Printing with Pizza ...... well the trays

I have a passion for making things different and individual. My whole idea behind my little cottage industry is to make things different, not the same as all the mass produced  products you find all over the high street but something that is tailored to one specific person or family.

Ways to do this include using my own designs and to use my own fabric as far as possible which will also be my own design. As you saw before the dyeing classes I attended recently was mind blowing the ways you can inject colour and manipulate it but it also has a lot of randomness to it which I am not very good at.

The other thing I really enjoy is printing on fabric and the way different materials and techniques affect the feel of a design.

My very first attempts at printing was at a one day class with the lovely Jane Charles who always seems to buzz with enthusiasm and ideas.

A Printing tile

The print

The same tile before cutting and reshaping

A print and the block that made it

And guess what we used to print with..... you got it.... used pizza trays! Unfortunately we didn't get to eat the pizzas, I believe Jane's children had the pleasure of that! The prints came out really well, you can press things in cut bits outs and create an design with knitting needles and pens. The tray is fairly firm polystyrene and I think this helps with getting a clear design. The printing ink was 50/50 acrylic paint and textile medium, this makes the acrylic more pliable and wash resistant. You can easily cut the polystyrene tile and over print and interlock different shapes.

I think the tiles can look as lovely as the print when you have finished with them!

A Dragonfly printing tile.