Tuesday night ramblings

It really kind of sucks to not be able to share all the awesome projects I'm working on now with you guys. Just keep in mind that awesomeness is definitely coming to a blog post near you! In other news, I did my first craft show with Nicole last Saturday and it was a lot of fun. I managed to scramble together a decent set up and here's how my side of the table turned out..

I found an peculiar little doll bed frame that turned out to be perfect for displaying my printed Fat quarters. A little bit of spray paint later, it was ready to go.



I also scored the most awesome business card holder at the same thrift store that was completely made for me.



(I'm not sure what the pink theme is all about. I am so not a "pink" girl but it keeps turning up!...Oh well, I kind of like it.....a little.)

And a close up of my Fat quarters all laid out. About half of them are brand new and will start popping up in my etsy shop as soon as I can get a moment to get all the pictures organized and get listings made.



I have more screen printing plans in the future, with ambitions for multi-layered prints!! Let's see how ambitious I can get. =)

List making time!!

It boggles the mind how much I have to try to do this week. So to try to organize my thoughts, and hopefully give me a little method to my madness I'm going to make a list of everything I need to do before next Saturday. Why Saturday......wellllll, I've been invited to sell at a local craft show!! Nicole of the ever-talented Curious Goods and I were supposed to hang out but she got the opportunity to vend and being the sweetheart that she is, she invited me along to hang out and put some of my stuff on her table with her!

In response to this I said of course immediately. It's awesome. But my mind has been blown with all of the elaborate set ups you can create to display items...and I only have a limited time to pull this off. Definitely a trip to the dollar store is planned for today, and possibly to Joanns....

So list...

1. shirts, bags - Need price tags - my boss at work has a giant room dedicated to her crafting and she offered to let me borrow some of her punches so I'll hopefully get that tomorrow at work and then punch and stamp and decorate away so that I can put them on the bags and shirts I'm bringing.

2. cards - I need cellophane envelopes to put them in so they look a little nicer. When I package them to ship out from my etsy I do have bags for that but it wouldn't look quite as nice when selling the cards individually as the bags are too big for that.

3. art prints - I have quite a few smaller sized art prints that are good to go but I need to get some sort of display stand to denote how much they cost.

4. FQS - I am almost done with a massive effort to make a bunch of new FQs. At my count now I have over 20 and I have 3 more designs at least that I want to do a couple of. So those need to be finished, washed, edges cut, ironed and then comes the big question: how do I display them? I thought about trying to imitate FQs you'd buy in the store wrapped around a piece of cardboard...but I think I might just fold it up neatly and then have a paper wrapper to go around the whole thing with my logo and washing instructions on it......I'm not sure. We'll see what it looks like when I do a mock up.

5. pouches - I need a container of some sort since these don't have a strap I could hang them up with. Probably a basket or whatever looks good at the dollar store.

6. business card holder - or something of the sort to put my business cards in...I know we have extra to spare at work, but those are so boring...still thinking on this one.

7. logo banner - I'm so happy and relieved that I already made this item. In the back of my mind I always thought it'd work out well as a display banner if I ever started to vend at craft shows. I do need to finish it though - the edges are still raw and I need some way to hang it or tie it up. And I can't get the thought of some pompom ribbon sewn to the edge of it. We'll see if that wins out.

And this list doesn't even count the 3 or 4 projects I'm knee deep in the middle of that I need to have finished by the end of the month! I decided that on the days that I work (which tend to be the days I'm more likely to slack off and do nothing just due to being tired) I am determined to at least accomplish an hour or two worth of work towards these projects just to try to make a little progress. I'd like to think I'm pretty good when under pressure of a deadline.

Wish me luck!

I must be getting old

I spent the day slowly hurting every part of my body which is a bit unfortunate as I lay on the couch now, my back refusing to relax and uncramp. Why, you ask? Let's see, I'm getting back outside as the weather is getting nice (FINALLY) to walk/jog which is making all sorts of muscles rebel, and screen printing for a good portion of the day takes its toll. Oh yeah, and then piecing together a patchwork bag for a fantastic lady which unfortunately requires me to sit on the floor for a good while bending over painfully. I swear I used to have a body that didn't complain so much. In any case, I offer pictures!

I know I said before that I seriously need to restock my shop and the first thing on my list is Fat quarters. I got a few done today, though not as many as I'd like. I left everything out and ready to go so I can hopefully do some more screen printing this weekend. I have a few new original prints in the works as well. I'm curious to see how those sell.

On the drying rack..



And a hint to another print I will hopefully be debuting soon...



I wish I could share more but pretty much all my projects on the go are surprises for some crafty friends and I don't want to spoil it here if they're reading. Til the next time!

What to do with awesome Fat Quarters

Over the last year of making Fat Quarters for my etsy shop, I've gotten some pictures back from customers who were nice enough to share the projects they've made from them.

You can make bowties...



Or a fun little bag..



A dear friend made some awesome one-of-a-kind pouches that show off the prints so well.





Most recently, someone made a cute bag with my Silence print.



This makes me want to make more FQs...or rather, I really should get on it considering my stock is getting a bit low. I think I'll be having a screen printing day sometime very soon.

E is for Edward who wore Fabulous Furs

And while I've read a bit about Edward Gorey, I still am not sure why that is...I guess he just really liked furs.

In any case, I did an Edward Gorey themed swap on craftster on a whim. There are super awesome artists participating and I have always loved Gorey's macabre quirky style. When I got my partner I was a little stymied because she wanted pretty much practical items, and while I am totally on that bandwagon, I think my talents tend to lie in making non-practical, art stuff. So I thought...and tested my sewing skills! and then planned and executed!

I decided for my first item to do an embroidered hoop since my partner was starting a collection for her wall. I sketched a few children characters and made small changes and did a little Gorey-esque type scene. Hopefully you can see my attempt at shading with the floss.





My favorite little girl. Of course she's the one with the scissors.





The next item I thought would be fun so my partner can pretend she is a Gorey character! Or is it just me that thinks that's clever and funny...in any case the yarn was super soft to work with, though changing colors every 5 rows was a pain and slowed down my crocheting speed significantly.



And lastly, the thing that took the most planning and forethought and preparation - a screen printed tote bag! The tote bag I posted about a few weeks ago was a practice run for this. The image, I think, is quite fitting, as my partner said she loves to read, so book bag it is.





Now to go about figuring out what was up with the furs? Anyone know?

A new Bloggy Banner and other ramblings

My apologies, this week has been non-stop so far and has left me very little time to sit down and type out a blog post. In any case, I'll ramble a bit and promise you a more put-together post later in the week.

I have been working on a new banner for my blog. Ideally it was supposed to replace the banner on my etsy shop too, but fitting it into a width that is only 100 pixels without cropping out all the awesomeness is a harder challenge than you'd expect. I'm going to have to make another one to work as my etsy banner so you can look forward to that later.



It's a lot of layers of screen printing, and I love how it turned out. I made a few new screens that are really more of a texture effect than drawings. It's actually a little brighter in person but I'll have to play with the pictures to try to get that come out a bit more. There also some embroidery on there because so much of what I do has embroidery in it. I did hold back on going too crazy with it though, so as to not overwhelm the already busy design.

Speaking of embroidery, it looks like my year-long love affair with embroidery and my patchwork bags has given me an unpleasant case of carpal tunnel. I have never had it before so when my hands started hurting unexpectedly I wasn't sure what was happening. But sure enough, it is definitely related to all my stitching adventures which breaks my heart...but I won't stop stitching, that's for sure. I just need to take it a little slower, more breaks, and take care of my hands as I've known I had to when I started this whole thing. If I'm a little slower at bag production and the like, this is the reason why.

Later this week I am going to be testing out my skill with some confectionery delights....which should be interesting considering I'm a mess in the kitchen at times. My work does a bake sale every year for our partnership with March of Dimes so I'm going to try my hand at some fancied up rice crispy treats and brownies. I'll be sure to share all my messes and successes with you guys =)

Keeping busy, trying new things, oh yeah, and Easter

What a dreary day for a holiday. It's cloudy and raining outside - compared to yesterday that was full of sun and blue skies this is a little depressing, but at least the temps are up (relatively speaking). Hope everyone has fun gorging on pork products or meats other than beef (I guess I never really realized that Easter is an anti-beef holiday), chocolate, and eggs!

On the crafting front, I am not the most talented person when it comes to precise exacting details but I am working to slowly get a little closer to that point. Over the last two weeks I've tackled a few of the more elementary items to sew and I think I've done rather well. Of course I had to use some of my own printed fabrics to keep it fun.

I made these pouches as an experiment using this tutorial and once I'm happy with the level of finishing I will be making more to sell in my shop, of course with the distinctive fandom screen printing I've done a lot with so far. Hopefully, as well, more of my own original designs.



I also had some fun doing a few custom orders for my etsy shop. I had a star wars request which was perfect as for some reason I had it on the brain. So many more ideas for patches in the future, and some awesome star wars fabric I have yet to break into for future bags.





I am shocked that it took me so long to get on the felt applique bandwagon and there is no going back for me now. Funny too, since I feel like I took to using felt pretty early when doing embroidered hoop designs. But in any case, love it!







I also did a little Harry Potter pouch for a lovely lady who is gifting it to her daughter. I hope she likes it!



I thought I was pretty clever in working the button to be a snitch. Must remember that for the future.





I'm always up for more custom orders, especially if they're fun and something I haven't done before =)

I've also been thinking of changing up my banners - I've had them since I started last year and I feel like doing something new. I'm not sure what yet, but it should be fun. I'm already picturing all the possibilities...

Totally random, all-over the place post. The end.

Part 3: It's printing time!!

Continued from Part 2: Preparing the frame with your Image...



You will need:

Prepared frame (see above)
Squeegee (doesn't have to be fancy or elaborate, I bought mine relatively cheaply off Amazon)
Screenprinting inks (water based is easiest to work with – Speedball brand is easily found in craft stores, or dharmatrading.com, or dickblick.com)
Spoons, spatula, non-food-eating containers
Clear contact paper
Scissors
Masking tape
Towel (one that you don't mind staining)
Blow dryer (optional)
Large piece of cardboard other printing surface (I've used cardboard, plexiglass, glass, etc)
Large piece of scrap fabric.
Fabric to be printed (follow the directions on your screen printing ink, typically 100% cotton works best)
Sink/sponge


Step 1: Prepare your work surface. Take your piece of scrap fabric and tape it securely to the surface of where you will be working. This serves to absorb any excess ink that will bleed through your fabric. I use a piece of plexiglass that I've taped a large piece of fabric to as an example. YOU DO NOT WANT TO PRINT DIRECTLY ONTO A TABLE OR FLOOR! IT WILL STAIN!

Step 2: Lay out the fabric you are going to print on. If this is an item of clothing make sure that you have something sandwiched in between like cardboard to prevent bleeding on the back side of the clothes.

Step 3: Draw and cut out your contact paper stencil. Peel off the backing and apply it carefully to the flat side of the screen making sure to eliminate as many bubbles and wrinkles as possible. The flatter it is applied the better the print will be. Make sure to cover the remaining part of the screen with contact paper so that no ink shows through except for where you've cut the stencil. Flip it over so that the flat side of the screen is on the table and rub the recessed side of the screen with your hand vigorously. This creates heat which will help the contact paper bond even more with the screen.



Step 4: Figure out where you are going to be printing and lay the frame down.

Step 5: Spoon a liberal amount of ink onto the duct tape area at the top of your frame.

Step 6: Place your squeegee at the top making sure to dab it in the ink first, and pull down firmly and smoothly to the bottom of the frame.



Step 7: Gently lift the frame. The fabric may cling to the frame so gently peel it away. Voila! You've printed. If you want to continue printing, either blow dry the first print so that you can keep printing without worry that it'll smear, or be mindful that as you continue printing, your frame doesn't overlap the wet ink causing it to smear.



Step 8: Once you're done printing in the color of your choice, clean the frame right away! (Hint: It's best to work close to a working sink if at all possible) Do not let the ink dry on your frame because that will quickly ruin it. You should be able to leave the contact paper on the frame while washing, but be gentle. It needs to dry again to properly adhere for printing. You can speed up the drying time by blow drying the screen.

Step 9: Pick your next color and so on and so on.

Here's another little slideshow of me printing with the screen filler frame that I prepared before. Printing is done exactly the same way as mentioned above.




Easy peasy right?! Just make sure to clean up afterwards, and have tons of fun printing on everything in sight now =)

Part 2: Preparing the Frame with your Image

Continued from Part 1: Building the Frame...

There are many ways you can go about applying an image to your frame for printing and I'm going to concentrate on the techniques I use the most: Contact paper stencils and drawing fluid/screen filler.

Contact paper stencils are pretty self-explantory; create a stencil with contact paper (like you would do with a freezer paper stencil). Having "floating islands" or bits of stencil that are not connected to the main body of the stencil is perfectly fine but for a beginner keeping those to a minimum is probably best.

For the drawing fluid/screen filler method I did prepare a more elaborate explanation.



To apply the drawing fluid you will need:

Prepared frame (see above)
Drawing fluid
Paint brushes
Scissors
Tape
Image you want to transfer



This should actually be prepared at least a day before you're actually ready to print.

Step 1: Find/draw/create an image you want to print. For this method thin lines and intricate detail are not impossible but are rather difficult to achieve so keep that in mind.

Step 2: Tape the image loosely to the recessed side of the frame so that you can see it through the screen.

Step 3: Using a paint brush (smaller brushes mean finer lines, bigger brushes mean more coverage) transfer your image to your screen with the drawing fluid. Be careful not to put too much drawing fluid on the screen at one time, it will pool and create thick gloppy areas that we do not want!

Step 4: Remove the taped image, wash your paint brush(es) and let the drawing fluid dry thoroughly, at least 3 to 4 hours. It might take less if you have less fluid to dry.


OK now you're ready to move onto applying the screen filler. This part is tricky and takes some practice to get down so don't be discouraged if it takes you a few tries to get the hang of it.



You'll need:

The prepared frame with drawing fluid thoroughly dried
A squeegee or stiff cardboard that is as wide as your frame
Newspaper
A spoon
A stipple brush or stiff brush
Sponge and sink (sorry, not pictured)



Step 5: Lay down newspaper or something to protect your working surface

Step 6: Place your screen down, flat side up.

Step 7: Get your screen filler and shake well.

Step 8: Open the bottle and carefully pour onto one side. Don't be stingey! If you don't have enough filler it won't spread smoothly and then all your work will be ruined and you'll have to start over. However, don't pour so much that it's dripping over the edge. Practice will help to master this delicate balance. (Worse case scenario: You make a horrible mess and it doesn't spread nicely, run it to a sink and wash it out quickly. You'll have to do the drawing fluid steps over again but it beats having to either buy screen cleaner or replace the mesh completely).

Step 9: Taking your squeegee, gently but quickly pull the filler to cover the entire screen. (My apologies, in the photo graphics above, I had an impossible time trying to get an action shot). You'll know you've done it correctly when the drawing fluid can be seen easily and all other surface is covered by the filler. Any excess filler can be returned back to the bottle if possible or washed with a wet sponge. BE VERY CAREFUL when you're cleaning up the frame that no stray water drops hit your frame – until the screen filler is dry it will be marred with water.

Step 10: Let the frame dry again thoroughly – this time overnight would be best.



Step 11: Once the frame is dry, take it to the sink and run cold water on your frame. The drawing fluid is water soluble and will dissolve in the water, leaving you an excellent durable stencil to print with! If you have a little bit of trouble with screen filler blocking areas that had drawing fluid in it, try scrubbing with a rough paint brush or stipple brush.

Next: Printing!

Super Long Extremely Thorough Explanation on How to Make Your Own Screen Printing Frames and then How to Screen Print at Home!

I've been wanting to do another tutorial to share with you guys and the opportunity came up when craftster posted it's monthly challenge for March to be tutorials! I was trying to think of what I could do and it dawned on me that I know tons of people who would love to do their own screen printing at home if only it were cheap and easy. Two things I do very well I think =) I went full-out and now have a possibly wayyy long, extremely thorough documentation of the entire process, from building the frame to printing.

Let me know if there's anything that seems unclear or if you have any questions. It's really not hard; just takes a little time and planning and then you're off! Printing is endless!


PART 1: BUILDING THE FRAME!

(This is the not so sexy part but still good to know for doing your own printing at home. Bare with me, it gets better and better.)

You will need:



A canvas easily found at your local craft store OR 4 stretcher bars OR a sturdy wooden picture frame
Screen printing mesh OR silk organza fabric OR mesh fabric
Staple gun and staples
Good quality duct tape (this is important!! I have found now that the DUCK tape brand sucks, a lot. Sorry but all those pretty colors and patterns are not worth having your frame being leaky and falling apart. Go to your local hardware store to get the real deal.)



Step 1: Assemble your frame if needed. If you got a canvas from the craft store, punch out the canvas fabric so that all you have is the wooden frame.

Step 2: Cut your mesh fabric to be slightly bigger than your frame – roughly 1 inch bigger will be plenty.

Step 3: Staple the fabric to the flat side of the frame. HOW: When stapling, start from the middle of one side, make three staples roughly 1 to 1.5 inches apart. Now switch to the opposite side, pulling the fabric taut (don't pull so hard as to rip the fabric but hard enough that you can see the fibers pulling) and staple three more times to match the first side. Now switch to the side just adjacent and start in the middle and put in three more staples. Switch to the opposite side and staple three more times. Continue stapling, making sure the fabric is taut at all times. This is crucial to make sure when you are printing that there isn't much give to the mesh. This will guarantee good printing results.

Step 4: Trim the fabric so that it is just slightly smaller than the outside of your frame. It doesn't need to be perfect.



Step 5: Cover the frame in duct tape making sure to cover all staples and fabric, leaving a 1 to 2 inch border on all sides. HOW: Start with the flat side, laying tape on all 4 sides so that it goes over the line of the frame by 1 to 2 inches. Then begin another layer of tape covering from the edges of all 4 sides. There will be excess tape going over the corners. Tuck those in as neatly as possible. Flip the frame over and continue taping to the recessed area of the frame. Try to match up the overlapping tape from the front to the back closely. By taping up your frame you are now waterproofing it (relatively speaking) and making it much easier to clean and last longer.

You are now ready to print!

Stay tuned for the next part - what will you be printing and how are you going to put it on the screen?