Coasters are a quick and easy way to use small experimental prints.
You can piece small portions of prints, hand stitch and then cover a notebook.
Piecing and framing monoprinted fabrics is a way to enjoy them all day long.
Lots of hand stitching can transform your monoprints on fabric into Art Quilts.
Experimental wash outs and painted layers can create beautiful prints for framing.
Piece small monotype prints together for larger projects
Make a “patch” and cover a logo on a tote bag
Want to explore monoprinting on fabric with the gelatin plate? You are in luck! Class starts soon. Read the details on the printmaking workshop page here.
Want to Hand Print Unique Fabric?
Join today and get notice of future classes.
You will also get weekly emails about printmaking, tips, tools and classes.
I have received some great feedback, and I am pleased to share that much of what you want to learn about monoprintng on fabric with the glycerin and gelatin plate is covered in the online printmaking course.
Read on and get excited:
Make fun fabrics to make clothes for your grandchildren.
Learn the benefits of different applications of hand-printing at home.
Discover and master the differences between printing on fabric and paper.
Get ideas on how to incorporating the fabric into your work.
If you are new to the process, then just get started with gelatin printmaking
Obtain lots of time saving information about products, inks and tools
Learn to use objects and color to create a great impression
Discover how to fabric keep looking good and bright
Make choices to keep the soft hand of the fabric
Add printing on fabric to your mixed media skills
Make completely unique fabrics for mixed media projects
Accent woven fabric with printed marks and surface design.
Expand your knowledge of how to compose a pleasing image/pattern
Be inspired new ideas from everyone in the class
Explore and develop your sense of design
Have such messy fun!
Embrace a little play time
Expand the possibilities using the gelatin plate!
Make new fiber art projects
Learn to make clear prints
Wow!
That may even sound overwhelming instead of inspiring, but I have broken down the content into small manageable pieces. So you can take the course and step by step you will be exploring and learning more than you ever though possible.
That is one of the beautiful things about printmaking with the gelatin plate. You can get printing right away. There is not a lot of planning and once you have your studio space set up you can print for a short time and steadily build your skills.
Play and guided discovery is how new things are invented. If you follow all the rules, then it is hard to create something new.
That is why I love gelatin printmaking.
With just a few tools and a pile of recycled fabric I can explore imagery, layering, composition and mark making with immediate feedback.
This immediate result allows for active learning and adjustment.
I don’t have to wait for things to develop like with some dyeing processes.
I don’t have to spend hours planning and carving one design like with block printing.
I don’t need the planning and set up of screen printing.
My most favorite tools are found object stencils, grasses, threads and feathers. I can combine these with a few other marks and have hours of printmaking fun.
I like to use 100 percent cotton sheets, the old ones that you can find at a boutique thirft store. This makes the materials less precious and creates a freedom to explore. I can print with abandon, and if the layering idea did not work, then no loss. It was not a precious, expensive piece of fabric.
I like the exploration so much that I have piles of fabric prints that could be transformed into a finished product. Seven project ideas for monoprints on fabric:
Stitch, mat and frame
Stitch, piece and cover a journal
Trim and make into and iron on patch for a tote bag
Cut and quilt into coasters
Rip and wrap into fabric balls
Crop and combine into pillow covers
Sew and quilt into table runners
What about you? Do you have fiber projects that would be transformed by using one of a kind monoprinted fabrics of your own making?
Do you want to print your own Fabrics?
Get the instruction, support and encouragement you need to succeed!
Monoprinting on Fabric - online printmaking course
Make & modify the glycerin and gelatin plate
Make the most of your marks on fabric
Capture the details with mere hand pressure
Create one of a kind fabrics
Additionally, you will receive a weekly email about printmaking, ideas, tips and courses.
I received a wonderful a handbag from one of my students recently, Chris Cooper of the Great Little Bag, Noosa, Australia.
I was so surprised and proud of the bag the I told everyone about it at recent family gathering.
the great little bag from chris cooper
She told me the flowers were relief prints and the outline is free motion stitching. The long strap allows for me to wear it across my chest and showcases the printed bag at my hip.
That got me thinking about printmaking and wearing your artwork. When I finish a piece, a video or some other art I want to stare at it for hours at every angle.
What do you do when you finish a piece? How do you admire it? Do you have ways that you wear your art?
Want to Hand Print Unique Fabric?
Join today and get notice of future classes.
You will also get weekly emails about printmaking, tips, tools and classes.
You are familiar with the idea of screen printing. Everyone has a screen printed T-shirt. Maybe you are even familiar with Andy Warhol’s famous screen prints as shown below.
The idea is simple. You push/pull ink through tiny holes in a design on a screen. The trick is to get the design on the screen.
Thermofax machines do this for us. And you do not need the expensive machine to get started.
I have the machine and I made a starter kit for you. You can be screen printing by the end of the week.
8 piece Thermofax Screen starter kit with Pulling Screen Prints the online printmaking course with Linda Germain
This starter kit gives you the 8 designs shown above. They are great for small projects. You can prints, cards, mixed media projects, t-shirts and more.
Video: Screen Printing made easy with Thermofax kit
Watch the motion of my hand. It is so easy to make the print
This Kit is no longer available.
Show you how to cut, tape and stabilize the screens
Print with the screens
Choose substrates to print on
Get you started
You will also get information on how to set up your workspace and clean and care for your new screens.
This Kit is no longer available.
A table cover, scarf, note cards and handbag all made with the thermofax screen starter kit images.
Generally I advise folks to use proper screen printing ink so that the ink does not dry too fast and ruin the screen. But a recent shopping trip revealed that the local craft stores are not carrying basic screen printing ink. I am so disappointed.
That lead me to experiment with acrylic craft paint. And I will say that is it possible to print with the craft paint BUT you MUST clean the screen IMMEDIATELY. So the ink does not dry in the holes and ruin your screen. And I do I mean immediately.
All craft paints are different and the cheaper they are the more water they have and the less pigment. I liked how the Martha Stewart satin worked. If the paint is too watery it can not hold the edge.
Another alternative is to order the Golden screen printing medium, mix that with you acrylic craft paint and you should be good to go.
