Quilted screen prints - presentation for South Town Piece Makers

Years ago, I printed quilt blocks. I had been making prints on paper for some time and I have always been a sewer. In 1978, I made a print on paper that incorporated images of this old community that began on Lake Erie, as a summer campground for wealthy families in Buffalo. There was a train station nearby making it possible for the men to commute into the city.  Each family had their own home, but they all ate together in a community dining hall. I worked with old photos from the Town of Hamburg historian, sketches that I made of a burned out house on the grounds and an old map of the area. At this time the only access to the area was an old rickety bridge that went over the 18 Mile Creek. The fire engines would not cross it. Many homes burned. The bridge has since been replaced. Idlewood is still there on the shore of Lake Erie in the Town of Hamburg. While I was printing the separate elements on paper, I decided to print some on fabric. I always had a lot old remnants from all of the sewing that I did. The next year, I put them all together to make this hanging. This was the start of my fabric art.

Idlewood Wall Hanging, 1907-1979

 In 2009, I found slides that I had taken of many of the pieces that I had made. 

I put them into a Power Point presentation and added that to my web site. 

Here is a link to it.     http://dorothymarkert.com/Textiles,%20designed,.pdf

In 1995 I became a Roycroft Renaissance Artisan. I have always been interested in the Arts and Crafts Movement. I devoted myself to printing works on paper  instead of fabric. To be honest, I was tired of all of the sewing - now I sew just for pleasure. Rag dolls and doll clothes were my next obsession as well as clothes for my four grand daughters. After that, I rid myself of tons of fabric scraps and sewing notions. My sewing room now features my collection of antique, toy sewing machines. I occasionally go up there to make some new curtains or do some mending.

Pin Cherry and Sky

drawing for pin cherry and sky

 Years ago, when my neighbor was having a new garage built; I found a small  pin cherry tree  that was a volunteer along my fence line. I planted it and it stands in my back yard today.  I loved the way that the leaves, stems and small fruit look against the summer sky, I decided to make a print with the image. Playing with photo shop - I composed the image, eliminating the many of the branches that so intrigued me. Then I made a drawing that would fit into a 10 x 20 inch vertical frame.

reduction print
on black paper

I started by making a reduction print of the image.  - I had printed two onto black Stonehenge paper as well as 18 on white Stonehenge. I sort of liked the way that it looked, but after I had printed it, I realized that it needed some sort of background. I cleaned the screen and placed one of the prints, in register, under the screen and started to do a background for it.

before transparent pink

 I decided to add vertical lines that would emulate the cut lines of a wood block. I painted each line with screen drawing fluid, spread filler over all, washed out the drawing fluid and printed a light blue with  Speedball Textile Screen Printing Ink.
I sort of liked it - but I wasn't really happy with it. Just last week, I had an idea, I would print process magenta with a lot of transparent base over the whole print. That brought the print to life. The delicate lavender sky was just what it needed and it toned down the rest of the print, I was happy with it - but then I took another step and printed a very transparent process blue. I stopped after I had printed the transparent blue  over nine of the prints.
 It wasn't what I had expected - the transparent blue dulled the print - the nine that I had printed with blue will be Pin Cherry and Sky II - a different print.

with transparent blue-
Pin Cherry and Sky II

detail with transparent pink -
click on the images for a larger photo

New Coppershop Image

New Copper Shop Image

Old Copper Shop image

The first Copper Shop that I had made was just too wide to print on the roof tiles.

New Copper Shop print

The detail was lost when the image was reduced, and the trees are no longer there.

When I taught the class at the Power House back in October, I took some photos of the Copper Shop so that I could make a new print for the tiles. The new print will have the same words under neath. After I had made the black print for the tiles, I decided to make a multicolored print. A few years ago I had bought some Jacquard Screen Printing Ink - it was in metallic copper - I decided to use that for the roof and some of the detail. I printed on a craft colored paper that has darker flecks in it. I added dome detail to the background. I like the way the copper ink printed on the craft paper. 

The Copper Shop is dear to me. That is where there is a display of my work. I hope to take a few of the Copper Shop prints there next week. Right now, I am waiting for an order of mat board - I plan to mat this new print in black. I used two screens for this print. One has just the black image and the second was used to print copper and a darker shade of copper as a reduction print. The screens were both made with Speedball Drawing Fluid and Screen Filler. It was difficult to photograph this print, as the light reflected from the right hand side because of the metallic ink. I will go back to the campus and print the roof tiles with the new image - whenever.

Results of rubbing class

close up

prints on fabric

the screen with crayola

The book she used

Here are some of the prints that my student made on Friday. She printed them on both paper and various colors of fabric. They were printed with black ink that had a little red that was blended into it with the squeegee. Click on the images for larger photos.
She picked a book, from my collection that I had never really used.
By moving the transparent screen she was able to select the area of the book for the rubbing. I think she did a remarkable design job.

Ready for Screen Filler

Three screens ready for filler

I rooted around and found some old screens that had images on then that I didn't want to use again and cleaned them up. Then I laid out the shapes on cross section paper - this will insure that they are square. I traced each shape onto the top side of the screen with a pencil. I found it easier to flip the screens over and paint the drawing fluid onto the under side. I used a ruling pen and a straight edge to put all of the lines onto the screens. Then I filled in the squares and rectangles with a brush and drawing fluid. I need to have openings in the screen for the rubbings. I added a 1/4" seam allowance around all - this will make it easier to cut out the fabric pieces. One of the screens has rectangles instead of squares so that they can be used as borders. Now I need to spread screen filler over the back side of the screens and let them dry before I wash out the drawing fluid.

With any type of printmaking, preparation and designing have to be thought about before the fun of making the prints. You have to have an idea of what the goal is and how to get there.

Book rubbings

"Book Purse" front

"Book Purse" -  

The photos on the left are from my web site on page 44 of the Power Point of Textile prints that I used to make. The piece called "Book Purse" was in a National Fiber Arts show. I don't have it any more.
Back in the 1980s, I went to the Hamburg Historical Society's Museum with some screens and crayola crayons; I made  book rubbings from their collection of antique, embossed book covers. The three in this piece are The Works of George Elliot on the front (complete with her portrait) and Dickens (another portrait) and Pope. I liked the look of these and also made designs of borders that would complete the purse.

STENCILS MADE WITH RUBBINGS

            Any textured surface can be used to create  stencils that capture the texture of the original surface. I often use antique, embossed book covers, dried flowers and leaves, ribbon and laces, coins and wood.

            The screen is placed over the surface to be used. It is important to have a comfortable grip on the screen with one hand. Then with the other hand use a crayola crayon to make the rubbing directly on the screen. Don’t let the screen move, or you will have a double image.

            The crayola will act as a blockout to the water base ink. The image will be the color of the paper and the area around it will be the color of the ink.

            It is necessary to have a border of blockout around the rubbing. An open area on the screen can be made first and the rubbing can be done in it. To reverse the print - to print the image rather than the background - screen filler can be spread over all. When it is dry the crayola can be removed with paint thinner.

            When I use antique books, I cover them tightly with saran wrap to keep the crayon from getting on them. Dried flowers and leaves should not be too dry and brittle as they would crumble when rubbed.

            After printing, clean the ink off with cold water. The crayon rubbing will stay on the screen. When cleaning the rubbing from the screen use hot water and a strong cleaner to remove the crayola. Or you can clean the crayola from the screen with paint thinner.

I will have more about rubbings soon as I will be teaching the technique to someone who took my last class at the Power House. She is very interested to learn about rubbings

Last weekend

Erica's print

 A great Arts and Crafts design was printed by another student. First she printed lavender, then
green , black and an iridescent darker blue/green.
This was done on Stonehenge fawn paper - it is 100% rag and has a nice deckle edge.
All of the printed area was lavender in the first state. With screen drawing fluid,she painted everything except what would stay lavender for the second printing and printed green, then painted all of the black areas with drawing fluid, spread filler over all - removed the drawing fluid and printed black. Within the black areas she added iridescent blue/green lines that complete the print.

There is so much repetitive work - painting on the screen with drawing fluid, drying, spreading the filler,
drying, removing the drawing fluid, drying and then
printing - the printing is really fun!
No two prints are exactly the same - they are all originals