeping me away from my blog for the last few months, I mean the better part of a year…

This summer, as for the last 3 summers, I took part in a self-directed residency program run by Contextural, a fibre group to which I belong. We rent the textile studios at the Alberta College of Art and Design where residency participants can work for 3 months. It is heaven. The facilities, the freedom, the inspiration from fellow participants – all incredible.

I printed hundreds of quilting “fat quarters” with 2 or 3 different images screen printed in layers on beautiful quilting fabrics. For people not familiar with the term fat quarter, it is a meter (or yard, depending on where you live) of fabric which is cut in half lengthwise and widthwise. This gives a quilter a useable size of material to work with. I plan on using some of these prints in my own quilts, and I’ve photographed my favorites to use the images in other ways. That still leaves a very large pile of printed material that needs a home. They could be available for sale at some point, but the logistics need work.

Here are a few photos of the fat quarters pinned up to dry in the studio:

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I printed napkins, tea towels, place mats and gift bags for our annual sale in November. Of course that sale has long since passed, but here are a few of the products I produced:

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I started printing yardages with my multi screen multi layer technique. So much fun to be had!  Some fabrics were slightly altered while some were almost totally disguised. This will most likely be the focus of my work next summer.

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This smattering of work from the summer months is not really all that I’ve done since my last post in April, but I think it’s all I’ll share today. I’m hopeful that I can get back to blogging as I’m missing my blogging friends. I also miss the process of organizing thoughts and photos to record what’s happening in my part of the world. Here’s hoping for a renewed relationship with WordPress!

Terri

I’ve chosen these photos in response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Today Was a Good Day.” Today is the first day after the summer residency program which I participated in. I must admit, I’m feeling a little lost. But here’s what a great day would have been over the last 3 months.

You can see a print table set up for work, samples of quilt fabrics and various table linens all printed. On a good day I would leave school early enough to catch the sunset, and be greeted by my lovable Kush the cat.

In truth I have included far more than anyone could possibly accomplish in one day, but wouldn’t it be fantastic if it could be done?

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Quilting Fun

I am having a great time working on a couple of new quilts. I am using the same log cabin format that I used for the first 18, but this time I changed the scale to see what would happen. My first quilts were made up of 16 squares with various borders. The newest quilts have only 9 blocks with simplified borders. i need to carve a couple of new stamps to add some printed texture, and these will need to be larger than what I have made in the past. Check out timetobeinspired.ca you say? or quilt love to see some of the earlier quilts. You can see some of the circular images that are stamped on the surface. I want to explore some new designs.

The new quilts include a variety of fabrics from my extensive (yes, that’s a polite word for it) fabric collection, some of my hand silk screened fabrics and some of my designs which I had printed at Spoonflower. It was terrific using this assortment! I decided to only do 2 quilts at a time, and not 6 like I have in the past. This way I can test out different ideas more quickly. I’ll let you know how that works out.

Here are a couple of photos of works in progress. The tops are sewn but need more stamping. I did carve a square block to stamp over the center squares of the quilt, as I thought the centers needed more emphasis. It obscures the print that I used (my own printed fabric) but there wasn’t much to see in a 1 3/4″ size square. The quilt backs are sewn and when everything is ready I’ll have them layered and quilted. After that’s done I can choose the binding fabric and finish them. Nothing like a MULTI multi step process, right?

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As you can see, Kush made an appearance on quilt #2. I hope it doesn’t go to her head that she might become famous.