Squares & Lines shawl

40 x 150 cm. Crepe de chine 8

Circles & Lines shawls

Soft and sweet and special this one... full of bubbles but trying to keep in line.
40 x 150 cm. Crepe de china 8.

Symmetrical wavy lines and circles.
40 x 150 cm. Crepe de china 8.

Wavy Lines shawl

45 x 180 cm. Crepe satin 12.5

Batik Spot shawls

45 x 180 cm. ponge 5

Batik Spot scarves

90 x 90 cm. ponge 5

Little Batik Spots

Batik spots on little neck scarves. I played with the folding and the spots. I got simple lines, circles, zigzags and squares. I made some in two colours and some just one. I used acid dyes this time.

55 x 55 cm. ponge 5

35 x 130 cm. ponge 5

Sin titulo

Gone back… last reorganizing was in May, so it’s quite normal that I’m a bit lost right now ;) Looking through files I realized I never showed you my last batch of scarves and that’s what I’ll be doing next.

Buy the way, I got a treasury today!

Today

Today is a special day and I’m feeling good, so I don’t mind being really behind on my schedule. I’ve been working quite a bit and the more I work the more ideas come in to my head and I want to experiment more and make more things! Just don’t have time to keep you fully updated at real time. I’m not sure two months have gone by yet but I need to reorganize my priorities again. My ‘to do list’ is so full with notes and ideas I can hardly understand it any more. To many things in my head, specially with the new project, lots of things to be finished off, lots of pictures to be taken and lots of people to thank.

Stashed in files

I went looking for polymer clay in my files today. I knew I had something but did not remember what. I found these two simple compositions made from paper, netting and polymer clay. I made them over four years ago and there they are stashed in one of my files. Just thought I should show you.

New project

Nice news! I’ve been invited by the International Polymer Clay Association to make a piece for an Exhibition in Baltimore, Maryland in February 2010. They encourage exploring polymer clay mixed with other media and this fits in perfectly for me as I will be able to explore relations between my life time hobby and my current passion. I have only just started; I've made a few experimental samples and I managed to send the info detailing my project within the established date. Yay! I have already received confirmation, so now I have until November to explore, experiment and define a final piece for the exhibition.

On the table

Pebbles

The washing line

What is screen printing?

Screen printing is a technique derived from stencils. The basic difference is that the ink goes through a fine tensed mesh. Originally this mesh was made from silk, hence the name ‘silk screen printing’, but nowadays it has been substituted by synthetic fibres that maintain tension even when wet. This mesh is held tense by a frame, forming the screen.

The process to obtain the printed image consists on blocking the parts of the screen that must not be printed with an emulsion or varnish. Then the screen is laid on the surface to be printed and ink is forced though the mesh, with the help of a flat rubber blade, passing only where the screen was not blocked, and printing only the image. If the image has more than one colour, one screen will be needed for each and all of them must contain a registration code so that the image will coincide exactly. In the modern days, it’s not even necessary to draw directly on the screen; it’s normally blocked by using a light sensible emulsion and a photolithograph of the image. This means any image can be easily transferred on to the screen.

Screen printing allows numerous prints, without loosing definition of the image. It’s used to print on any kind of object and practically any material. It’s mostly used for decorative purposes and publicity.

This is my own design, printed at home on the long board I de-padded for my summer extension not long ago.

Labels

Labels are the reason for all these changes. I want a special label for my handbags. I started research long ago but got distracted… Iron on? Woven? Printed? Laser cut? While researching, I couldn’t resist doing a few of my own…

I tried just writing with fabric pens on cotton tapes, but the more texture on the tape the more my pen bleeds, so that’s no good. Also my handwriting isn’t too nice!

So I tested my Lasidi rubber stamp, using iron fix black gutta as ink.

Cut and iron fixed, ready to sew on… that’s my result. Simple, not too bad but neither too special.

This little test made me decide on screen printed labels. I can fit lots of tags on a screen and print them myself and still play with colour and backgrounds. I can put in different sizes and shapes and they can all be different! ...And this is what got me thinking and distracted and working on a screen print version of my avatar, looking for my special label for my special bags. Now I know what I want, but still need to design the screens and get them done for me. I’ll keep you updated!

Sample of printed iron on labels I ordered to see what they were like.