Monday, January 03, 2011

More Printing

I have been playing around trying to create a repeat pattern for a linocut. Obviously this one needs a bit of work and refinement but I have  in the past found it difficult to get my head around the concept and wanted to try this out to see if I could get it to work. And yes I was a bit sloppy in transferring the lines to my lino block which means the centres of the junction of prints is not right- and maybe i should think of doing less tricky centres. But the way the design flows across the surface of the cloth is ok with no real apparent gaps and breaks.I know you can do this in Photoshop- my challenge this year is to demistify photoshop so that i can do more things with it. However I am also one of those people who needs to do the hands on stuff before I can carry the idea further- I need to have a feel for how it works, how to space the design and things to learn from my mistakes. The first two designs i drew were far too balanced- and I did not cut them because the design would have been too much 50/50 on a two colour contrast. You create much more visual interest if your design isn't 50/50

I also disobeyed the number one rule in printing on fabric- Iron the fabric First!!!

Thank you everyone for the positive comments about the grapevines- I am thinking on how I am going to use it on cloth.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

It's so nice to have you back Dijanne! I love the grapes and I think the repeat has heaps of potential!

Hugz

Chris said...

Hi Dijanne - agreed, lovely to have you back - Happy New Year and I hope all the good things come your way! I personally love the repeats and think they have lots of potential. Shall look forward to watching your progress. Cx

jude said...

this is just lovely, even with the imperfections.

Kyjo's Cave said...

I love it! The inconsistencies tell me that it is lovingly handmade.It gives the piece character and flavor! :)

ivyjteo said...

It takes patience and consistant to produce such art work. I love it even with the imperfections.

Catherine G 78 said...

I love the idea of the repeats. I'm looking forward to see the next one. It will be perfect.
Catherine

Yasmin Sabur said...

Your voice sounds great. The repeat and the grapes are both wonderful.
Photoshop is usually the final step in designing on the computer for me. Like you, I design and print blocks by hand, take them into Illustrator to refine (straighten up the repeats, etc.) and then into Photoshop to save as a jpeg.
Digital Textile Design (Melanie Bowles, Ceri Issac) is my bible for designing with Illustrator. A Wacom tablet is invaluable for drawing.
Really glad that your New Year is off to such a great start!

fiona said...

looking fantastic, wooden blocks for block printing are not square, just sqarish so no motif is cut up and has to be matched exactly when printing....will take a few pics of some i have here and send to you later to day...that apprach makes printing easier I am sure

maryse said...

hello Dijanne,

Pleased to see you don't stop being creative, i really like your work, it 's very interesting.
Enjoy your new life and I wish you a very nice new year
friendly
maryse ( from France, a Christine Moulin 'friend)