Printing Experiments

I'm always on the lookout for new printing ideas for Pania Press so I was really excited when I read about the recently published book Printing by Hand by New York textile designer Lena Corwin. I promptly ordered a copy which arrived a couple of weeks ago.

The projects and techniques that Lena describes and demonstrates in the book are gorgeous and inspiring so I've been busily gathering materials for my first hand printing session. You can look at Lena's wonderful blog right here, which includes a very handy Q&A section related to her book.

Here are a few of the projects:

I love the simplicity and understated elegance of Lena's designs and the way that she treats print imperfections as part of the charm of hand printed items.

I thought I'd begin by tackling one of the simpler projects in the book - printed stationery using hand-carved rubber blocks and a basic ink pad.



I began very conservatively with a square cut rubber block:



Then I made some more organic carved blocks and I'm much happier with the result:

Before long I had a nice table-full of cards to go with the pile of wallpaper envelopes that I made ages ago:

What a nice way to spend the afternoon! I'm going to have a go at textile printing next so I hope to have some nice things to show you on my next post.