Tag Archives: eco printing

November/December news to date……..

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The end of November and all of December to date has been a tightly coreographed dance of preparation, packing, unpacking, stand set up and stand take down, in short a whirlwind of selling events. Currently my work is on display as part of the FORM exhibition at 57 Main Street, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. This last show of the season continues until 6pm on Sunday 20th December and has been a wonderful venue for sharing Carlow craft with a wider audience. Thanks Carlow LEO for your assistance with the venue and signage.

I was delighted to have one of my small lambswool cushions selected by the DCCoI (Design & Crafts Council of Ireland) for their curated area at the National Crafts & Design Fair at the RDS. Making a commitment to concentrate on printing luxury fabrics has been a good business decision, nerve wracking (because of the associated higher retail prices) but well worth the initial mental effort. Heavier fabrics such as lambswool and higher momme silk absorb the colour more intensely than lighter ones in my opinion and I'm finding it leaves me freer to concentrate on getting good placement of pattern.

Small lambswool cushion included in this display as background for a short tv recording

One of the most satisfying things (aside from sales of course!) at all these pre Christmas events was how many customers from last year returned to tell me that they were enjoying their previous purchases and how surprised they were that multiple washes hadn't affected the eco printed colour at all. It was really great to get this feedback, I know how well my own pieces wash but it's quite another thing when others have the same experience.

Anita wearing her eco printed wool jacket

I met really lovely people at all the events, the Glucksman Gallery, Marlay Park, the RDS and now Blackrock in addition to spending happy hours chatting and explaining a little about the eco printing process to those who were interested.
 
Finally for today, although I've not yet seen all the images from the recent photo shoot with Patrick McHugh I was thrilled to be able to use this first one for new signage just in time for the RDS! Ivey Sullivan from Morgan the Agency did a fantastic job with hair and make up while model Mya was amazing for this her first professional photo shoot, thanks so much everybody!!!

Felt wrap and eco printed silk dress

 
 

 

 

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Canadian and Australian adventure in pictures

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Many apologies, I'm so late posting pictures from my recent Canadian and Australian workshops that I almost don't know where to begin, I had a fantastic time! Three wonderful eco print or felt classes in Canada then a week long residential felting workshop at Geelong Fibre Forum followed by ten days holiday with my sister. Each and every aspect of the trip was a delight and pleasure, internet connectivity was very sketchy though during these adventures hence the lack of blog posts. I met so many wonderful people and made so many new friends along the way, thanks 1000 times to each and every one of you and a massive shout out to all my wonderful hosts, workshop organisers and students!!!

Here's a tiny flavour of the trip in pictures, now I just need to beat the jet lag and resume felting and printing before the week is out. Fernie, Lethbridge, Calgary and Geelong……… I love you and will be back!

 

 

Invitation to an evening of celebrating at Kilkenny Arts Festival

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It's difficult to keep up with everything online right now. So many exciting things are happening all at once and I'm also busy doing my bit to make sure that the 'FORM Designmade in Carlow' pop up shop in Kilkenny is manned and stocked. Please come along on Thursday night to help us celebrate out second year of participation in the Kilkenny Arts Festival, we'll have drinks and nibbles from 5.30pm and its a great chance to meet fellow makers and group members!

Eco printed up-cycled clothing, cushions and felt sculpture in Kilkenny

 

 

Eco printing highlights from an intensive week of study and experimentation!

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Last week was super fun and super intensive, a whole week facilitating eco orinting through discussion, plotting and planning as well as actually spending hands on time in the outdoor printing studio, aka the garage! It all kicked off on Saturday when I picked up friend and fellow fabric enthusiast Caroline from Dublin Airport. We’d met in Portugal while participating in a Joan Morris residential workshop and almost immediately started planning for Caroline to come over here to study one to one, we also wanted to spend some time together experimenting. The main focus of our time together was to achieve clarity of prints and play with different ways in which to achieve good results on cellulose fabrics, the whole week was an absolute blast, many bottles of wine were consumed too!!!

Here are just a few of Caroline’s highlights in pictures………..

Caroline's eucalyptus prints on linen

Caroline's geranium and cranesbill on linen

A big smile from Caroline and a beautiful linen dress!

The shadowing around the neckline of this linen too printed through two layers of paper resist, another wonderful linen top from Caroline!!!

…… and a couple of my own results I’m particularly happy with!

Satin mordanted with Symplocos printed with eucalyptus

Symplocos mordant has helped achieve amazingly copper like tones on satin

Alder leaves and female catkins on satin

Contrasting colours from the same dye pot, don’t they just sing together?

Caroline's eucalyptus printed linen and my cotinus and rosebay willow herb seed pod printed cotton blend

On Tuesday while Caroline worked away bundling in the indoor studio I spent a lovely time with mother and daughter duo Cristina and Morgan, it was their first time eco printing. After a little discussion about what we would be doing we all headed off to gather our vegetation. Unfortunately the weather was not great early. In the day, the fields were really wet so we stuck to the lane and garden instead. Before lunch Cristina and Morgan got 4 satin scarves in the pot and in the afternoon we all made a stack of paper to print. Their results were super and isn’t Morgan a fab model?

Congratulations Cristina and Morgan, great job!

Morgan in front of the rose she used to print this scarf!

Finally for today, congratulations go to Margaret Hennessey who guessed correctly that dock leaves were used to print this experimental felt wrap.
I’m afraid that I forgot to bring it with me to town today Margaret but promise it’ll be in the post on Wednesday so it should be with you by the end of this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Felting, eco printing and notice of a competition!

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I’ve been having a wonderful time at Clasheen these last few days, felting like crazy and then firing up the pot for my first eco printing session here since the beginning of April. It’s like a mini jungle outside at present, lucky then that many plants others consider ‘weeds’ give wonderful colour and interesting prints! Here’s a pictorial review of the dress I felted then printed with wild blackberry leaves (brambles), further down this post is an opportunity to win one of my eco printed wraps!

Using a Palm wash board to full the dress

Still wet but ready to print

I love the unbundling process!

V-neck to the front

Round neck to the back

And now for that competition, can you guess the vegetation I used for these prints???

Merino, silk, tencel and Firestar felted wrap

May be worn many ways

Shimmer from tencel and Firestar

Revealing the prints

Older leaves give more golden prints

To be in with a chance to win this piece please, please follow the instructions as written in this flyer, all comments to enter the draw need to be left on my Facebook business page but you don’t have to be a member to leave a comment. Good luck!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Felting and eco printing in Portugal, week 3 in pictures!

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Bye, bye Portugal, tomorrow morning I fly home to enjoy the rest of the summer at Clasheen. If the weather’s been anything similar to last year while I’ve been away I’m guessing I’ll be weeding most evenings for the foreseeable future, a big change from dry and arid Faia!

Clasheen, June 2014

The second 2015 residential felting and eco printing workshop at Dominio Vale do Mondego was a delight, wonderful students, superb hosts as always and amazing fun, food, friends and weather for the whole of the week. Below are a selection of images from the wrap up exhibition for you to enjoy.
I’ve also posted a short video clip online of friend Carla playing traditional accordion music at the opening, thank you so much Carla! Tchau to all in Faia and obrigada until 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

Houston eco printing workshop in pictures and Portugal calling!

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Apologies for the delay in posting pictures from Houston TX, my U.S. trip to date has been a whirlwind of activity and I don't want to miss one second of the fun! Thanks Barbara and Ed for another wonderful visit, I really enjoyed myself and loved spending time with four legged friends Maggie and Lucy too.

Our one day intensive eco printing workshop was really productive, a lovely group of ladies and some super results from the printing pot. Below are a selection of pictures of participant's work, it's only a small representation of what was achieved on the day but it's impossible to post everything and when I'm working it's also difficult to take as many shots as I'd like. All the rest of my U.S. workshops are sold out but if you'd like to join me for a fantastic residential week or two of felting and eco printing in Portugal now is the time to contact Karin and grab one of the last remaining places. Non felting partners are welcome too!

Next post, Kentucky Sheep & Fiber Festival update.

 

 

Inspirational desert landscape and the new online shop goes live!

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At times it felt as if I’d never have everything finished in time for departure but I’m delighted to say that I’ve finally arrived safely Tucson AZ. Thanks so much Karen and Dawn for inviting me, it’s wonderful to be here to share three days of eco printing with you and your friends, the fact that the Sonoran Desert is in bloom is the icing on the cake!!!

 

For each visit and workshop on this six week trip I’ll be setting up an album on my personal facebook page. If you’d like to follow along you can see more images of stunning AZ here!

The night before I left I spent ages in the studio sorting out and labelling scarves for the new shop section of the website, I’m delighted to say that it is now up and running! All orders placed while I’m travelling will be posted out by a friend, to zoom in on the scarves just need to hover your mouse over the images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch out Tucson, eco printing is coming to town!

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It's hard to believe looking out the window at Clasheen that in exactly two weeks time I'll be getting ready for the first of three fantastic days eco printing in Tucson AZ. In 2009 I visited this stunning part of the world and totally fell in love with the desert, I'm really hoping that I'll get to see some of the plants in bloom and know that it is going to be spectacular!!!

Felt bundled and ready for the pot

The first two days (17th and 18th April) are devoted to printing on protein fabrics, felt, silk and wool, I've got so much to share and I know that the time will fly! The third day (19th April) is for people who have already taken an eco printing workshop with me (in either 2014 or 2015), this day we'll be printing on cellulose fabrics such as linen or cotton and learning how to get strong, clear prints.

I just got word that unexpectedly a couple of participants have had to pull out of class at almost the last minute, if you'd like to join us please email Karen asap and make sure to put 'Nicola's eco printing class' in the subject line. See you soon!

 

 

Houston calling and felting and eco printing update from Clasheen

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I'm delighted to announce that I'll be making a return trip to visit Houston this May! My lovely hostess Barbara and I will be visiting thrift and consignment stores then playing in her studio for a week or so, I'll also be facilitating an intensive one day eco printing workshop on protein fabrics. This will take place on Tuesday 12th May, please email Barbara if you would like to book a place and the workshop description is the same as that for Plainwell MI. You can view it here!

Eucalyptus leaves on felt, tencel embellishment

Those of you following my personal page on Facebook may have seen my recent woes regarding the stolen courier van and problems booking flights to the US, I've tried not to harp on about them too much on the business page for obvious reasons, no one loves a moaner!!! Anyway, as a result of the stolen courier van two of my Showcase trade orders went missing without a trace, the last couple of weeks have been spent trying to print replacement pieces as well as battle it out to try and get insurance compensation.

Oak leaves on lambswool, part of a replacement order

Now that the replacement stock is all finished I've finally time to start felting some vessels for Ross Fine Art Gallery and Craft Boutique in Ramelton, Co. Donegal. These all need to be felted, printed and ready to deliver before I head overseas, I'm hoping to have them completed before my house sitter arrives on 12th April then I can spend a day or so showing her the ropes here.

90% felted and ready for the printing pot

Got to fly, the studio is calling.