Infantata

and looking that up on the AHS wiki - why yes, I think my nightmares will be full up for a while.

I've got the yarn box! I've split it up into several smaller boxes so that I can carry them to the P.O., but I cannot afford to mail anything until my next paycheck which will be at the end of the month.

Sorry for the ridiculous delay.

Have fun with AHS! I'm trying to get a friend into it. She thinks it would be too scary -- it's creepy, but SO GOOD -- and she loves The Walking Dead, so I'm trying to turn her on to AHS, and Supernatural.

PIMP MA FANDOMS!

I watched a few episodes of AHS but it was too scary for me and it threw me into not sleeping for a few weeks, so DH decided he needed to cut me off. oops. It's tough being a tender flower. There are like 3 shows I can watch on tv these days.

Best yarnbombing ever: [link]

Do linocuts count as crafts? Does anyone have the know how to help me? I'm finding it very hard to get any sort of detail with the standard battleship grey lino. I did switch to the thick blocks because the thinner sheets were bending and breaking the details in my clumsiness. I have also been cutting with the Speedy Cut, and it's decent, but I don't which should hold better detail. I also have a small sheet of the Speedy...Pro? Whatever the one that looks like a sheet of eraser is like, but I've never cut it.

I was wondering what difference the tools make. Surely an improvised plate getting your roller inked up can be replaced with anything glass smooth. And for a baren, that should be easy to improvise as long as it's smooth, maybe with a little curve, and you're thorough, correct. Those two pieces I can't see buying. For the brayer, I use a hard rubber roller. Is there any use to using a soft rubber roller instead? What would that change? If you have a block that's carved but sadly warped, maybe that could help? Barening process needs to be ulti thorough too, though.

I am wondering if more expensive tools than the standard Speedball starter kit make a difference. I was looking around linocutboy.com, which is fascinating, and he swears by some £12 per *tool* ones, instead of the standard they stock your HS art room with with the extra blades stored in the hilt. I mean, look at what Lynette Weir is accomplishing: [link] If at least I knew our tools were similar, I would know what my wall definitely is. I mean, that's gorgeous work. Linocut Boy is also beatiful: [link] Man.

Anyone even printed on fabric? Same tools, fabric paint instead of ink, iron to set--anything I should be considering?

Short version:

• I'm having difficulty with lino details--can I address this with affordable better tools, or a medium better matched to my goals? Or should I be looking at education or nose to the grindstone? And what are the different real life pros and cons between Speedy Cut, Speedy the middle bear, and normal lino?

Please show your working. Gold starts will be put on your face while you sleep if your answer is write.

I know almost nothing about linocut kits, but using the big thick block ones will definitely help prevent warping. I'm thinking that maybe using one of those cheap compass circles or a large bore needle to pick away at the detail work would help?

I've never used a linocut to print on fabric. Have you considered traditional silkscreen instead? Working from an initial ink drawing would likely give you a lot more control, though you'd lose that woodcut effect.

but using the big thick block ones will definitely help prevent warping

That's the warped one, though. Having all that backing that expands and dries at a different rate was pretty much what made the warping happen. I have other problems with the thinner lino, but not warping.

T-shirt isn't my end game so much as lino cuts are my end game. If I can do fabric decoration as well cards, paper, incorporation into lineart pictures, etc. Also has a much lower overhead than screen printing, which I enjoy doing, but is fussy and messy as all hell.

I'd have to experiment with the needle/compasses on lino, but I'm pretty sure they'd be a great idea for the softer media. GREAT CALL. Thank you.

You're welcome. It's weird, I never had any problems with the thick ones, but the sheets with just the harder under-surface would buckle on me. Maybe I bear down too much?

I would imagine that the ink they use for silk screening could be rolled out over a lino block for printing on fabric. Might have to experiment with the viscosity/tackiness, I don't know.

Another possibility would be getting fabric glue to the consistency of usable ink and then dusting it with glitter or similar before it dries.

I've always got fabric paint around somewhere. It's not as sticky as the waterbased lino ink (I can't bear the thought of the solvents for the oil-based, so water it is) I have, but if I watch how much I'm loading the brayer, hopefully I should be okay. I'm not thinking of pictures with fiddly white space, but I do want to get the main shapes (the silhouettes I was talking about in SPN) as recognisable as possible (Abandon All Hope is my next shot for good long shots).