dishtowel love

Hello, Spring Break crafting! We've had nasty bronchitis colds here and it has seriously hurt our crafting mojo, but today, the first day of our Spring Break, we are back!

The standard Christmas gift this year from the Goates girls was block printed kitchen linens, either towels or "everyday" napkins. I posted some teaser photos of the girls working with their printing and the blocks we were working on, but I don't think the finished products ever showed up. Because we were being oh-so-gifty-secret. I looked, and don't think the little wrapped packets got photos. But these process shots from December do show the girls' sweet blocks:I love this sort of craft with my girls: taking something they drew and expanding their art into something useful/finished. Especially if it means I get to try a new technique. For this project, which I think turned out so great, each drew me a little something, within the size parameters I requested (I split a page into boxes and they filled them in). I transferred the art (just with pencil rubbing) to a soft rubber block (I used this material from Dick Blick) and carved it. I bought the Speedball beginner set, and it's fine for my dabbler's needs. We worked together (with Versatex printing inks (I bought set #2), a brayer, and a sheet of glass) to print dozens of images.

One of our holiday recipients was Holly, who deserves millions of gifts for giving Audrey a warm little spot with their family whenever our medical or baby drama makes A's parents unavailable. Yesterday Holly asked me after school, "Where can I get more of those towels? I love them and..." Come and play! (oh: also, dharmatrading.com)Today 6 bright young artists filled our kitchen table with sketches. The big girls carved eraser stamps to add detail, but for most designs we chose to use freezer paper stencils so everyone's original work could be featured on their own towel. Holly tore everyone a big sheet of freezer paper and the kids drew a dozen designs each, then went outside to play while the mums cut & ironed the stencils. We chose a couple of the simpler shapes (and still took hours to exacto them out) and each child painted their own towel. We called them in one or two at a time to do the painting, which was a very good idea.I'm afraid the boys particularly love their creations very much and have promised NOT to share with their mom. Good thing I talked her into making her own (with a sweet little fish she carved).*I took more detailed photos of the stencil process while helping Marian with her party towel today, and we'll fill in freezer paper stencil instructions for you on her blog, I'm a Craft Artist. Right here. Hopefully tomorrow.