Adventures in Block Printing

I grew up in a fairly rural part of Arizona, but in spite of this we had a pretty amazing and witty art teacher. One of the areas of study covered in 7th or 8th grade was lithography, specifically linoleum carving and block printing. I remember enjoying the class and being ever so proud of my carved unicorn, a homage to my love of The Last Unicorn and (I'm sure) Legend.

Fast-forward a couple of years to the early months of 2016 when I decide that I need to remake the curtains for the canopy bed my Lord and I use at Pennsic. The most economical fabric I found was plain lawn for a ridiculously low price, so I purchased 30 yards and made plans to jazz it up with fabric printing. (I'm fairly sure the idea initially spawned after reading an article somewhere on the internet about painted fabrics or perusing the eternal productivity killer known as Pinterest.)

As usual, money talks, so my orders of linoleum blocks, Speedball inks, brayers, carving tools, and most importantly fabric arrived. What I didn't order, but arrived nevertheless, were massive amounts of work related projects and travel, the local event Northern Oaken War Maneuvers for which I am an event steward, and then Pennsic projects more important than decoration. Needless to say, I overbooked my time and couldn't get to any of this. (On the upside, I did get to take a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to look at extant examples of printed fabrics, but that's another post entirely!)

If you're going to choose
heraldry,  be sure to select
complex lines of division...

Through the rest of spring and summer, I watched a barony member named Dulcia (Wylde) post pictures of her own explorations in block printing and lived vicariously through it. After War, she was kind enough to teach a class at our local baronial meeting, allowing people to make and take any number of ink and fabric combinations. (Block printing, block carving, stamping, or stencils.)

I decided to give it a go and thankfully found out it's just like riding a bike! There was a small piece of carving material available, so I grabbed that and quickly drew out a rough cut of my heraldry on a lozenge. (Because why do anything easy?)  After a few negative-positive space fumbles, I carved this lovely little stamp. Not perfect, but not bad for 25+ years out of practice.

If you are interested in learning more about block printing, there is a fabulous Facebook group shepherded by Countess Brigit of Mercia. She is a powerhouse researcher who taught several classes at Pennsic this year and quite the trend setter and inspiration.

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/PrintedTextiles/