Jess's Bachelorette Bandanas
I wanted my friend Jess (who's also an artist!) to have a thoughtful, custom souvenir that we could all take home from her lake-side bachelorette party.
Ideation
I started by sketching several designs to see how different aspects of Jess's personality and relationship could be illustrated and combined. I wanted to include her love of nature, gaming, house plants, hikes with her fiancé, and of course their beloved cat Pippin.
I also used elements that she had created for her wedding invitations, such as the flowery flourishes and typography.
Eventually I settled on this design - with a little input from family and friends - and created a mockup with sage and olive greens. I inverted some elements of the design so the illustrations would make sense on a dark background and I left a wide margin on all sides to allow for a sewn border.
Carving the stamp
I used my drawing tablet as a lightboard, allowing me to trace the design with graphite onto translucent paper. Then, I transferred the design to the linoleum block and carved the main stamp.
Block Printing
This was a self-taught endeavor so after much experimentation, I cut the large block into smaller sections to ensure better ink application and pressure.
See the video below of an example of a print.
The Guild Art Supply (and by extension Big Wheel Press) was very helpful when I was troubleshooting my prints. I also bought most of my supplies there.
I used Speedball Fabric Block Printing Ink and mixed their green, white and yellow for this project. I purchased the fabric at Valley Fabrics and sewed the bandanas myself using mitered corners.
This is a radial design so I was able to print the stamp four times per bandana.
I printed 7 bandanas in total - one for each party member.
Lesson Learned
Next time I'll invest in a brayer (a flat tool with a handle that you use to evenly apply pressure). In this case, I used the top of a metal pencil case and my knuckles paid a painful price.
I let the prints dry and cure for over a week. After that, they were ready to wash and wear!
Jess and the party loved them. During the party, I ran a block printing workshop using the skills I'd learned so everyone could carve and print their own designs. The bandanas proved to be good examples and inspiration.