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DIY

DIY Typographic Snail Mail with Letraset

September 24, 2012

Letraset envelopes - DIY Typographic Snail Mail

After finding some old sheets of Letraset letters at a garage sale a few weeks ago, I was looking for a creative way to use them up. I wasn’t very familiar with Letraset, but knew they were a relic of the graphic design world from before computers were ubiquitous, which made them seem just outdated enough to be fun. I’ve got nothing against computers, but I have an affinity for archaic technology in all it’s forms. I decided it would be appropriate to try out the letters on some envelopes to see what it would look like.

Letraset sheets closeup - Cotton & Flax
In case you’ve never encountered them before, Letraset are sheets of dry transferrable lettering, which can be transferred one by one onto a piece of artwork by rubbing directly on the transfer sheet over the letter you wish to transfer. It’s a tedious process, but before computers were available, the alternative was to draw out letters by hand. It seems that Letraset was available in many different colors, although I only found black and white.

I even made a little time-lapse video to show how it works:

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/48405013 w=700&h=393]

Letraset transfer DIY - Cotton & Flax

It was easy enough to transfer over my friend’s addresses to the front of different colored envelopes, although I did start to get a cramp in my thumb from pressing down on the transfer sheets over and over again. I’m not sure that I would recommend this method for everyday snail mail, since the letters seem like they could potentially flake off a little during transit, and the black letters could easily be replicated using a computer. In fact, with most household printers being able to accommodate different sizes of envelopes, I’d say you’d probably be better off just laying out something cool in Word or Photoshop, and then printing out your designs that way. The only exception to this? The white letters!

White Letraset transfer letters - Cotton & Flax

White Letraset transfer letters - Cotton & Flax

The white letters are so unique, since you can’t print something like this out from your standard ink jet printer. You’d be hard pressed to even get these types of results with a stamp and white opaque ink. The white Letraset looks super bold on the black envelopes, and I’ll be using it often to label my darker envelopes.

Letraset sheets - Cotton & Flax

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: diy, snail mail

Snail Mail Saturday – DIY Hand Stamped Envelopes

September 22, 2012

Cotton & Flax - Hand Stamped Patterned EnvelopesRemember those stamps I made for the Hand Stamped Gift Wrap DIY? Well, I just got them out again to stamp some patterns on some snail mail that I’ll be sending out this week. I even used a little of the leftover gift wrap to write the letter! I printed the envelopes using a standard stamp pad, grouping the stamps in new ways to create variation. Just make sure to let the ink dry before handling the envelopes (to avoid inky fingerprints).

Cotton & Flax - hand carved stamps
If you take good care of your linoleum stamps, they can last for years. Just keep them out of the sun and away from dry, dusty areas, and they should keep their shape quite nicely. You can reuse them over and over for all sorts of projects, on both paper and fabric. That’s right, you can stamp on fabric, too! I’ll be posting a DIY on that topic soon, so stay tuned.

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: diy, printmaking, snail mail

Print It Yourself – My favorite DIY printing books

September 18, 2012

The best DIY printmaking books - Cotton & Flax

I meet so many creative people, both in person at sales and events, and online on Etsy and Pinterest. Lots of people ask me about how I learned to print on fabric, and the truth is, I’m almost entirely self-taught! I learned traditional printmaking techniques (relief printing, intaglio, lithography, etc.) in college, but I didn’t learn to print onto fabric until after graduation.

Learn to print on fabric

I learned fabric printing, both silkscreen printing and relief printing with hand carved blocks, by reading lots of books and by experimenting. The best way to learn to print on textiles is by trying it out for yourself, and you don’t need a fancy studio to get started. These books will help you learn the basics, and guide you through some basic and intermediate project that you can give as gifts, or keep to decorate your home.

Learn to print on fabric - Cotton & Flax

These books are invaluable parts of my library, and I return to them often. Some of them focus completely on printing on fabric, but a few are great introductions to printmaking in general, and cover the basics of printing on fabric as well.

Print Liberation / Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design / Dyeing and Screen-Printing on Textiles / Little Owl’s Little Prints / Lotta Prints / Printing By Hand / The Printmaking Bible / A Field Guide to Fabric Design

Yellow Owl's Little Prints - Learn to print with kids

This book from Christine Schmidt of Yellow Owl Workshop is a great way to introduce young ones to printing – the projects included in her book are absolutely adorable, and will keep you entertained all afternoon.

Made By Hand - Lena Corwin

DIY textile printing

Lena Cowin’s new book Made By Hand also has some fun printing projects. I didn’t include it in the roundup because it’s not strictly about printing or textile design, but it’s worth picking up!

Do you know of a textile printing book that I shouldn’t miss? Let me know on Twitter or Instagram!

Want to learn more about printmaking? Check out my screenprinting class for CreativeLive, and learn to print your own designs!

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: books, diy, printing, printmaking

DIY Hand Stamped Gift Wrap

August 27, 2012

Cotton & Flax - DIY printed giftwrap

I posted a couple shots of some gift wrap I made a while back, and realized that I could easily do a DIY here on the blog. Stamping your own gift wrap is a fun way to personalize a gift, or to re-use some paper that you might have on hand already. Plus, it’s a great entry-level project for anyone interested in printmaking!

Cotton & Flax - DIY printed giftwrap - Supplies
The first step is to gather supplies: I will show you how to hand carve your own stamps using a small block of soft printing linoleum (available at many art and craft stores, the Speedball EZ Cut stuff works great), but you could just as easily use a premade stamp if you want. If you want to do the full DIY, you’ll need:

  • 1 block soft printmaking linoleum
  • Pencil and paper for sketching design ideas
  • Carving tools – Speedball makes an inexpensive set, you could also use a good old X-acto if you’re careful!
  • Ink – I’m using a stamp pad for this project, but you could also roll out a little water-based printmaking ink if you have a rubber brayer and a flat glass surface handy to spread out the ink
  • Paper – I use anything from regular construction paper, to old grocery bags, or a large roll of blank paper you can purchase at an art, craft, or office supply store

*Author’s note: I only recommend products that I love and use in my own studio. I may receive a small commission on sales of the products that are linked to in my posts.

Find a large clean surface to work on. I like to put down my safety cutting mat first, since I don’t want to damage my worktable while I’m cutting the linoleum. Before start cutting my stamp, I like to pencil sketch a few ideas for shapes I’d like to create. Keep in mind the size of the gift you’ll be wrapping. Perhaps design a larger shape for a larger gift, which would require more paper, and a smaller shape for a smaller gift.

Cotton & Flax - DIY printed giftwrap - prep your drawing
Once I’ve chosen a design, I place my pencil sketch face down on the linoleum block, and rub the back with my fingernail to transfer the image. Keep in mind that the image will reverse when printed, so don’t worry if it doesn’t look quite right at first. When you are carving a stamp, the parts you carve away from the block will not print. The stamp will consist of whatever flat surface you leave behind while carving.

Cotton & Flax - DIY stamp carvingI begin by carving the outline of my shape with an Xacto knife, then start to carve the details with my carving tools. Carve the block by pushing your carving tools along the surface away from your body. Be careful not to keep your fingers in front of the blade, that’s the fastest way to accidentally cut yourself! Use light pressure and don’t force anything, the linoleum is soft, and will easily give way when you push your carving tool along the surface of the block. Experiment by carving larger or smaller shapes to see the variety of textures you can create.

Cotton & Flax - DIY stamp carving

Once you have a stamp you’re happy with, throw away any stray bits of linoleum, dust off your workspace, and get ready to print!

Cotton & Flax - DIY patterned gift wrap - first impression

Cut out a piece of paper large enough to wrap your gift, and lay it face up on your work surface. Ink up your stamp by pressing the stamp to an ink pad a couple of times, then press the stamp to the paper in whatever arrangement you prefer. I like to do a simple repeat pattern, but random arrangements are fun, too. Try using a couple different colors of ink, or mix two or three stamps into one design!

Cotton & Flax - DIY patterned gift wrap

Cotton & Flax - DIY patterned gift wrap

The gifts I wrapped were small, so keep in mind you can go much larger with this project. You could also use your stamps to make a patterned gift tag or a small card to accompany a gift, and mixing patterns and colors can create a fun combination. I’d love to see any stamped or printed papers you make, so feel free to share in the comments if you tried this project.

Cotton & Flax - DIY stamped gift wrap

Cotton & Flax - DIY gift wrapWant to learn more about block printing? Check out my roundup of my favorite printmaking books!

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: diy, holiday gifts, printmaking

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Welcome! I'm Erin Dollar, the textile designer behind Cotton & Flax. Here I'll share peeks behind the scenes, recent inspirations, decor ideas, and more. Read More…

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