It’s that time again, when I put all my printed goodies into a big suitcase and trundle to Widcombe Christmas Fair – a really lovely event which always marks the start of the festive season for me!
There’s a brilliant range of hand made stuff if you’re after some truly unique gifts, and a chance to chat to the makers and enjoy the Christmas atmosphere.
Christmas gives me a fantastic excuse to make some new things, and this year these Christmas critters have appeared! I’ll be selling these in my Etsy shop, as well as at the lovely Christmas Larks evening next Friday Dec 7th (5 – 8pm). These are also for sale in the Why Gallery in Frome.
And of course Christmas is a great time to get away with some terrible puns! I’ve been playing around with this Tree Kings design for ages, so it was so satisfying to finally print it. Those Permaset Aqua colours always come out beautifully clear and bright on cotton canvas:
It’s been too hot in my attic studio to do much screen printing, so I’ve been getting some more of these little paper people cut out and made up. I never quite know how the details will turn out on block printed faces, as the tiniest mark can alter an expression.
These folks are available ready made, or as a DIY kit in my Etsy shop, or from the Tourist Info Centre in Bath, where there are lots of beautiful things made by local designers and artists.
Inspired by the long rows of Georgian houses snaking up the Bath hillsides, this screen print is printed on to acid free watercolour paper, which gives it a bit of texture:
Here are some giclee prints of these screen prints. I tried lots of different colours, and couldn’t decide which I liked best! I’ll be putting these in my Etsy shop (as soon as I take some better pictures of them)
This is happening on Thurs 1st Dec at the lovely Green Bird Cafe. Delicious festive food, drinks, and the chance to browse some beautifully unique, locally made items!
Recently I’ve been having lots of fun working on some new designs and trying out some new colour combinations. As I’ve been focusing on one design at a time I haven’t had the chance to see my stuff all together until now, so I’m really excited to see my work all in one place, displayed beautifully by Donna at the Bath Tourist Centre shop. Situated next to Bath Abbey, in Abbey Green, the shop has a huge range of Bath themed stuff, much of it made by local artists, and some very tasty Bath Gin gifts too!
One of my favourite Ladybird books was The Elves and the Shoemaker. We’re talking a long, long time ago but I can still remember those gorgeous illustrations of Georgian shoes made by the elves!
So I decided to make some Georgian shoe bags, hand printed in Georgian Bath!
I spent a few days researching shoes on the fantastic V&A museum website, and drawing lots of variations of these until I settled on this design.
They’re perfect for packing shoes in your suitcase, and are made from lightweight cotton calico with a drawstring closure.
They’ll soon be available to buy in my Etsy shop and also in the Bath Visitor Centre shop (from September).
At last I’ve printed some bigger house cushions – these ones won’t get lost on the sofa!
I’ve used ticking on the back of the cushions, and the cover is zipped and removable. At last I’ve lost my fear of sewing zips, after sewing about 50 into bags, cushions and doorstops!
I’ve been using some deliciously neon ink lately, made by Hunt the Moon, who also sell lots of other screen printing stuff. Their neon pink eco-friendly water-based ink has a really gorgeous glow, and prints beautifully onto natural canvas.
These make up bags are headed to a little shop in Larkhall, Bath called Leak which is full of lovely things – I always end up buying something there when I’m just meant to be delivering things!
Many apologies for not having posted for so long! I’ve been working on lots of new stuff, and being a relative newbie to blogging, I find it so much quicker to post on instagram (@blockhousebath). I’m going to try to post more regularly on here now, so perhaps that will speed me up a bit!
Here’s a picture of one of the new doorstops with hand screen printed house and handles. I wanted the pattern on the handles to echo some of the details on the houses, and I also used the same delicious green colour. Permaset printing inks are so good to use, and look beautiful when printed onto cotton canvas (Permaset available from Handprinted or Hunt the Moon).
And here’s a make up bag in the same fabric. I just used hand-cut paper stencils to screen print these. Putting in zips has been a steep learning curve! As you can see in the doorstop above, I’ve put zips in these too, so that they’re a lot more postable, and customers can add their own rice (2kg for about 80p in Lidl when I last looked!
All images copyright blockhousebath 2016.
