Block Printing on fabric: Weeks 2,3 & 4

I've really enjoyed my birthday present - a block printing on fabric course at the creative Spike Print Studios, Bristol. Here's what I got up to:


I rushed this owl and when I looked back at him I saw that there was lots missing, so I went back and cut him again during week 2.

No feathers and no wings!

Week 3, I really had to sort this weird bird out...more cutting!

A Van Gogh sky..

I included a sponged on background..

The lino cut..

I used him to make a T-towel..

Then in the final week I decided that I had to simplify my motif. So in a 2 minute window before I left work to head for the course, I googled some feather images and came up with a peacock feather design.

First prints

Getting better...

 This fancy pattern is on a t-towel

This pattern is printed on a bag..spooky zebra eyes?

Paint and draw 10: Face..smiling Moss

It was all about drawing today and putting together all the skills - sketching, shading, proportions, guessing, rubbing out!


I chose a smiling Kate Moss. I found it difficult getting the mouth and teeth right but I've got a picture of the original and may work on this image to finish it or start all over again...


That's the 10 week course over until January - when I'm hoping to go back and improve my work, technique. I can highly recommend Will's classes (click on Will's name for the link) - really relaxed and enjoyable. Call him and join one of the classes or look for something where you are!

Paint and Draw 9: Life drawing

Tackling a real model, rather than drawing an image from a picture, was todays challenge. Will gave us a quick demo on how to start and use the measuring skills we were taught right at the beginning of the 10 week course.


We had about 50 minutes for the first image. During a break I walked around to look at our drawings and I liked the subtle changes in perspectives of the individual drawings and how the images took you on a 360 image of the model.

The rest of the session was spent doing quick 5 minutes drawings. I really enjoyed this and liked the idea that keeping your pencil on the paper helps with the flow...

Reuse - create another invite...

I've found a way to reuse an image that I made for a party invite. You can see the previous creation here: Felt invite.


I've used it again...

I'm pleased with it....

Crafty Olympics!

I couldn't resist sharing this gallery from yesterday's Guardian.

Knitted Olympic stars - in pictures

A new knitting book gets into the London 2012 spirit with patterns for the most celebrated Olympians of all time. But how closely do the knitted characters resemble the real sporting heroes? Rachel Dixon finds out

Knitlympics by Carol Meldrum is published by Collins & Brown. Buy it from the Guardian Bookshop for £6.39.

• Rachel Dixon
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 November 2011 09.00 GMT

Still trying to get my head around the idea of a knitted swimming figure....!

Paint and draw : Lesson 8 Acrylic - colour colOUR COLOUR!

Mixing colours can be tricky! We worked on mixing acrylics and blending the paint today - first job...an onion and the shadow!

Task 2 - playing with brush strokes, blobbing, splodging and just going for it. I was a bit nervous and couldn't get into it, but a push from Will and I started to enjoy myself.

You get the idea!

Block printing on Fabric 1..an early birthday present

For my birthday present this year I wanted to go on this course and I managed to get a place. There are 6 of us on the course so plenty of time to talk through ideas and explore techniques.


The tutor Jacqui at Spike Print Studio has a good background in textile design and printing and is friendly, inspiring & supportive.

My lino cutting skills from the workshop at The Folk House came in handy as we use lino to cut our designs. We cut away and had a go at printing a sample.


Needless to say...I loved it! My mind bubbles with all the possibilities....

Paint and Draw lesson 7 - Acrylic!

I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to my class today - some sad news put me in a weird place. I did venture out and got into the flow of the lesson.


It was all about mixing colours and understanding how to make a range of colours from 7 colours on the pallet - warm red, cool red, warm blue, cold blue, warm yellow, cool yellow and white. Will gave us three different demos and tasks today to help build up our skills at mixing....blimey, it's hard!


Here's my attempt at creating a range of colours and understanding how I got there...I do like a blue/ green range.

Next it was our task to create skin tones and our very own tone! We drew around our hands and played...well one member of the class said that mine looked like a 'Gaga hand'...not my best attempt. Just as Will pulled us together for the final demo I'd cracked the skin tone I wanted! I had another go....

Looks like I've been having fun with lipstick at the Rimmel counter

That's better - no more Gaga hand!

The pale circle of colour is from my attempt to create paint to match with a section from a painting - you can't see the painting, but you can see my attempts to match the colours. I'm looking forward to next week when we can apply what we've learnt to a picture. I feel like we learn quite a lot in a short space of time.