block print – Red House West

In less than a week I’m heading back down to my red house for a binge of house projects and cat cuddling. There might be something wrong with me–I daydream about patching walls and painting ceilings, hanging pictures and polishing floors. I’m also longing to get an armful of chubby cat(s). A warning to our Instagram followers: expect a flood – biblical in scale – of cat photos next week. I know it will take at least a couple of days before my brain recalibrates and I realize that images of Dean sleeping in eight slightly different positions are not as brilliantly adorable to everyone else, no matter what filter I use.

As many of you know, I’ve been on a block printing tear lately. It started with the upholstered stool, ramped up with the two possible covers I made for the Paul McCobb chair, and this week I decided to make some simple, graphic tea towels.

I love kitchen linens! Pretty tea towels or table runners are an easy way to freshen up the kitchen, and they also make terrific gifts. Useful, decorative and, in this case, homemade.

Let’s get this party started.

Supplies:

Plain white tea towels (I sewed mine using extra fabric, but this project would go much more quickly without that step)

Brayer*

Block cutting tool*

Rubber carving block (available online at Michael’s, or at most craft stores)

Screen printing ink, your choice of colors (I used white, blue and red)

Small tray or plate for rolling the ink* (a pie plate or kitchen plate would work fine)

A piece of scrap fabric for test prints

A dropcloth or newspapers to protect your work surface

Utility knife

Cutting board or mat

Soft pencil

Paper

Ruler

Iron

*All the supplies marked with an asterix come in a ‘Block Printing Starter Kit‘ that – with one of the 50% off coupons that Michael’s often has – is a good value. The kit also comes with a small tub of black ink.

To make the all over ‘v’ pattern, I drew the image in Powerpoint and then printed it out. It would work just as well to draw it up using a ruler on a piece of paper. I then colored in the pattern using a pencil.

No hand modeling in my future (and this is not a subliminal ad for the credit union pencil - I swear!)

Alas – no hand modeling in my future

Put your pattern face down on the carving block and transfer the penciled design (I used my library card to go back and forth over the paper and it worked great).

To carve the block I used the small v-shaped cutting attachment (a standard Speedball carving tool comes with three attachments) to outline the shape, and then switched to the larger u-shaped one to carve the inside of the shape. It’s important to keep the tool pointed away from you and to keep the cuts shallow (if you hold the handle of your carving tool perpendicular to the block, it will gouge and tear your design). When I finished carving, I used my utility knife to cut off the ends of the carving block so it was a rectangle.

I mixed up the colors I used for this project, and I’m afraid I don’t have recipes – I just kept adding and stirring until I had the color I wanted. I’ve mentioned her book on the blog before, but Lena Corwin’s Printing by Hand is a great resource for all kinds of fabric design, including block printing. She has many wonderful projects and gives precise recipes for specific colors.

Mixing paint (left) and color testing

Time to start printing! Put a small (about half of a teaspoon) dollop of ink in your tray, and roll the brayer in the tray until it is evenly coated. Next, roll the ink onto your block. If some ink happens to gloop into your design – as it did in mine – just wipe it out with a corner of a paper towel or rag before you begin printing.

Do some test prints on your scrap fabric to make sure your pattern is transferring cleanly, and then begin printing your towel starting in the upper left corner. I printed down the column, rather than across the row, but I think either way would work fine. Place your stamp so it overlaps the edge of the preceding print, and apply firm, even pressure.

I drew an arrow on the back of the block to make sure I oriented it correctly as I stamped

Let your fabric dry and then iron it (no steam!) to set the ink. The color of the ink holds up well to washing, and the towels just get softer with use.

For this design I simply traced a circle (using a cup) onto the carving block and then used a ruler to add the lines in the circle.

For this design I simply traced a circle (using a cup) directly onto the carving block and then drew the lines using a ruler.

I got these cute cups at the thrift store yesterday, and thought they looked cute with the new linens.

Ah yes, those cups I got at the thrift store yesterday do look nice with the linens.

Please let me know if I can clarify anything about this printing process, and I’m curious – do you have any block printing plans? What do you think would be fun to make using this technique? Please tell us in the comments! Mera and I will be back on Friday with a collaborative post as we try to define the ineffable: our personal styles.

Good Score! is a weekly feature here at Red House West highlighting our readers’ secondhand finds. If you scored a great bargain at a thrift store, found a treasure on the side of the road, or discovered a one-of-a-kind gem at a yard sale, we’d love to hear about it! Please send a picture and a brief description of what, where and how much to redhousewest@gmail.com -OR- use the hashtag #rhwgoodscore on Instagram and each Friday we’ll share a couple of highlights. To see Good Scores from previous weeks, click here.

We are so excited to announce our first giveaway! For each Good Score you submit between now and May 28 – either via redhousewest@gmail.com or the Instagram hashtag #rhwgoodscore – you will receive an entry into a random drawing for a set of Mera’s hand carved and printed avian cards!

You will receive two Loon cards, and two Snowy Owl cards (all blank on the inside), plus three Harlequin Duck gift tags. All are hand carved and printed by Mera.

We’ll announce the winner in the Good Score post on Friday, May 30. This contest is open to residents of the United States (including Alaska!) and Canada. Limit five entries per person (we’re highly optimistic about folks’ enthusiasm).

Expect some variation, as the cards are printed individually by hand. Tolerant kitty not included.

In honor of Mother’s Day this Sunday, here is a Good Score submitted by my (Katie’s) darling mom Susan. Reading this today I was thinking how my love of old things – and of researching their stories and those of the people whose lives they’ve been part of – certainly comes from her:

Sometimes a “good score” is identifying a family heirloom. I inherited this octagonal Zamara pattern teapot on the death of my mother in 1989, I often fill it with flowers. It still holds water but its broken and glued handle and the chips on the rim, lid and spout mean that it no longer can serve tea.

I found this picture of the teapot in my mother’s first year album, dated 1911. It’s murky but I think you can see the tea pot sitting on the buffet shelf in front of the mirror, reflecting it and her daintily dressed image.

Googling “Zamara china” linked me to a site called www.thefind.com where a similar pot is selling at Ruby Lane for $350. Our chipped and glued pot probably isn’t that valuable but finding its history online thrilled my genealogical, sleuthing self. Zamara was made by potter Francis Morley in Staffordshire, England, between 1848-1858 and imported by Tyndale in Pennsylvania.

My great-great grandparents married in 1851 in Ohio and it’s possible this teapot was among their gifts. As a minister’s wife, Mary Groves Nuzum would have had many opportunities to serve tea. My great-grandmother Jenny inherited the pot from her. Jenny was six when President Lincoln came to their little town in Wisconsin where they lined the streets to see him and cheer. Did they then go home and share tea after this great event – talking as my grandmother told me the story, told to her by her mother – about his goodness and the freeing of the slaves?

This Zamara pattern is known for its lotus and scroll design. Each lid has a special cap; ours is a scalloped flower.

White, blue, yellow, rose and green,the colors of earth and sky, decorate this cherished pot. It’s graced many homes in its at 152-162 year life. It traveled from Ohio to Wisconsin to Oregon to California and back to Oregon. As I place it on my table, I think of all the women, my mother and the mothers, before her, gathering friends and family around them and pouring tea.

Thanks for reading this post! Don’t be daunted by how involved my mom’s Good Score is. They can be (and usually are) brief – who, what, where and how much – so send ’em in and be entered in our giveaway! Mera will be back on Monday showcasing some of the most beautiful rugs you’ve ever seen –which just happen to have been made by her mom. Have a terrific weekend.

Tag Archives: block print

Tutorial: Block Printed Tea Towels

Good Score!

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