Spice up your Springtime
- Karené
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
Hello and happy Spring time!
Welcome to my very rare newsletter. In it you'll find info about workshops, easy printing ideas for home printing and see which block printer I feature this time, for inspiration.
I only have 3 workshop days coming up this Spring, so if you've been thinking about trying these out, make sure you book soon! (See below).
For those of you that have been to my workshops, I've included an easy printing at home idea for Easter.
Lastly, I thought I would draw your attention to Susie Hetherington - a British pattern and printmaker that might inspire you as she inspires me.
Pattern design can be so much more exciting than even rows of lovely motifs, with large spaces between them. It can get super-intricate and fun to design and print when we pay attention to how shapes fit together! Susie Hetherington does this extremely well. There seems to be a natural flow in her work that moves across the surface of her designs and keeps the eye interested.
Have a look at Susie's work, enjoy the read and do leave comments or your thoughts below!
Till next time, keep printing
Karené
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS - only 3 days to choose from
The 2 workshops on 1 day (Block Printing + Lino) at Old Barn, Edinburgh have worked out very well and you get a sneaky 10% off if you book for both. So we are continuing with that format and I have 2 days scheduled for Spring. A lovely relaxing morning printing session to experiment with my wooden Indian blocks, have lunch at the café next door and then come back for a learn lino session. Bring your friends! I promise you'll go home buzzing!
Then in June Central Scotland School Of Craft have invited me back to Dunblane, for their intensive Full Day Textile Printing workshop. I do include fabric items to print on, but feel free to bring your own projects if you prefer. We've had mother and daughter combo's, friends and people coming all the way from Inverness for this one! Although our time is very limited, I have decided to make sure that we focus more on the relationship between motifs and I'll show you some simple ways to explore this.
Here is a summary:
26 APRIL (AM): PART 1: Morning Block Printing workshop,
10am - 1pm, Printing on Aprons, Old Barn Edinburgh.
(PM): PART 2: Afternoon Lino Pattern Printing workshop,
2pm - 5pm, Print your own motifs on tote bags - bring ideas!
Old Barn Edinburgh.
10 MAY (AM): PART 1: Morning Block Printing workshop,
10am - 1pm, Printing on sheer cotton scarves,
Old Barn Edinburgh.
(PM): PART 2: Afternoon Lino Pattern Printing workshop,
2pm - 5pm, Print your own motifs on tote bags - bring ideas!
Old Barn Edinburgh.
13 JUNE FULL DAY: Repeat Pattern Printing with Lino
10am - 4pm, Printing on tea towels, tote bags or bring your own projects!
Central Scotland School of Craft.
Perfectly Imperfect - Susie Hetherington
Susie Hetherington is a pattern & printmaker from the UK. Her work is mostly inspired by nature of her immediate surroundings in Stroud, and one can definitely also see the influence of the British Art & Crafts movement in the style of her detailed motifs and in the way she combines her motifs into very fluid and intricate designs. Her colours are soft and not overly saturated that makes for a lovely country style.
Susie's design process is quite an interesting mix of digital and by hand. She draws, then scans those drawings in, carves the design into lino, prints lino and then scans the prints in again to allow her designs to be printed onto fabric and paper. You can read about her process here. I love the fact that she also describes how the lino process adds imperfections to her drawings emphasises and "I purposefully leave some imperfections and texture in the files… I want them to look as hand made as they can." It's exactly this handmade character that draws me to her work.
Susie also writes a a really interesting newsletter called Patternlog where she documents how she responds to significant sites (often historical) by creating corresponding pattern designs. Make a cup of tea and have a read here.
You can support Susie by buying her work in her online shop or follow her on Instagram here. (@susiehetheringtonpattern )
PRINT VIDEO
From Print to Product - the printing process behind the Susie Hetherington Designs.
FUN TO DO - Easter!
Using masks is an easy way to use your blocks in a new way. Here's a fun Easter printing project, for placemats, napkins or a runner. It's simple enough to get kids involved, to make your preparations even more fun!
1) Draw an egg shape on a piece of card.
2) Cut out the egg shape with a craft knife.
3) Throw away the egg shape and place the card on your paper or fabric.
4) Use your blocks to print through the hole, like a stencil. Make sure that you print densely, over all the edges of your mask to make the egg shape show up clearly.
5) Do some tests on paper to try out different designs.
6) Then place over fabric and move around to repeat in whatever way you choose.
7) Remember to iron the fabric to set the inks!
SHOP - Easter!
You'll also find that Indian Block Print Co and Cambridge Imprint are selling Easter Block printing sets! Might be too late for this year, but there's always next year!
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