Stencil screenprinting tutorial

I'm in love with geometrics at the moment, I love the way basic shapes can make a myriad of different patterns. I've also been wanting to play a bit more with stencil screenprinting after my simple experiments a couple of months ago. It's a fun quick way to get a design onto fabric and ever since then I've been dreaming up patterns which take into account my basic papercutting skills but also print in two colours, another first for me. In the end I came up with this wonderful colourful Harlequin design, easy to cut and, even better, where I can use a single stencil for both colours.

I'm really happy with the results. I'll be playing with this one some more I think. I've got ideas for other colour matches. I think it would look great as a graphic pencil case or tea towel, or maybe a tote bag.

I thought you might be interested in the simple steps of how I got from my initial design (above) to finished print (below) so I took some photos along the way. I hope you enjoy my simple tutorial for Stencil Screenprinting.

1. Once I had my design I drew it up in illustrator and printed it out to size. I used a light box (use a window as a simple alternative if you don't have a lightbox) and traced the design onto my Ezicut film. Ezicut is available at art shops and is a thin plasticised paper/film which is a bit tougher than paper and doesn't distort when wet.

2. The straight lines proved nice and simple and it didn't take long to cut out each of the triangles. I used a small Stanley knife, a ruler and a cutting mat. The dark triangles you can see are the print out behind the cutouts.

3. Note I've spaced them slightly apart to give me some film between printing spaces to give it some strength. Also you can see I'm only cutting one half of the design as it will be printed in two colours.

4. My stencil filled most of the screen so I didn't bother covering the other parts. You might want to attach paper or extra ezicut to block out unused areas. Once you have your first pull the ink will stick the stencil to the screen and keep it in position. I put some sticky tape on mine to hold it in position at the start.

5. Print your panels, sorry no printing photos as its a bit hard to hold a camera mid print! As each panel is printed hang them carefully up to dry.

6. When you have printed all of them wash the first colour gently from screen and stencil. I use only waterbased inks such as Permaset and Aquatex which are eco friendly and quick to wash out.

7. Dry the panels, screen, stencil and squeegee and set up for the next colour.

8. To align the second colour I used a trick I've seen online. I taped a sheet of mylar film to hinge along one side and printed my second colour directly onto it.

9. Then I positioned each fabric panel below, aligning the second colour with the first. As each one was positioned I flipped the film to one side and printed. As you can see my second colour isn't exact, but I like it that way. You could spend more time aligning them but I like the handmade effect it gives the final prints. Dry the panels and heat set the designs.

All in all I was really happy with my day of printing. I'm inspired to try some different colourways and maybe play with scale. I found I also love this first colour print all on its own. I like the simplicity and it reminds me of bunting twirling in the wind!

Good luck stencil screenprinting! I'd love to see what you come up with. I'm happy to answer questions in the comments and would love to hear your suggestions for other Harlequin colour combinations!

Show & Tell is around tomorrow. Come back to meet Miss October and admire her lovely work.

my creative space - random piecing

I'm not sure exactly what you call this random piecing method of quilting but I've been wanting to try it for ages and now I don't know what stopped me. I think I always thought it was beyond my basic quilting skills but when I finally tried it last week I really enjoyed the process and found it quite relaxing and easier than I'd imagined. I might need to try a bigger project now.

I had some offcuts from some other sewing I was doing and just started to sew them together. I loved using some of those pieces of fabric I've been hoarding, I think my favourite is the kimono clad bunnies! This cushion top grew from there and was simply a matter of pulling out all the red from my stash and cutting and piecing till it was the right size and shape.

Its times like this I'm glad I have bought and hoarded so many different fabrics. These pieces are a great mix of handprinted, swaps, scrap packs, quilting cotton, vintage finds and my own RickRack linen yardage design.

Red Rick Rack has been sold out for a while, but I found a stash of small pieces the other day and I might pop them in the shop. I plan an update next week. There is a small collaboration I've been working on for a little while, with one of my favourite creative bloggers!! I can't wait to share that with you. Hopefully we'll be ready by next week's Creative Space.

For now though I'm off to see some other inspiring creative spaces over here.

ricotta pasta & cauliflower pizza

I've been meaning to try making ricotta for a long time, I live in the Italian heart of Sydney though and have a beautiful artisan cheese shop down the road and fresh ricotta at my local supermarket. Yesterday though I had one of my bursts of cooking enthusiasm and a couple of spare litres of milk in the fridge and so I thought I'd make some for dinner.

I also wanted to try another crazy looking recipe I'd seen online, via pinterest, for cauliflower based pizza. Yes, cauliflower based pizza. Instead of a dough you use steamed cauliflower and cheese to form a base for your toppings.

The ricotta was so simple. First I heated my milk and cream and salt to 190oC and then took it off the heat and added lemon juice. The internet seems decided that adding a bit of cream to your milk gives you a better ricotta, which isn't so dry. It was delicious. I might have added a tad too much lemon but for a first try it was wonderful, and so easy. Here's a recipe.

I used the ricotta as a base for a favourite old Marcella Hazan recipe (download link is first one) which my sister was addicted to for a while. You fry some bacon, or in this case my new favourite (from that local Italian supermarket) Speck. Add a large bowl of defrosted peas, add to cooked pasta and lay on a base of ricotta, then stir through. Top with grated parmesan and... yum.

As a side dish I made a plain pizza using the cauliflower base. Grate and steam about a cup of cauliflower (eight minutes in the microwave, no added water) mix with equal parts of mozzarella or other cheese (about a cup), one egg and two crushed cloves of garlic. Flatten this mixture out on your pizza tray and cook for fifteen minutes on 230c till golden. Pull it out then to add toppings, in my case some passata, mozzarella and kalamata olives and put it back in to melt the cheese. Here's a more detailed explanation.

So delicious!! The kids adored it. D gave dinner ten out of ten and J had fifths. They are all eating so much at the moment, all three of them and I had to hide this tiny sliver of pizza to keep it for today to photograph. The good news is its even better the next day.

I love both these recipes and they will go on the regular roster. Not only are they both delicious and quick, but with all fresh ingredients and handmade cheeses and bases and a homegrown salad you know exactly what you're eating, and I love that!