Art Somewhere: Block Printing

Create your own Block Printed fabric using materials from around the home.

In this fun workshop we will cover the basics of block printing, colour matching, and how to create patterns on your chosen fabric.

Printed fabrics make great eco-friendly and reusable gift wraps, or you can choose to give a new life to a plain cotton tea towel or upcycle a piece of clothing or tote bag.

In this class we're not just sticking to veggies (though potatoes and carrots are great to bring along!) Grab some leaves, strings, lego bricks, or even a plug from the sink. We're going to explore making unique patterns with objects around the house to turn them into beautiful homewares, accessories, clothes or gifts.

Required materials:

• Ink - Fabric ink or acrylic paint both work
• Fabric to print on –it needs to be a natural fibre such as linen or cotton, eg a t-shirt, blank napkins or tea towels (Kmart sells these) nothing with too much texture like a towel.
• Paper to practice on
• Objects from around the home (see ideas below!)

Suggested extra materials - choose as many as you like from what you have at home:

• Cut vegetables something like potatoes and carrots are great, just make sure they are flat so you get an even coverage
• Bubble wrap
• Corrugated cardboard
• Buttons
• Lego bricks (the bobbly side)
• String wrapped around wood or card blocks
• Leaves from the garden
• Plastic bottle tops
• An old hairbrush or nail brush
• Plug from the kitchen sink
• Erasers
• Brushes
• Sponge applicator
• Ready made rubber stamps (these are available in the stationery section of Kmart)

Its all about having fun and trying different things to see what works for your pattern! So bring anything along you'd like to try, and we'll experiment.

About our artist:

Kitty Cardwell is a Sydney based printmaker, teacher and creative ambassador.

She teaches fabric printing classes and is a member of The Rizzeria print studio at the 107 Green Square - Joynton Avenue Creative Centre.

The class:

You'll be emailed a zoom link in the leadup to the workshop - we'll see you there! :)