I am very, very delighted to announce that my new book Simply Screen Printing is available to pre-order from today with shipping expected to begin on 1st March.

Simply Screen Printing is a detailed, step-by-step, instructional guide to screen printing textiles at home, or in a studio, using Procion MX dyes and other media in a way that suits your budget and the space you have available to work in. It covers working with an open screen, with loose resists (paper, thread and plastic), with temporary resists (thickened dyes, masking tape and freezer paper) and with semi-permanent resists (flour paste, washable PVA glue and sticky back plastic). I show you how to pull traditional ‘perfect’ prints before exploring the wonderful effects we get when we embrace ‘imperfect’ printing. Yes, we break some rules!

With over 500 images spread over 236 colour pages, it is suitable for absolute beginners and, hopefully, useful to those of you who are already working with screens and dyes. Along the way I talk about colour (obviously!) and share lots of tips to help you achieve the printed fabrics you want to achieve.

The cost is £35 plus postage. You can find out more, see the contents pages, see images from the book and some sample pages by clicking here.

(Unfortunately the book is more expensive than I would like but printing costs have increased by 50% since I published Colour Your Palette in November 2021 and this is a slightly bigger book. If you are going to the Scottish Quilting Show in Glasgow or the Sewing for Pleasure show in Birmingham, both in March, you can save on the postage by buying from me at the shows).

As I did when I launched Colour Your Palette in 2021 I will donate £1 to the The Trussell Trust for every book sold before the end of March.

Simply Screen Printing is also available as a kit - Simply Screen Printing Kit in a Bag contains the book, a screen, a squeegee, soda, urea, Manutex RS and 4 Procion MX dyes in a heavy weight cotton tote bag. The kit costs £100 which is a £19 saving compared with buying the contents separately. Again I will donate £1 from the sale of each kit to The Trussell Trust.

I really hope you like the book, it has been a labour of love but now I’m going for a little lie down xx

Printed using an open screen first in different values of turquoise and brown. With additional line and pattern added using a breakdown printing screen.

It’s nearly here! My new book is called Simply Screen Printing and it is a detailed step-by-step guide to screen printing textiles at home or in a studio. Suitable for absolute beginners but, hopefully, useful to those of you who are already printing. More details to follow but for now here is some eye candy!

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Flour paste mask stamped onto fabric, printed using an open screen, adding acid lemon and scarlet thickened dyes directly to the screen to give bands of yummy colour. A little sunshine on a winters day!

I hope not. I’d like to wish you all a Happy and Creative 2023!

The days and weeks are flying by in a bit of a blur as I work my do-da’s off on THE BOOK. I am on track (just) for publication at the end of February and will post lots more photos and details over the next few weeks. In amongst the book writing we’ve had a massive leak in the bogshed (mostly fixed, but I’m still having palpitations!) and Christmas (two Christmas’s actually which was lovely). But mostly I’ve been working and to hit my deadline some things have had to give.

I’ve lowered my already low levels of housekeeping. Dear husband commented that the kitchen flour could do with a clean at one point. I perfected the HARD STARE nearly forty years ago and we have been happily married ever since.

Food needs to be filling and healthy. And cooked in 10 minutes. Or toast, if the day hasn’t gone as expected.

And the studio …. just a teeny tiny bit messier than I’m comfortable with. But I thought I’d share some images. Firstly, there is my sampling and photography area. Yes, this bit is tidy.

But the rest of the studio? Stuff on every surface. Piles of fabric that have been printed but need washing. Piles of fabric that have been washed. Tubs of dyes and a bench full of ‘stuff’ that I need to print samples. A pile of dressmaking patterns and fabric that I dyed about forever ago. Piles of old towels and drop cloths in case the bogshed has another ‘moment’. Curtains that need shortening and thermal liners adding before winter. Didn’t specify which winter. And a sewing machine that could do with a dust.

Ho hum. Nearly there. Honest.

Printed using a loose paper resists in different values of a lovely teal colour.

I’ve been elbow deep working on my next book over the last few weeks but have put my head above the parapet occasionally. And noticed that Christmas is nearly here.

So, a couple of things - if you are planning to order anything from my online shop please do so ASAP. In theory the last postage date within the UK is the 21st but postal strikes are taking their toll and I’m seeing that it is taking far longer than it should for things to arrive. I use Royal Mail for anything that weighs under 2kg and DPD for heavier boxes. Royal Mail seems to be badly affected in some areas and DPD have temporarily withdrawn their next day service and their collection service in my area.

And, if you’ve looked at my online shop recently you will have noticed that I have reduced the price of my Colour Your Palette from £25 to £20. With a new book imminent I need to clear some space!

The book ….. the words are (mostly) out of my head and on paper, or more accurately on One Drive. The bottle neck is sampling and photography which I can only do in my studio. My electricity smart meter is happily doing somersaults as I heat the studio during the current cold snap. Wearing thermals, sweaters, fleece-lined trousers, a woolly hat and fingerless gloves I find that I can work at 12 - 14C provided I don’t sit still for too long. My heart goes out to all those who can’t afford to heat their homes. It’s going to be a long winter for so many.

Hoping that you are lovely and toasty as you read this, Leah x

Printed using loose plastic resists in acid lemon and scarlet. Makes me feel warmer just looking at this one!

If you read my posts regularly you will already know that I will be teaching in Ballarart, Australia in April 2023. That workshop is already full and I can’t wait! I’m also hoping to teach in Tasmania the following week …. it is a long way to go so I want to make the most of my trip.

I’ve been working with a wonderful group called Stitching and Beyond. They are a group of over 100 textile artists from Tasmania and beyond. They meet regularly, run a biennial exhibition for members and organise a busy program of workshops with national and international teachers. If you haven’t heard of the group before have a look at their website here.

They haven’t been able to host any international teachers for a couple of years due to the pandemic so I’m doubly delighted to be giving a workshop. It will be a three day workshop from 21st to 23rd April and will be held in the Markers Workshop, Moonah Arts Centre in Moonah. You can find all the details here.

The workshop is called Colour Play. In it we will explore colour and controlling colour when using Procion MX dyes as well as using some simple screen printing techniques to create a collection of beautifully colour co-ordinated cloth. There are places left so please have a look if you live in the region.

Fingers crossed that the workshop gets enough students to go ahead!

I had a wonderful time last Sunday at the Great Northern Textile Show. The organiser, Tracy Fox, did an outstanding job and is probably still laid down in a dark room recovering! I put my exhibition up on the Saturday afternoon so saw the transformation from empty sports hall to a buzzing textile show. It was wonderful to see so many old friends and to meet new textile artists and traders. And the cup cakes were gorgeous! Well done Tracy!

I had printed and dyed quite a lot of fabric for the show and sold lots but I have some left over. So I have added them to my online shop. They include a selection of Wonky Print Inspiration Packs and some Absolutely Darling Hand Dyed Packs. You can see them all here.

I’m now in book writing mode so don’t expect to be printing or dyeing more fabric until into the New Year so if you’re looking for Christmas presents or just fancy treating yourself now is the time!

Leah x

Last week I taught my last workshop for 2022 and it was a good one. Three great students, beautiful work, lots of laughter …. even when the handle fell off the studio door and we were locked in! (Big thanks to son Joe for letting us out and to my lovely father-in-law Bernard for fixing the problem - don’t know what I would do without them).

I have a five month gap until I start teaching again. Last year I spent my ‘off’ season making art. This year I will be spending it writing my next book and developing my next online workshop.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be working my way through a series of tasks that help me re-focus away from teaching mode. I have already moved the benches around a bit and taken down the big plastic screens that separate some of the benches. I’ve cleaned the six student trolleys and re-stocked them ready for next spring. I’ve started the process of inspecting, scouring and, if needed, repairing all my screens. I will be bleaching all my drop clothes to strip out some of the colour that has built up on them during the year. Those that remain very coloured will go through a ‘redemption’ bucket of thiox which is a powerful but very smelly discharge agent. Those that are still too coloured will be re-purposed as quilt bags. I will be organising all my teaching samples, giving some of them a wash before packing them away. I have diligently worked my way through the left over studio chocolate bars and will not restock until spring (who am I kidding!). And I have written a big list of the other stuff that needs doing before next spring.

Yes, some of these things could have waited but they really do help me ‘transition’.

This week I will also be getting ready for the Great Northern Textile Show on Sunday 23rd October. I will be exhibiting and will have a stand and hope to see some of you there. Lots of things to do to get ready, including preparing some more Wonky Print Inspiration Packs!

So, realistically I won’t be working on the book for another week or so but I’m itchin’ to get going!

Cadence 8: Flamin’ Nora

In our heads we know that, as artists, we shouldn’t take rejections to heart. It doesn’t mean our art isn’t good, it might just mean that it doesn’t work alongside the selected pieces. And I’ve had a good success rate so far this year so shouldn’t mind a rejection. Or two. But my heart rules my head when it comes to my heart so poo to being pragmatic!

My latest piece, Cadence 8: Flamin’ Nora has just been rejected by Quilt National.

Which is kind of appropriate as the quilt is a celebration of creativity in the face of life and other annoying stuff. I started work on it over a year ago and everything that could go wrong has gone wrong and everything that could interrupt production has. So it is dedicated to those days when blobs of dye drip onto your printed masterpiece. Those days when you forgot to add a colour catcher to you wash load. When you measure once and cut wrong. When your bobbin thread runs out 2 inches before the end of the last seam. When you spill coffee. When your beloved decides it’s a beautiful day and you should spend it together. When the phone rings and apparently there is a fault on your broadband. When the phone rings and it’s your mother espousing the benefits of cauliflower cheese. Again. When the parcel arrives and you’ve ordered the wrong colour thread. When your machine breaks down one week before an important deadline and it’s a two week repair. When that deadline is Quilt National and you end up buying a new machine ‘cos you just have to finish the flipping quilt. For the days when you get rejected. Flamin’ Nora!

Despite all this I really love this quilt, it makes me smile and I am so glad that I did get it finished.

I also love Artefact 5, another recent piece, which has just been rejected by Australias’ International Art Textile Biennial. Poo and double poo!

And because bad things come in threes I can also report that my thermal imaging machine has finally died so I’ve withdrawn thermofaxes from my website. Poo, poo and triple poo!

Thankfully I am one of life’s optimists and, with the help of chocolate and gin, I am completely over the bad news! Onwards and upwards!

Artefact 5

Beautiful piece by Elspeth. One piece of breakdown printed fabric brought alive by the insertion of thin strips of hand dyed fabric.

One thing that I hear over and over again is that some fabrics are just too nice to be cut into. It is perfectly OK to stroke fabrics lovingly for a while but screen printed and hand dyed fabrics look even better when they are used. Which is why I developed my 5 day Print, Stitch, Go! workshop. Two days printing and dyeing fabric then three days being brave and cutting into the fabrics. The five students in last weeks workshop did just that. You can see some of their work above and below. Well done ladies!

A simple but effective way of combining printed and dyed fabric by Sue.

Nearly there - Ruth auditioning woven stripes on her quilt.

Sylvia worked small, mirroring the lines in her screen printed fabric by inserting hand dyed strips of fabric.

Gerry’s cut strips ready to start piecing.

I am getting close to the end of my 2022 teaching season. I will be teaching my five day Print Your Palette workshop on 10th to 14th October before switching the studio into writing, photographing and videoing mode for the winter. I still have places on the workshop at the discounted cost of £320 if you want to join me!