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  • What’s a Halftone? Screen Printing a Tonal Image

    What’s a Halftone? Screen Printing a Tonal Image

    People often want to screen print photographic images and hope to use black and white photographs for this. To do this you need an exposed screen. The way screen printing works is the mesh either has to be open or closed (ink passes through the open areas but cannot pass through the closed areas) therefore …
  • How Much Detail on Exposed Screens?

    How Much Detail on Exposed Screens?

    When designing artwork for exposed screens it can be very difficult to figure out what level of detail you can include. Different mesh counts will be able to handle different levels of detail. The mesh number relates to how many threads there are per cm of mesh: 32T has 32 threads per cm, 120T has …
  • Block Printing onto Fabric with New Textile Rollers!

    Block Printing onto Fabric with New Textile Rollers!

    We’re very pleased to have a brand new roller available for block printing onto fabric! We love using screen printing inks to block print onto fabric as it creates fast-drying washable prints. Screen printing inks are too slippery for standard rollers so up until now we’ve liked using Sponge Rollers to print our fabrics. Sponge …
  • Screen Printing onto Dark Fabrics with Yellow Ink

    Screen Printing onto Dark Fabrics with Yellow Ink

    In last week’s blog post we began looking at which inks were suitable for screen printing onto dark fabrics. We used three different screen printing inks and looked at the difference between standard and opaque inks when printing with white. All of the white inks printed well onto the black fabric – white inks are…
  • Screen Printing onto Dark Fabrics with White Ink

    Screen Printing onto Dark Fabrics with White Ink

    Screen printing onto fabric tends to get a little complicated as soon as you want to print onto dark coloured fabrics. Standard screen printing inks are translucent and will therefore show some of the base colour through when printed. When printing onto white or pale coloured fabrics this is not a problem. Most standard screen … Continue reading "Screen Printing onto Dark Fabrics with White Ink"
  • Using Different Tools to Make Marks on Lino

    Using Different Tools to Make Marks on Lino

    There are a large variety of different lino cutting tools with different shapes and sizes. The most common lino tools are V Tools and U Tools. U Tools carve softer lines with a curved end point and an even width but it can be harder to get control over the placement of your edges. V …
  • Using Red Masking Film to Expose A Screen

    Using Red Masking Film to Expose A Screen

    When it comes to screen printing there are so many ways to create your image. You can cut paper stencils, use Drawing Fluid and Filler, create exposed screens with hand drawn or computer drawn designs. Red Masking Film is a brilliant way of creating exposed screens. It’s transparent so can be used to trace over … Continue reading "Using Red Masking Film to Expose A Screen"
  • Which Inks Can I Use?

    Which Inks Can I Use?

    Knowing which inks to use for which printing project can be a minefield. There are different inks for screen printing, relief printing and intaglio. Some can be used for more than one technique, some are only suited to one. Some can be used for printing onto fabric, some only for paper. We’ve created a chart … Continue reading "Which Inks Can I Use?"
  • How to Screen Print with Paper Stencils

    How to Screen Print with Paper Stencils

    In this project we will show you how to screen print onto paper using paper stencils. With this method, you can print multiples of your designs in several layers of flat colour without having to make an exposed screen or using screen filler. When screen printing, ink is forced through a fine mesh onto a …
  • Getting a Drawn Design Ready for a Screen

    Getting a Drawn Design Ready for a Screen

    Screen printing is a brilliant way to make the most of your hand drawn designs. It enables you to print them multiple times for framed artwork or cards or to create your own fabrics, bags and t-shirts. You can use your designs to make into photographic screens yourself at home or we can make them … Continue reading "Getting a Drawn Design Ready for a Screen"
  • Printing a Solid Lino Block with a Baren

    Printing a Solid Lino Block with a Baren

    One of the hardest things to do when printing a relief block (lino, vinyl or wood) is to print solid blocks of colour.  There are quite a few choices to make and if you get these right then your printing will be much easier.  Ink – an oil based ink will print better than a …
  • Printing with the Xcut Xpress

    Printing with the Xcut Xpress

    The Xcut Xpress is traditionally used as a die cutting machine but has found a whole new life as a printing press! This small scale machine is portable, affordable and can produce amazing quality prints. We used our Xcut Xpress with Extended Print Bed and Felt to produce a linocut, a drypoint etching and a …
  • Testing the Differences Between Lino Blocks

    Testing the Differences Between Lino Blocks

    Here at Handprinted we are always getting asked to explain the difference between all the lino relief blocks available. It can be very confusing knowing whether to choose traditional lino or try an alternative such as Softcut or Vinyl. To help you decide on the right material for you, we’ve tested five different blocks in … "
  • Using Textile Foil with a Thermofax

    Using Textile Foil with a Thermofax

    Textile Foil is a brilliant way to bring more metallic vibrancy to your fabrics. It’s available in a wide range of colours and is easy to apply using Foil Adhesive. It’s even washable! In this project, we have applied the Foil Adhesive using a Custom Thermofax Screen. A thermofax is like a small silk screen that …
  • Transferring an Image onto Lino

    Transferring an Image onto Lino

    This week we wanted to test a technique for transferring an image onto lino using a printed image and an iron. It worked surprisingly well and was very quick and easy. Here’s how we did it: Your image needs to be printed either through a laser printer or a photocopier (inkjet printers will not work). …
  • Registering a Print with Ternes Burton Pins

    Registering a Print with Ternes Burton Pins

    We wanted to show you a really simple example of how to use the Turns Burton pins and tabs and how they can be used to register block prints with effortless accuracy. We’ve whipped up a quick reduction print and a multi-block to …
  • How to Block Print with Lino onto Fabric

    How to Block Print with Lino onto Fabric

    We get a lot of questions about the best way to lino print onto fabric. Which ink should I use? Should I use a roller? Will it be washable? Will it change the handle of the fabric? These are all questions to which we wanted to know the answers – not just for all of …
  • Printing Fabric with Square Lino

    Printing Fabric with Square Lino

    Printing onto fabric is one of our specialties here at Handprinted. We like to come up with easy ways in which fabric can be printed in a small space at home with minimal mess and equipment. One such way we have been playing with recently is printing using a square piece of lino. From …
  • Drypoint Printing

    Drypoint Printing

    Drypoint is an intaglio printmaking method that involves scratching an image into a plate with a pointed tool. These lines create a burr that holds ink, meaning that the print reveals the drawing. Intaglio printmaking is the opposite of relief printmaking as it is the positive marks that are printed rather than the areas that are left behind...
  • Screen Printed Apron for Making Magazine!

    Screen Printed Apron for Making Magazine!

    We are giddily delighted to be featured in this month’s Making Magazine! On page 10-11 of April 2015’s Making Mag you’ll find our project for a spring floral screen printed apron. It was a lot of fun to make and looks fab in print. Our rose design was drawn specifically for Making Magazine’s Spring Floral … Continue reading "Screen Printed Apron for Making Magazine!"