Printmaking Archives - Poppytalk

DIY Speckle-Painted Lampshade

Jan Halvarson — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 00:49:00 +0000

Today we’re excited to share a project from Rebecca Atwoods new beautiful new book, Living With Pattern: Color, Texture and Print at Home from Potter.

The book is all about how to tell your story with pattern, going through each room of a home from various artists/designers who Rebecca admires, but who also know how to make a home that is reflective of the home owners story. A section filled with gorgeous homes including tips and tricks on creating personal, patterned spaces.

The end of the book features several DIY projects from decoupage to embroidered placemats. Fresh updated projects on classic ideas such as marbling, weaving and shibori. Like this speckle-painted lampshade we asked to share here. Check out the how-to below!

DIY Speckle-Painted Lampshade

Customizing a lampshade is an easy way to add pattern to your bedside table. This small accent may be just what you need if you have limited space. Here an organic pattern is painted on the shade to give it new life. If you’re unsure about painting your own design, you can always go for a stripe. The pattern possibilities are endless, so sketch out a few ideas prior to starting.

Supplies
Lampshade
Water-based paint, such as gouache or acrylic
Brushes for painting and/or stenciling
Stencils (optional)
Lamp base
Apron or old clothes

STEP 1: Paint
Just dive in. Have fun and paint freely, or stencil the design of your choosing. Here I used blue and black gouache. Gouache gives a softer look than acrylic because it has a matte finish. I recommend using only a little bit of water. Simply wet your brush prior to dipping it in the paint. If your paint feels too thick, just add a little more water until you get a consistency you like. First I put down larger spots of a soft blue, followed by a second layer of smaller black spots.

STEP 2: Finish
Let the paint dry completely before fitting the shade on your lamp base. Light up your room!

Living With Pattern: Color Texture and Print at Home by Rebecca Atwood is available on Amazon. Click HERE for the link.

The post DIY Speckle-Painted Lampshade appeared first on Poppytalk.

DIY | Graphic Pillows by Arren Williams

Jan Halvarson — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 08:29:00 +0000

Guest post by Arren Williams

Today we’re thrilled and honoured to have Arren Williams joining us all the way from Portugal with this really rad pillow DIY. Many of you may know Arren from his gorgeous styling, editing and trend reporting skills here in Canada, but now he’s living overseas for a year with his husband in the Algarve; Portugal’s beautiful southern coast. We spotted his graphic black and white pillows he made recently on his Instagram account earlier last month, and we’re thrilled he accepted our invitation to re-create them for a DIY on Poppytalk. Psssst! Stay tuned also as soon we’ll be able to buy Arren’s pillows and some soon-to-be-announced products online later this Fall! Can’t wait! In the meantime, check out his tutorial below on how to make these gorgeous pillows!

Materials List:
Fabric (must be pre-washed, without the use of any fabric softener, dried and ironed)
Fabric Paint
Sponge
Masking Tape (a couple of different widths)
Wool
Needle and thread
Drop cloth
Rubber gloves

How-To:
Cut the front panel of fabric for your cushion at least 5cm larger than the finished size to allow for seam allowance when it’s sewn into a cushion cover, and start to plan out your design with masking tape. I’m inspired by 50’s graphic patterns, architectural details, tiles and more, so with that in mind, I’ll start taping away and freehand the design. Using a couple of different widths of tape will make your final design that bit more interesting and, as you go, it’s easy to adjust the tape and reapply to get the design you want, but do make sure it’s firmly stuck to the fabric.

Cover your work surface with a drop cloth and pre-mix your fabric paint. I find it’s too thick out of the package, so I water it down to the consistency of whipping cream. Then don a pair of rubber gloves and get to work – Dip the sponge and try and squeeze off the excess before working on the fabric. Dab away and start to cover your taped design, aiming not to shift the tape as you go!

With the tape in place allow the fabric to dry overnight on a new drop cloth or, in my case, set it to dry in the hot Portuguese sun. Finally the most exciting part – Carefully remove the tape to reveal the finished design. I love the randomness of the final look of the sponged design, and don’t mind a little colour bleeding here of there, or even places where I’ve missed covering the fabric entirely (you have to embrace happy accidents!). To ‘fix’ the design, and make it more durable, iron the reverse of the design on a high setting with steam.

Then sew up your cushion cover or, in my case while I’m living abroad without my machine, take the fabric to a lady called Carla and ask (in very bad Portuguese) to sew the cushion cover up for you. Once that’s all happened, next step is to make your pom-poms! Honestly, your first one will look awful, so make sure you have enough wool around to make at least 5 or 6 as you get more accomplished. Take a look on YouTube for more info, but here’s the bare bones of it – Wrap the wool around the widest part of your hand at least 100 times (less will be too skimpy, believe me on this). Snip and then carefully slide the wrapped wool off of your hand then, with the help of a friend, tie a very tight knot through the centre of the wrapped wool, leaving the ends of your tie nice and long (this’ll come in useful later). Snip through the loops on either side of your knot, and fluff up all of the ends. Yes, it’s ugly, but a bit of time and a haircut with a sharp pair of scissors and you’ll end up with something passably attractive.

Click on the card deck below to see the pom-pom how-to:

To attach your pom-poms to your cushion cover, use the long tails from your tie to discover the knot and stitch through this area to attach it to the corner of the cushion. It’s best to do this without the fill inside the cushion just so your stitches don’t catch the fill as you go. Note: Your pom-poms, though wildly fun and on-trend, do make your cushion not machine washable, so this means from now on it’s spot-clean only for this baby…

Follow Arren on his beautiful instagram account at @arrenwilliams

The post DIY | Graphic Pillows by Arren Williams appeared first on Poppytalk.

DIY | Hand-Printed Rug

Jan Halvarson — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:30:00 +0000

Contributor post by Caitlyn of The Merrythought.

Finding the perfect area rug for your space can be quite a daunting task. They’re either a little off from what you want or a bit too trendy to spend a lot of money on. This surprisingly simple DIY costs about $20 and you can customize it however you want. Plus, you won’t feel guilty when you want to make a different one next year. Or when you want to make one for each of your rooms!

What you need:
Canvas (at least 10 oz, 4ftx7ft – or desired size)
Sewing Machine
Iron
Yard Stick
Pencil
Permanent Markers

How to make it:

If edges aren’t already finished: Fold in 1/2″ along edge and iron in place. Fold again and iron – so raw edge is turned under. Use your sewing machine to straight stitch across fold. Repeat for each side. Iron canvas out flat. Measure and lightly sketch out desired design. Use permanent markers to go over design.

Add a rug pad underneath and you’re all set!

If you use a lower weight canvas or the rug is for a high traffic area (think mudroom), you might want to double up the canvas when you sew it.

This is washable, but permanent marker will fade a bit with each wash.

The post DIY | Hand-Printed Rug appeared first on Poppytalk.

DIY : Print Your Own Fabric

Jan Halvarson — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 06:31:00 +0000

Guest post by Karina from Maple Ash and Oak

Here is a simple and inexpensive way to create your very own fabric pieces. No need for large screens, squeegees, and emulsion. Beautiful prints can be created with simple methods and materials. Most of the supplies are household items and the rest can be found at your local art or craft store.

What you will need:

2-3 yards 1/4″ Foam
Fabric (for your prints and a cover cloth)
Textile Inks (can be found at your local art store)
Scotch Tape
Markers
T-pins or Sewing Pins
Plastic Folders or Tray
Scissors
Exact o Knife
Contact Paper (transparent)
Containers
Spatulas
Iron
Rubber Bands
Stamps (optional)

Start by preparing your print space. I have a portable print table, but you can create your own with a little ingenuity. Cut off about a 9″ strip of foam (save this for later). Take the larger piece and place it on your table, a fold out card table works best. Cut the foam in the shape of the table. Take your large cover cloth (make sure it doesnt have a textured weave) and place it over your foam and table. Secure each corner to the leg of the table by tying or taping, just make sure its tight (iron your cloth to make sure there are no wrinkles or folds).

Now you can take your fabric and pin it to your print table. In my samples I use a organic cotton muslin and a cotton/linen blend. Start by pinning the centers of each side and work your way to the corners. I space my pins about 5″. Then tape each edge, covering your pins as well. I also used tape to divide my printing space into three quadrants.

Now comes the fun part… creating your designs! Get out your contact paper and start sketching. Bold shapes work great and are pretty easy to draw and cut out. Cut off a large piece of contact paper, about 12″x12″ works well, and cut out your design using an exact o knife. Think of the contact paper as the stencil for your design. Save the shapes you cut out, you can use those as well!
I’ve been obsessing over triangles lately so here is one of my stencils:

After the paper is peeled from the contact paper place it on your fabric:

Now take out the extra piece of foam you set aside. Cut it into 4 – 5 square pieces. Fold the corners of the foam together and secure with a rubber band as shown below. These are your printing poofs.

Take out your textile pigments and mix as desired. I use little Tupperware containers and spatulas to mix my special colors. Pour out a little dab onto your plastic tray. Use your dauber, poofy as I call it, and dab until you have a consistent coating

Place your contact paper (sticky side down) where desired on your fabric and start dabbing the ink.

I use the contact paper triangles I cut out from my design on the right to form a new pattern on my fabric on the left. Move your stencil around your fabric to create super awesome patterns.

Try different things like stamps, daubing through lace, and layering different stencils. Allow each print to dry in between layers.

I hand cut a rubber stamp and used it to create this repeating pattern

In progress:

Play around with the thickness and texture created with your dauber.

Unpin fabric from your table and iron to heat set your pieces.

I love working with fabric, the possibilities are endless. Use your fabric to truly personalize your home with hand crafted pillows, tea towels, napkins, ect.

Or simply hang your new piece of artwork and enjoy.

The post DIY : Print Your Own Fabric appeared first on Poppytalk.