Creating a Repeating Block Print Pattern by Andrea Lauren

Exploring traditional printmaking and pattern design methods is a strong passion of mine.  Particularly inspired by the great work of William Morris, I wanted to step away from the computer and design a repeat pattern which was hand-carved and could be hand-printed.
In its planning, the design would work as a one-color pattern as well as having the ability to be expanded and digitally customizable with more complex color ways.

1.  I apply india ink to the block to give a contrast when I'm carving.  I use carbon paper to transfer my design to the block.
2.  The block is inked (I use water-based block printing ink).  I registered it by hand, taking care to align the overlapping parts of the design.
3.  A close-up of my carved block.

Whales Block Prints by Andrea Lauren

A couple of block prints I worked on last week.  Looking forward to developing a sea life collection with these whales and other elements.

Making Stamps: Tiger

I love carving animal blocks and since it's Global Tiger Day, I sketched out and carved this guy this morning.

Making Stamps: Block Print Deer

I've become quite addicted to make mini block print stamps this year.   I can't wait to make this deer into an art print.

Bird Block Print Stamps by Andrea Lauren

At the same time I was carving the Safari Animals and designing the silkscreen prints, I knew I wanted to make a bird collection as well.  It is always very rewarding to sketch, carve, print, and then work with the block print to design the silkscreen art print.  Here are the birds in their carved blocks and printed on French Paper Co. stock with water-based block printing inks.

Andrea Lauren: Two and Three Color Block Print Stamps: Safari

I have been dreaming up a new collection of pattern prints and have decided to hand-carve all of the elements from blocks.  I chose to do a Cheetah, Lion, Zebra and Tiger for the Safari Collection.  It has been a lot of fun to create these all by hand and get away from the computer and practice my carving skills all at the same time.

Congregation of Gators by Andrea Lauren

I've been setting aside a bit of time each week to keep my hand carving lino skill in practice.  Working with the soft linoleum is fairly quick and allows me to play around with repeats and different layouts.  This gator came from my pattern library and I'm considered creating some one color screen prints in the style of the stack of gators.