Gwen Hedley

Line, drawing, and mark-making in textile art

MONOPRINTING
Monoprinting is an easy way of transferring marks and designs to both
fabrics and papers. A single print is produced from a smooth plate of
glass, acetate, or similar material that has been colored or inked, so
multiple identical prints are not possible. Depending upon the thick-
ness of the ink and the methods of applying it to the printing plate, a
wide range of interesting lines and textural marks are achievable.
Taking a basic print
Tools and materials
Printing plate: you can use a smooth piece of glass
or a sheet of acetate or Perspex
Drawing and mark-making tools
Printing ink or paint
Hard roller or brush, as preferred
Papers for printing
Newspaper upon which to rest your paints,
brush, and roller

Method
1 Apply a small amount of color to your printing plate and spread it evenly and
thinly over its surface with your hard roller. If you are using a brush, make
sure that the paint is distributed thinly and evenly. You may like to leave some
of the brush marks, as these will transfer to the paper to give interesting
effects.
2 Using your chosen drawing tool, and, pressing firmly, draw quickly and spon-
taneously into the color. In the places where you draw, you will effectively
remove the paint from the glass. Try making various movements, building up
a rhythmic series of marks.
3 Lay your paper on top of the drawing and press down gently, with the whole
of your hand, in circular rubbing movements. Alternatively, you may roll over
it with a second clean roller.
4 Gently peel off the paper and leave the print to dry.

Suggestions
• W
 hen your print is dry, take another print on top of it, using a
different color.
• Try working with two or three different colors on the glass plate, to get
interesting color blends on your prints.
• Print from various weights of papers, fabrics, and altered grounds to see FAR LEFT:
different effects. Marks were made on the glass into tan
printing ink, using a stick and a cotton
• Print onto ready-colored or patterned papers. bud, and the print was made. When it
was dry, a second print was made on
top, using blue ink and marks made with
a cotton bud and fingers.

LEFT:
The top print was made using fingers
to create swirling lines in pale green ink.
An overprint was made with dark green
ink. The bottom print was made using
the same process, but this time, straight
lines were drawn with a stick.

Drawn to Stitch 3
 card and block printing
This is a simple method of printing in which lines of varying qualities
can be printed using the ends of pieces of thick card as printing tools.
It is quick and easy to gather a selection of pieces of card in different
weights and lengths, and no specialist materials are required.

Suggestion
Pieces of card can be substituted or supplemented by other materials
that could be used to print line, such as old credit cards or supermarket
loyalty cards. Alternatively, other materials such as string or strips of
cork could be stuck onto card with double-sided sticky tape in order
to make a linear print block. The print process is the same.

4 Drawn to Stitch
Materials
A piece of thick card or a small plastic card
Coloring materials such as fabric paint,
acrylic color, printing inks
Printing pad (see below for instructions
on how to make one)
Fabric and/or papers to be printed
Thick bed of newspaper sheets
Paintbrush and water jar

For effective and efficient application of paint to the card, it is a good

idea to use a print pad, which you can make very simply. When you use a
printing pad, it is easy to replace the paint as it is used, and attractive color
blends can be achieved by adding other colors randomly onto
the pad.

To make a printing pad

• T ake a small plastic, polystyrene, glass, or ceramic tray and line it with a
piece of felt that has been thoroughly wetted, then squeezed to remove
the excess water.
• Work a small amount of paint, ink, or other liquid color into the felt with
a brush, until the color is absorbed thoroughly. The felt should not be
submerged in liquid, just well saturated.

The printing bed

Always place the paper or fabric to be printed on a bed of newspapers,
rather than straight onto a hard surface. The bed has some give in it, and
so the print block can be slightly rocked without moving it out of posi-
tion, which will gave a more even print. The sheets of paper can easily
be folded and disposed of as necessary.

Far left:
Printing the line
In this sample, the thick lines were
1 Lay your paper or fabric onto the printing bed. printed with a block made from cut-
2 Holding the card end vertically, press it firmly down onto the print pad foam strips, and the finer lines with card
to collect color. ends–all onto ready-colored papers.

3 Press the edge of the card onto the background, giving it a slight rocking top:
movement before you lift it up. Repeat, lengthening and building the In this image, the thick lines were made
lines as you proceed. using a foam block, and the thin lines
were created with a print block made
from short lengths of fine string glued to
Suggestions a piece of thick card.
• V ary the density of the print: try taking a second print without
re-inking the card, or changing the amount of pressure you apply. above:
A repeat print made using a block made
• Use cards of varying weights and lengths, plus linear blocks to
from coarse string glued in a curved line
achieve variety. on a piece of thick card.
• For interesting two- or three-tone lines, blend two or three
colors onto the print pad.

Drawn to Stitch 5
Lifting color
This drawing process works on a similar principle to that used when you
are fine-line drawing from an inked plate, in that you are lifting color
from a base plate—in this case a colored paper—by drawing firmly upon
a piece of paper placed on top of it, and then peeling it off. The pastel
that acts as a resist can often be transferred with the wax color. This can
soften the vibrancy of the top drawing, giving a slightly muted and chalky
surface to lines and areas of color.

Materials
A strong base paper with a smooth surface, such as cartridge paper
or brown envelopes. Softer papers are not as effective when
used as the base paper.
Pale-colored or white pastels (not oil pastels) or chalks
Colored wax crayons
A ballpoint pen or other drawing tool
Top papers—these should also be fairly strong, but not too thick.

Process
1 C
 over the base paper thoroughly with the chalks or pastels—you might like
to use just a single color, or a mix of several pale colors. Make sure that you
have covered the paper thoroughly. Blow away any dust left by the chalks or left and above:
To create this design, cartridge paper
pastels.
was covered with a cream-colored pas-
2 Cover this chalked base paper with a heavy layer of wax crayon. Again, you tel. This was then covered with brightly
may like to mix or layer the colors, but make sure that the whole paper is colored patches of wax crayon. A top
well covered. layer of cartridge paper was placed on
top and heavily drawn onto, with areas
3 Lay the other sheet of paper on top of the waxed one and draw your lines of both simple line and dense coverage.
and marks with your ballpoint pen, pressing very firmly.Vary the weights of
your lines and marks and use dense color in some areas, so that you get a
good sample of what is possible.
4 Lift off the paper.You will find that the lines you have drawn have lifted
the color from the base paper. Where you have colored in areas with your
ballpoint pen, you will find blocks of color on the top paper, and the corre-
sponding negative white shapes on the base paper. Likewise, the fine colored
lines on the top paper will be matched by fine white lines on the base paper.
You now have a pair of positive and negative drawings.

Suggestions
• W ork some sample sheets to explore possibilities. Label them and store
in your workbook as reference.
• You might like to work further into the drawing with colored pencils, fine-
liners, or other drawing implements.
• Further lines and marks can be drawn into the base layer, or you can scratch
off areas with a craft knife or stylus—be careful not to pierce the paper.

Drawn to Stitch 7
CONTENTS
Introduction

Chapter 1
Working with
this book
Chapter 2
Backgrounds,
materials, and tools
Chapter 3
Line-drawing and
mark-making processes
Chapter 4
Textile Process

Chapter 5
Interpreting line quality:
drawing and stitching
Explore the design
Chapter 6 possibilities of line
Using line
Line is an essential component of all textile and surface art. When used
effectively, line and mark-making convey texture, tone, form, move-
ment, and mood. With Drawn to Stitch by your side, learn creative uses
of line in embroidery and textile art.

Artist and teacher Gwen Hedley shares a series of exercises designed

to explore line’s potential as well as develop your creativity. Drawn to
Stitch also covers line and mark-making tools, materials, and processes,
including printing and mixed-media techniques. Gwen explores stitch,
explaining how to interpret different line qualities from crisp and sharp
to soft and diffused and from raised and overlaid to recessed and inlaid.

Full of inspiring ideas, Drawn to Stitch is illustrated with stunning

examples of stitched-textile work from leading artists.

Gwen Hedley is an author, teacher, and embroiderer whose work is

exhibited widely. She is a member of The Society of Designer-Craftsmen
and The Practical Study Group. She is the author of the bestselling title
Surfaces for Stitch. She lives in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire.

Paperback 8½ × 10½, 144 pages

ISBN 978-1-59668-233-7, $29.95
Available September 2010