Printing with enamels

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the studio of a well known glass artist, Karen Murphy. She is busy undertaking work for the University of Hertfordshire, but managed to squeeze us into her schedule for a spot of enamel screen printing!

Now, screenprinting is my bag, however I've not had much to do with enamels, but mixing the two!? Oh the possibilities!

 Jill, one of the Foundation Degree Fine Art students at Hertford Regional College, was considering creating a glass installation for her final exhibition. Using her photo's and images of tree's printed onto glass, she had ideas to project light through the prints, creating shadow.

Karen mixes up the enamel from powder and it is pressed through the screen like you would a textile or paper print. I prepared the silk screen the original way, using a standard emulsion and exposure time. The enamel is thicker than your standard screen inks, so we had to be careful not to leave it too long before cleaning off the screen.

   

The glass print is then 'cooked' in the kiln, where the enamel gets to set properly. The result is as crisp and clear as a normal paper print, yet printing onto glass opens up new possibilities for final outcomes.

Exciting times!

Occasional Dress

I'm wearing a curtain to a wedding this year.

Window wear is the hottest new thing, didn't you hear? I like to make something from nothing and was recently given a load of old fabrics for free. Result! After pottering round the Internet, I stumbled upon this gorgeous free pattern for a 'coffee date dress' at Burdastyle. Lovely examples of what other people had done with the same pattern, check it out.
It's free to download and prints out on a million A4 pages, which you then link up and use as a normal dress pattern. Such a great idea and so accessible!

 I've altered the pattern somewhat to make it fit my style a bit more as I wasn't too keen on the ruffle. Using a contrasting cream cotton poplin for the bodice, I mixed a lace trim with the peach coloured curtain and added a ribbon to soften it up a little. The fabric is quite heavy and stiff therefore holds it's skirt shape nicely.

  And voila!

Dress it up with some pearl earrings and a glass of pink bubbly and I'm good to go!

Hand stitched brooches

 Recently I have been inspired by a fellow blogger,  Hens Teeth, who makes gorgeous pieces with free hand stitch and selected scrap fabrics. She also makes beautiful badges and brooches with students on her workshops. I would love to attend one someday.

In the meantime, I have been playing around with my own attempts! Inspiration was provided by Hen's Teeth work, and this brooch (right) which came with a blazer from River Island once upon a time. Sifting through my collection of broken jewellery, old stamps and patterns, cut off's of forgotten fabrics, idea's started to form...

This piece consists of old maps, dress making patterns, upholstery fabrics and a key hole print from a previous work. Hand stitched together it gives a real 'homemade' feel, which I love.














Here I finally got a chance to justify my collection of used screen print tape! I love the 'overprint' shadow you get once a screen has been printed several times and the print gets picked up on the brown tape. I knew there would be a use for it one day!

Hand stitched in the centre like a mended broken heart.
















What can you see in the print of this brooch? I will give you a clue..it's a ship. There is also a Chinese stamp in there too. I like the colours in this. Keeping colours tonal and similar creates a calming, pleasing piece.













Clashing colours going on here. This piece probably works best as a patch on a bag or clothing as it's bigger than the others. Here I have used more stamps ( Yeah I used to collect them..what?) mixing colourful scraps and printed pieces. True mixed media. Mmmmmm, mixed media.