Rubber Stamp Making

Whirlygig Collective is going to Birmingham Zine Festival, and i've made us a stamp so we can stamp ourselves on things. 

 

I made it out of a rubber, like eraser rubber, using the same relief technique as lino/wood cu, then stuck it to a bit of scrap mdf, and screwed a handle on it.

I even used a lino cutting blade on parts, (taped to a pencil because i've lost my holder somewhere in the most recent house move) it was very odd though, as the rubber by nature is obviously very bouncey, not at all like lino, and if anyone ever tells you it is, they're lying.

And this is how it prints:

I used half a £50 note style rubber from Hawkins Bazaar costing me £1, so 50p in total, everything else was lying around the house. well, and a ink pad from Sussex Stationers for £3.99.

See also, my how to make a screen printing screen at home thing: [link]

ALSO i now have a tumblr [link]

Home screen making

Hey it's been a while, been busy with full time work ruining my life, and there was the Whitstable Biennale one day exhibition which was awesome, met some really interesting people, and they got me inspired. :)

two of these lovely people are in this photo (left to right) is Amy Curtis, Mark Sosbe and myself.
The exhibition was in this amazing caravan, the walls were all curved and interesting to post work up in. 

I submitted my final major project work, and had postcards for sale, was a good day had by all : )

Photos courtesy of Mark Sosbe


SCREEN PRINTING
Gonna be screen printing very soon, made my own screen this weekend. :D was dead exciting.Buying the emulsion and squeegees everything this week.

So yeh, i bought some big flat frames from a charity shop, the small one was £1.50, the big one £3.90. (get in!) the massive amount of material was £2.99.

And it's not very interesting in hindsight but, i jus cut out a square of the fabric a lot bigger than the frame, and stapled it down, i would reccomend using a staple gun, i didnt have one, but a friend Simon reccomended that using a stapler works just as fine (yes and no - works, but is very awkward and messy) Oh, make sure you neaten up all the pins, get rid of any tape, and stickyness.

and when stapling, staple from one side, then its neigbour, dont worry about the taughtness till you do the adjacent sides, and make sure its completely flat and nice. i know there's professional screen stretching and stuff... but mine looks pretty much the same as the professional ones i've used?

I'm pretty chuffed with the way it turned out. :) and it kind of shows that if i can do it... all of us can do it and give it a go at home. :)

So this frame in the pictures is jus the right size to have an a4 print in it, and cost me under £2. and i can use it until the fabric gives out - and i have lots of replacement fabric.

Of course i'll keep you posted, i'll be screen printing a limited edition the 'chode' design [link] for Avenge Thee + Naime hopefully on shirts and a few totebags too (maybe a few paper prints) :) let me know if you're interested and i'll put one/some by for you :)

#34 Up and Coming Exhibitions

Graduation Exhibition at University for the Creative Arts at Maidstone, Kent.
21-22nd June 2010 (more dates TBC)  [link]

D&AD New Blood, Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London.
24-29 June 2010 [link]

It'll be nice to see some people there :)

#32 Exhibition

The exhibition went up Wednesday morning, we got everything up in a record 5 hours :) Everything went okay, surprisingly things sold and astonishingly people were exclaiming "wow what a bargain..." when we told them the price!

I had a few pieces that were on show and for sale that i havent shown online before, so heres a few:

have realised how much i like Whitstable, and in the future we should definitely concentrate on Whitstable's patronage.

 The people of Whitstable are so nice and friendly, approachable, especially the shop keepers, i'm really glad they've got the scheme to help save local independent stores.

Unavoidably there are some left over bits for sale, on the Whirlygig Folksy Shop
But we will be selling some cards and bags that are left over from the exhibition in the shop next door :) (on the left - Pearl and Hemmingway) if you missed it and happen to end up in the area.

You can read more about the exhibition on the Whirlygig Blog  :)