The Koru, Symbol of Growth

– Posted in: Uncategorized

Ferns abound in New Zealand, but they are more than just a natural presence there—they are a cultural presence too.  The symbol of the silver fern, in it’s many forms and variations is very much in evidence everywhere you look in New Zealand, from the airplane you arrive on, to the dinnerware you eat from, [...]

Tooling Up for Hand-Printing Cloth

– Posted in: Book, Inspiration
A rubbing of a fern in my sketchbook

Melanie Testa and I have been hosting a Print-Along in our Facebook community. Sharing the process is part of that!  As I mentioned in my last blog post, I have been making tools for printing inspired by the ferns I so enjoyed on hikes in New Zealand. While traveling, photography is my primary way of [...]

Where the Red Fern Grows….

– Posted in: Book, Inspiration
Fern at Mt Cook

Back in the day…..when the world was a little bit more innocent…my BFF and I spent much of our summer days roaming all by ourselves in the neighborhood park. The park was bordered by a creek, where we spent many hours building dams and crossings in the cool green water with gold glinting highlights. Leafy [...]

Playful Fabric Print-Along

– Posted in: Book, Inspiration
The Playful Fabric Print-Along

Melly and I are excited to announce our first online Playful Fabric Print-Along! It will be a month long event, throughout the month of April. What does this mean?   How do I participate?   What do I need to do? First off, consider this your invitation to join our Playful Fabric Printing Community page [...]

Playful Fabric Printing Blog Hop Roundup!

– Posted in: Uncategorized

I hope you have been enjoying the Playful Fabric Printing Blog Hop Giveaway! Today, Melly and I are sharing another peek at the terrific group of bloggers who are reviewing and writing about our book. I am introducing Julie FeiFan Balzer, Lynn Krawcyzk, Carrie Bloomston, and Leslie Tucker Jenison. For interesting tidbits on the other [...]

Interpreting a Design with Stamps–and a Blog Hop!

– Posted in: Book

To say we are excited about the release of our new book Playful Fabric Printing would be an understatement of the highest order! To celebrate our launch, Melly and I have invited a number of super artists and surface designers to share their first impressions of our book with you. Each day this week, if [...]

Chromaticity: Flat and Glowing

– Posted in: Workshops

In the above photo, the glow is caused by the sun rising behind an “ice cube”–a large fragment of a glacier washing up on the black sand beach. In fabric, we don’t have the sun shining through our work, but we can still create glowing effects. This is one of the photos I took while traveling [...]

Pre-Order Sale!

– Posted in: Book, Color, Mixing Color

Oh My Goodness! I have gotten a bit behind here, what with a lot of travel the last three months. Coupeville. Iceland. Vancouver. Reno. NYC. More on that later–because there’s news about our book! We have a title! We have a cover! And, we have a pre-order sale! Playful Fabric Printing, by Carol Soderlund and Melanie Testa, delves [...]

Big News on the Horizon

– Posted in: Book, Color, Inspiration, Mixing Color
Brayer Loaded with Red Dye

The day is here—the day I can tell you what has been going on in the studio for more than the last year…. A book! Yes, a book! I am delighted to partner with Melanie Testa, my co-author, and to bring you a work from our hearts on color and surface design. What is the icing [...]

Layers Upon Layers at ProChemical & Dye

– Posted in: Uncategorized, Workshops
screen printing with Procion MX Dyes

The second week at Pro-Chem was all about printing with thickened dyes. Layers Upon Layers is one fun class to teach, especially when I have such a terrific and willing group of 14 students! In no time at all we were prepping screens both big and small for our week-long adventure with silkscreens, thermofax screens, [...]