Gocco Giveaway

I'm having a giveaway to help with the stock lessening for my move from Australia to Northern Ireland! All you have to do is go to my bridbird etsy shop, look at all my gocco prints and leave me a comment on this blog post which is your favourite design. The winner will receive a set of 6 different coloured fantail gocco prints similar to the one below. The closing date for this giveaway is Monday 14th September. My bridbird shop $10 sale continues until 15th September, after that the shop will be closed for a number of weeks and possibly not sell these items when open again. This could be your last chance!

Good luck!

I'll also just mention for Melbourne readers the fantastic girls of Thread Den, who are truly amazing, are putting on an extravaganza fashion show for Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. It sounds amazing.

They say "it's going to be an amazing night out - with a cast of dancers, live strings, opera singers - and of course stunning couture and ready-to-wear collections from emerging Australian designers.

Tickets are cheap cheap at only $12 (plus booking fee) at the Thread Den shop. And you go into the draw to win a pre-show makeover (and who doesn't love a makeover?) dinner at Sosta Cucina, 
bar tab at the after party and accommodation for two. So what's stopping you? Eh?"

Booking details:

Friday September 4, 7.30pm &
Saturday September 5, 7.30pm

The Lithuanian Club
44 Errol Street, North Melbourne

Tickets: $12 + credit card booking fee. Phone:( 03) 9329 5305

It's Either This Or My Sofa

Hi there! I seriously need to reduce my stock before I move from Melbourne, Australia, back home to Belfast, Northern Ireland. I'm moving home for a couple of years to spend time with family, friends, to meet my new nephew and for Jeremy to experience life overseas and to get to know my family better.

The thing is, I have so much stock for my Bridbird etsy shop and I just can't bring it all with me. So, I'm having a big sale. Everything in the shop has been reduced to just US$10 (from $15 and $19) AND!!! if you buy 2 items you get a third complimenting item free! How can you resist?! Sale ends on 15th September.

Below are a few examples of what is on offer in my shop and I've linked lots of words and pictures to the shop too. 

Now, if nothing tickles your fancy you could always do me the huge favour of looking after my lovely old sofa for a couple of years!

It has a matching armchair too.

New Hatchings

I've been neglecting my bridbird etsy shop recently so I thought I'd make some new screen prints for it. It's also good to have new work for market so I got down to it and created these. I didn't make them as quickly as I would have liked because I realised I didn't have any black ink and had to wait a week until my ordered ink finally arrived and I could continue.

I made them in 4 different colour combinations and also as single birds. You've seen the fantail on the left before, the one on the right is new. I've listed a few on etsy already and will be listing the rest over the next few weeks.

I also managed to get a day in printmaking last week and editioned "Fitzroy Birds" I'm hoping to get into my studio today and print another two plates I made yesterday. It's so cold in there though, the thermometer on our alarm clock says it's 8.5 C. :(

New Maggie

My computer is still out, that's why I've not been blogging lately, but I've managed to get a photo onto my cousin's computer. My attention is being sidetracked by "Herbie Rides Again" that my cousin's three year old son has playing in the background, so excuse any mistakes!

Well, I've been gocco screen printing again. I sold my last 'Seven Australian Magpies" gocco print last weekend at the Skirt and Shirt Market at the Abbotsford Convent and I decided I needed a new magpie print, so I've made this one based on one of my sketches of this lovely bird! I've listed it on etsy already and I'm framing one up to bring to Rose Street Artists' Market next week.

On a Roll

I'm doing well with the old blog this week eh!? I think today it's because I'm aiming to go for a walk/run and I'm procrastinating.

Anyway I thought I'd post up a few of the Fantail gocco prints in the other colour combinations. As soon as I manage to get to the art shop to buy mount board and somehow get A1 sheets of it back on my bike I will be selling these new goccos at Rose Street Artists' Market. Until then, I've added them to my etsy shop.

I also want to make cards out of them, but that's another logistical issue with the large sheets of card and only a bike!

Remember to check out the Oz Bush Fire Appeal etsy shop, it is still open until 31st March and there are lots of goodies to be had. It's all for a good cause!

Right I'm off to see if my Frogmouth is home.

Fantails and Frogmouths

I've been goccoing again after a long time of it sitting on the shelf. I've been meaning to try this idea for a while now, and now that I have done it I really like it and need to buy more gocco supplies because I've very quickly run out AGAIN!

If you're new to my blog and don't know what gocco is have a look at my post on the technique.

My idea was to make prints inspired by the colours and patterns in my featherstitch fantail brooches. I've made the print in a number of colour combinations and listed one on etsy. More will be listed soon.
I've also been making lots of new fantail brooches, I try and make at least 6 a week. They are so slow to make and I have so many other things that I should be doing, that when I just sit down to sew I feel I should be doing something else. So they always get pushed to the back of the 'to do' list, which is a shame because I do quite like making them. Here are a few of my favourites at the moment, including an experimental square one. I'm really into the soft yellow these days.

I've changed my Fantail website a bit to make it easier to purchase, there is now a 'buy now' button on each brooch. I've also mentioned that buying my brooches on a friday, saturday or sunday from the website may create difficulties because I take all my available brooches to market with me and I can't update the website until I return home after market (often with a few gin and tonics in me!)




I thought I'd also keep my readers up to date with my Tawny Frogmouth. I was worried last week because he wasn't in his usual tree along the Yarra River, but I walked (even ran some way!) along the river this morning and there he was sitting in his tree accompanied by another Tawny Frogmouth! They were snuggled up together on the branch. I wish I had brought my camera with me, but I only had my ipod and a hanky! I only stopped one person this time to point them out and she was very appreciative and we had a little discussion about other birds we'd seen along the river. I have to keep an eye out for kingfishers apparently.

Melbourne Houses

After waking up this morning having dreamt that I'd slept in and missed my exhibition, which is opening tomorrow, I decided I needed to make the most of the day.

So, I found a new outlet that sells good paper bags, I finished mounting my screenprints and I managed to make a new gocco print. All in time for Rose Street Artists' Market tomorrow.My new gocco print is a two screen print of Melbourne Houses. I went drawing yesterday with a friend and we ended up sitting at the side of the road in the sun and dust drawing the gorgeous Victorian houses that are typical of Melbourne. I want to do a series of Melbourne Houses, I'll have this one with me tomorrow at Rose Street.


We were also drawing in the cemetery yesterday. This is a continuous line left handed drawing. I like drawing with my left hand, even though I'm right handed, I find it loosens me up and I look more carefully at the subject.

Now Jeremy and I are going out for dinner. My lovely brother and sister-in-law booked my favourite restaurant (Wabi-Sabi) from Belfast and even gave us dollars for our evening! Yum yum yum!

The Spotted Dove

I've been enjoying pigeons lately, drawings of them, prints of them and pigeons in real life. I have a book that shows a couple of paintings of chinese pigeons, apparently the artist made five volumes of paintings of just domestic pigeons! I'd love to get my hands on it. Here are a few examples.

I think it is funny how pigeons get such bad press, 'flying vermin,' 'rats with wings,' yet the symbol for peace and for love is a dove. But, a dove is a pigeon, just a bit prettier, they are all from the same family. Oh well!

Anyway, I decided to make a gocco print of one of my favourite little birds here in Australia. The Spotted Dove. They are quite common but always hide in laneways acting shifty, as soon as you come across them they flurry off as if they have been caught having a secret meeting. Either that or they are just shy.

Welcome the Owls!

Finally my gocco supplies arrived and I got straight to work. I did this owl screenprint in 3 different colours. The screen didn't expose perfectly, not quite sure why, maybe too much dark areas...I'm actually being distracted as I write this by Ewan McGregor, sadly not in real life, but on dvd motorbiking through Africa, it's hard to concentrate. I'll just show the pictures.

What is a Gocco Print?

A Gocco print is a screenprinted image created using the Japanese Print Gocco kit (also called Riso). Here are some examples of Gocco prints below.

(Left to Right, AnnaRubyKing "Nesting Material", Junecraft "Retro Cooking", PrettyLittleThieves "Can We Be Friends on Page 11")

and here is the Print Gocco itself.

First of all you need to expose the screen, to do this you need to make a master image. The master image can either be drawn using a carbon pen, or use a photocopy of a drawing or photograph.

You then need to slip a new screen (these can be bought in packs of 5) into the Print Gocco. Place the master image on the print bed and close the lid to make sure it fits in the screen space.

You then need to get the light box and put in the lamps. It takes two flash lamps and they can only be used once. I have read that these bulbs are toxic, so make sure you wash your hands after handling them. Be sure that the bulbs are screwed in fully, a loose bulb can cause the screen not to fully expose. Also make sure your batteries are not depleting, this has also been a reason for my screens not to expose properly.

When everything is in place fix the light box on top and push down. DON'T look at the flash! It's very very bright. I almost blinded myself when I first exposed a screen! Your drawing will stick to the screen, peel it off slowly.

Your image should now be exposed onto the screen. Take off the light box.

Now you have to ink up the screen. Slip the screen from the gocco lid and peel back the clear film.

Inking up uses a lot of ink, but you have to put enough on to make it go through the screen. I've also found that when you are mixing colours make sure you mix more than you think you need because if you have to stop and mix more paint while in the middle of printing the screen might dry up and it gets frustrating.

So, decide what colour/s you want to use, you can mix colours if you want, (I wanted a light orangey tan for my print so I mixed brown, yellow, white and red).

Then apply the inks to the screen. If you want to use different colours in the same screen you can, but if you don't want them to spread into each other you should use the gocco ink blocking sheet. This is a strip of foam with adhesive on one side, you can cut it into thin strips and stick it to the screen to make sure each colour stays where it is supposed to.

The inked up screen

Now fold down the clear film (it'll want to do this naturally) and slip the screen back into the gocco. Make a test print by putting a scrap piece of paper on the print bed and pushing the lid down (in the same way as you did to expose the screen), you may need to do this a few times to make sure all the ink is getting pushed through properly.

It's a good idea to have all your paper ready to hand and your print racks all set up so you can just print print print!

If you decide you've done enough of the colour you are using and want to try a different one simply pull out the screen, peel back the film and scrap the excess ink off with a piece of card, do this on the screen and on the film. Then print a few with no ink, just to clear the screen.

Then just spread on your new colour, the old colour will stain the screen and maybe come through a few of your first prints in the new colour, but soon it'll be fine.

When you are finished printing scrap the ink off in the same way as previously described and again print a few with no ink. Then squeeze some screen cleaner on the screen and rub it in with a rag or paper towel until the screen is clean. You should be able to store your clean screens and use them again later. I do find they deteriorate slightly with use, so it's a good idea to keep your master images just in case.

I buy all my materials from an Australian based company called nehoc, although I bought my starter kit from a seller on eBay and there are sellers on etsy too. Do shop around for your starter kit as prices do vary.

New Goccos

I have started working in a little gallery, aptly named 'bird's gallery.' It's a really lovely place to be and while I was there last week, listening to nice music and stroking the gallery cat, I started to draw a few little doodles which today I made into new gocco screenprints.




I experimented with different colour combinations and different papers. I will soon start listing them on my various online shops. But now, after making a mess of the living room that I tidied just this morning, I have to go and do the dishes and bring our wet laundry to the laundrette like I said I would 5 hours ago.

I've just found out I've been included in Mindless Pursuit's blog, have a look and see other etsyer interviews.