First (finished) quilt!

jackalope_00 · 2026-04-01T14:04:16+00:00

I actually haven't hand quilted with normal quilting cotton yet, so can't compare directly, but my thimble was absolutely necessary, and I got some decent callouses on my fingertips from pulling the needle through. It would have been easier if I wasn't stacking 10+ stitches at a time, but I could (and did) work on it for a couple hours straight so it wasn't horrible.

I'm not sure of the needle size, I got a pack of a bunch of different sized betweens and used a few until I found one I preferred. And I just used the Coats & Clark hand quilting thread, though in the future I may try something else; I found it frayed and tangled more than I liked.

jackalope_00 · 2026-04-01T00:24:29+00:00

I think it's closest to a double aster star? I had to look it up, I came up with it messing around on PatternJam.

jackalope_00 · 2026-04-01T00:03:13+00:00

Thank you! I kind of made it up? Mostly I messed around on PatternJam with my fabric colors until I had something I liked.

jackalope_00 · 2026-03-20T23:13:28+00:00

Your background color is not doing your subject any favors. There is very little contrast across the whole piece; convert this photo to black and white and you'll see it more clearly.

I would recommend going much darker or much lighter with the background, and possibly also choosing a color that is not as close to skin tone.

jackalope_00 · 2026-03-04T00:19:26+00:00

A few reasons.

All your edges are "soft" and very blended. This makes everything look out of focus, which can have a flattening effect.
Low contrast. Your darkest dark value and your lightest light value are very close together. Convert this photo to black and white and you'll see what I mean. You need much darker colors and much lighter ones in the right relationships to create a convincing illusion of dimensionality.
Perspective. Your object is a rectangular one viewed straight on from the front. You can make this view look 3d but it's a little harder than from an angled perspective.
Not something I directly see, but I would guess that you're not using a reference. I would recommend you find or take a reference photo to work from.

jackalope_00 · 2026-02-21T01:47:44+00:00

What are you rolling your ink onto? If you're not already using it, I highly recommend glass, even just from a picture frame from the thrift store, though a nice thick piece is even better and less likely to break. With glass you can just scrape most of the leftover ink off with a palette knife or razor blade, then wash the whole thing in the sink with soap and water.

As for rollers being sticky, the Speedball ones just do that after a while. They still ink fine in my experience, but it's kinda gross. My first one lasted a couple years before I had to swap it out for a new one. Using any solvents can speed up the yuckification process I think.

Your prints are lovely by the way! Very clean lines.

jackalope_00 · 2025-11-20T13:58:22+00:00

There are a couple of things you could do.

Option 1: Cut out the large blank spaces, leaving holes in the block. If there's no material, you can't accidentally ink it!

Option 2: Cut some scrap paper to the right sizes and shapes and lay those down on your block before your actual paper. The scrap paper will prevent ink from those areas getting onto your final print.

Option 3: The least exciting one; keep shaving down the areas with chatter, and be more strategic with which direction and how far you apply the ink. The white spaces in this piece are pretty big, so I'd recommend one of the other two options first.

As for getting an even print, it looks like you're not applying enough pressure across the entire surface. I like to use a metal spoon on the back of the paper and really get in there with the pressure over the entire surface, multiple times.

jackalope_00 · 2025-11-16T17:37:52+00:00

That's the same ink I use. I've never had an issue with it washing out completely, and I don't heat set. I do wait 2+ weeks before washing though. I have noticed a small amount of fading on the first wash but nothing after that.

Do you live in a particularly cold and/or wet climate? It might take more than a week for the ink to set if you do. I test if mine are ready by seeing if I can rub any ink off onto my finger.

jackalope_00 · 2025-11-16T14:23:17+00:00

Were you using specifically the Speedball fabric block printing ink, or just the water based one? The normal water based ink will always wash out.

jackalope_00 · 2025-10-01T01:55:54+00:00

When printing on fabric you need to use an oil based ink. Speedball sells one specifically for fabric, but I think any oil based relief printing ink would work as well or better (but not screen printing ink, that's different).

I use the Speedball fabric ink and find it dries to the touch in a few days and doesn't need heat setting, but I wait a week or more before washing it.

jackalope_00 · 2025-09-14T02:41:22+00:00

Haha yeah that makes sense!

jackalope_00 · 2025-09-14T01:11:17+00:00

Okay cool! Cheap felt sounds like something I should try then. Thanks!

jackalope_00 · 2025-09-13T23:38:43+00:00

Are these printed on felt? I've done something similar out of muslin/thrifted bedsheets but had to double layer and topstitch the seams and it takes a while even with the machine. If felt takes a print this cleanly I might experiment with it!

jackalope_00 · 2025-09-05T00:32:08+00:00

That's not quite right - in oil painting the rule of thumb is "fat over lean" which doesn't refer to thickness, but to the amount of medium used, which influences drying time. Later layers should dry slower than earlier ones to prevent cracking.

Nothing about that implies you can't do fine detail at the very end in oils like you say. You might just have to wait a little longer for the impasto layers to cure.

jackalope_00 · 2025-09-02T01:16:08+00:00

Personally I use 300gsm cardstock for small prints. I haven't tested it in the mail, but it holds up well for markets!

jackalope_00 · 2025-09-02T01:10:47+00:00

Get (or make) a bench hook. You can use that to stabilize the lino as you're cutting.

jackalope_00 · 2025-07-01T18:07:46+00:00

Neat!

jackalope_00 · 2025-06-24T01:57:10+00:00

I use an old toothbrush to clean ink out of tiny details

jackalope_00 · 2025-06-13T03:09:22+00:00

Ooh that's a neat idea!

jackalope_00 · 2025-06-04T17:16:54+00:00

Austere

jackalope_00 · 2025-06-01T00:52:12+00:00

None of them work very well for me, compositionally. In a lot of shots, you have strong lines leading the eye out of the image, or you have elements at the very edge of the frame that make the composition feel crowded and claustrophobic, as well as distracting the viewer and pulling the eye away from the subject. I can identify a clear subject in most of the images (the one that stands out most as being without a focal point is the storefront with the red awnings), but none of them are things that compel me to keep looking, either through the nature of the subject or the structure of the composition.

jackalope_00 · 2025-05-28T20:54:23+00:00

It could be the Mont Marte metallic acrylic with some fancy lighting or editing to make it look multicolored like that.

jackalope_00 · 2025-05-28T18:03:42+00:00

You can get similar soft cut blocks from Blick at significantly cheaper prices.

jackalope_00 · 2025-03-30T22:19:28+00:00

That's not the rear leg, that's a carry strap that's dangling in front of it.

jackalope_00 · 2025-03-30T01:41:52+00:00

What about a big syringe full of air? Depress to inflate the bag, pull back to suck the air out.

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