I have not written anything for a VERY long time...which I feel bad about! I have been a very busy girl but no excuses! I now intend to keep up with this as it is such a fab opportunity and I don't want to waste a moment of it.

Since my last post I have done a lot more digital printing-it has been a little more successful (although mistakes do still seem to be a good friend of mine-examples including; printing on fabric that was not prepared for digital printing- thus the day of my weekend spent printing was washed away with a mere sprinkling of water; remembering very little about dyeing fabrics and thereby never reproducing a matching coloured piece of fabric; running out of fabric mid print, not realising that you need to clean the heads of a digital printer and so printing an entirely grey design as opposed to blue, green, pink, orange and sepia. But each mistake made, each tear shed, etc etc, makes me even more determined to push for work that I am really pleased with.)

And I HAVE produced some prints that I am proud of which I shall be popping up here in the next few days along with photos of perhaps the less successful adventures. It was my original aim to get some designs together for Liberty open day. I was a tad gutted that I was not ready for this but on the upside it does mean I have almost another whole year to prepare for next year's event! In the mean time I can focus on producing work that I want to wear so if nothing else I have a whole new wardrobe :).

Pics to follow....

I started the day feeling more than a little nervous. The wonderful Dino (print tutor extraordinaire) had introduced me to the wonders of digital printing the week before and I had dutifully scribbled down notes. Notes that were in depth and insightful (or as it happens shallow and altogether a little bit useless). 

So...when the day arrived to print my imagery I felt like a tiny first year student again. I put on a brave face and tried my best to remember all the instructions and wise words Dino had imparted earlier, not wanting to seem like a fool, so wanting to ask as few questions as possible. 

On seeing my work pop out as if by magic from the printer my nerves calmed. The colours were so different to the originals which was expected but exciting- the blues looked too blue but the white calico stitch work came out a sort of golden hue which was lovely.

Feeling happy that something other than plain white silk emerged from the rolling machine, I took my creation gingerly to the miracle that is the steamer.

Having pinned my finger to the carousel and ignoring the blood pooling around in my rubber glove I slammed shut the steamer door.

Minutes later I carefully unfurled the backing cloth to discover the inevitable...a drop of water had somehow crept through yards of backing cloth from a thoroughly dry steamer onto the silk. Impressively done.

Despite this set back I left for the day feeling pretty darn chuffed. I know all too well mistakes must happen in order to really appreciate the final product. Nothing should ever be too easy.