More weird armour...

Over the weekend I designed a backplate to go with these breastplates and I spent today fitting together the vilene pieces. In order to make this I started off with small paper templates, (which I figured out through trial and error), I then enlarged these using a grid. I printed the enlarged templates onto the vilene using heat transfer paper, cut out the vilene, folded it into shape and sewed/pinned the pieces together. Not at all laborious and long-winded!

Breastplates

I have been doing and making things lately, but I haven't really felt like writing about any of it. Unlike other bloggers, I make no excuses and offer no apologies!

I'm back at college after the Easter break and making breastplate-like forms from paper, pelmet vilene and heat transfer paper.

Screen-prints that aren't skeletons

As promised, I finally have some screens that don't have skeletons on them. Below are the test prints I made with the first screen, (I wasn't really applying enough pressure, which is why one printed so badly).





These prints aren't based on any of my own drawings; the images come from a second-hand copy of Jost Atman's "Pictorial Archive of Decorative Renaissance Woodcuts" that I picked up for £1.50. There are pages and pages of knights demonstrating different forms of combat and I spent an afternoon photocopying them and sticking them together to create one long battle scene. I've had to split the image up into four parts in order to fit it onto my screens and lining everything back up when I'm printing is going to be tricky!

Paper stencils

The following three images were cut from single sheets of A4 folded in half. They're all loosely based on drawings of armour I've made over the last few months.




I also combined the helmet stencil with heat transfer paper in the heat press to print onto acrylic fabric.


One last stencil - a full suit of armour cut from an A2 sheet of paper. Hopefully, the ruler gives a sense of scale.

Screen-printing onto handmade paper

I think the title of this post is pretty self-explanatory... Screen-printing onto paper is a bit different to printing onto cloth; it requires a hard, flat surface underneath. My screen-printing tutor also advised that I tape the paper down and put some card on the frame of the screen to create a slight gap between the screen and the paper. The results were pretty good so it looks like it was sound advice.

Bear!

Skull cushion

Burgundy flock on a thick cotton. I'm really pleased with how this came out.

Nobrow Press

I've been meaning to write something about Nobrow Press for months and the release of the latest issue of their magazine, (also called Nobrow), seems like a good time to finally do so. I found Nobrow by accident. For several months I walked past their Great Eastern Street shopfront on my way to and from work. The shop was always closed at the times I walked past it, but on the blinds was a procession of monsters carrying shopping bags. It was such a fun and unusual image that I eventually made the effort to get there when it was open.

Bags: flower patterns and skeleton prints

I realised this morning that it's been almost two weeks since I last posted anything. This is mostly due to my paid work intruding into my spare time at the moment.

I am still making things, I just haven't been writing about them. Most recently I've been making tote bags (for toting). I've been using material with floral patterns, which I've printed on using the skeleton prints I made last term. I really like the top one with the gold skeleton hand on it, it's just the right size for running out to the local shops and has been seeing a lot of use over the last week.

Exhibition, part 2

More pictures from the show, this time of my own work! The fantastic photograph below was taken by Jay Alix, the rest are my own.

Printing: new frames and old screens

As both the Textiles Foundation group and the Advanced Textiles group are currently preparing for their end of year exhibitions, the college has suddenly run short of the frames needed to make printing screens. James kindly made me two brand-new frames using some cheap wood from B&Q, so all of my new screens are now ready for printing.

Hand prints

Over the last few days I've made two new printing screens, both based on some drawings of hands that I'd done over the Easter holidays. These screens combine to make prints representing the skin and the muscles of the hand. I have some further drawings that show the major veins and arteries, the main nerves and the bones of the hand, all of which I'm hoping to make into screens. The plan is then to use the images in combination to build up images of hands in which all of the layers of anatomy can be seen at once.

Screen printing: final prints

Sadly, metallic inks, foil and shiny fabrics make for a photography nightmare, so the following pictures vary in quality. I also repeatedly managed to knock my screen while printing, giving the impression that many of these skeletons are jumping up and down.

gold ink and black flock on cotton

Screen printing: a new screen and puff binder

My second screen was finally ready to use today.

Screen printing: foil, flock and metallic ink

Screen printing: two-colour prints and new materials

Some prints from last week, now with a second colour added.

Screen printing

Monoprints

Drawings and monoprints made in preparation for my screen-printing module. The first nine images are based on vertebrae (giant ground sloth and human), while the final four are of skulls (deer and human).