Lynn Krawczyk

I have been friends with Lynn and have been watching her mature as an artist for a few years. When I heard she was coming out with a book, I was not surprised. In Lynn’s capable hands and with this fabulous surface design manual, Intentional Printing, you will learn about using paints on cloth in several techniques, using different tools and approaches to designing interesting cloth. As a textile designer and an artist who works in cloth, I was very interested in seeing what, how and why Lynn works with her chosen media.

This book is quite interesting to me as well because Lynn likes to hand stitch portions of her work. I too love stitching and working my own printed cloth by hand, so you can see there are strong points of interest between our different approaches to working printed cloth. I was happy to receive a copy of this book for review and to jump on a blog hop about it. I sent Lynn a list of questions and asked if she would please send some pretties to dazzle your eyes. This coming post highlights Lynn and her amazing accomplishment, Intentional Printing.

1. Let’s talk about the concept of stashing. Do you “stash’ hand printed cloth or paper or are you in the habit of making per project? For myself, I prefer to make per project and am trying to whittle down the stash I do have. Please discuss your thoughts and approach to keeping a stash (or not).

I love this question!  I think stashes reveal so much about how an artist works!

I print fabric only when I’m working on a project, I don’t print it to stash. With that being said, I do have quite a bit of “blank” fabric lurking in the studio. Since I work on fabric that already has color in it, I’ve got reserves to choose from when it’s time to print.

And the scraps? I have a lot of scraps and since I make collages, I tend to hang on to nearly everything. The piece has to be super tiny for me to toss it. I keep those in clear boxes, I love the riot of color and pattern they create when they all mix together. It’s really inspiring! 

2. Embroidery seems essential to your methodologies, can you please discuss why this is? Do you print with ideas of stitch work in mind or is it a free for all?

Hand stitching is one of my biggest loves. The first kind of fiber art I got involved with was crazy quilting, which features hand stitching prominently. So I developed a strong connection with that kind of stitching right out of the gate. It’s something that has stuck with me even while the rest of my interests evolved.

I don’t really print the fabric with the stitching in mind. But at the same time, I always leave gaps in the printing. Meaning that unless I’m making art cloth, I leave it unfinished so that I can add other things in as I continue to work on it. A lot of times that other thing ends up being hand stitching.

And I’ll use any type of thread – perle cotton, sewing machine thread. I relish the long periods of time it takes to stitch something to within an inch of it’s life. 

 3. You work in several media, how do you manage this? Do you have a favorite media, or is your favorite media the one you are presently engaging in. I too have several medias and I often use them to cycle through and to help move blocked or stalled projects forward. Please discuss.

I do have other interests but they nearly all revolve around fiber. I’m really into knitting and crochet. I decided to learn to knit because I had used some yarn on an art quilt once and loved it so much, I wanted an excuse to buy and use all the pretty yarns!  😀

I think it’s a good thing to have more then one type of activity, it lets your creative mind rest. And I often find that in those breaks from the big projects, things shake loose that you might be stuck on.

Besides, there’s so much to explore! I always come back to my paint and fabric and collages but I don’t keep my muse on such a short leash that it can’t just have some fun.

 4. Is there one technique that is your ‘Go To’ method? If so, do you try to challenge yourself to move away from it, or do you go with it and see where it takes you?

I have given this question a good think. Because I can’t say that I am faithful to any one technique. I do love Thermofax Screen Printing a lot but I do so many other printing methods that get equal billing.

Instead I’ll say that I’m dedicated to using paint. I do dye my own base fabric to work on but the pattern that gets created on the fabric? Always paint. I love working with it and the different effects you can get with the opacity of it. The challenge, in my mind, comes with sticking with it and learning it’s boundaries and how far I can push it. 

I think Lynn’s book is a great primer on both printing cloth using acrylic paint and combining this with hand stitch.

Seeing as I work predominantly with dye, the immersion into the use of paint did me good, and I understand that some people are hesitant to use dye, in which case, this book is especially geared toward you. But even if you have no problem mixing up some concentrate and printing with it, you will find interest and divergence from your preferred methods in this book. I think it is a solid artistic offering and that the techniques and projects are approachable and well presented. 

I am always interested to see how other surface designers approach layering, using color to best advantage while exploring concepts of design and composition. Lynn is gentle in her guidance and really thorough in teaching you to look at and to respond your work. It is almost as if she is sitting at your shoulder, teaching you the things she does really well. Just as it should be.

I am a fan.

Good job Lynn, and thank you.

So. I would like to give this copy of Intention Printing away. I will ship within the continental United States. Please leave a message below to enter you name into the drawing. I will use number generator to pick a winner one week from today, April 9. The drawing will occur April 16.

And don’t hesitate to check out the other blog hop sites!

Draw, stamp, screen print and more to create gorgeous art cloth with the help of surface design artistLynn Krawczyk’s new book, Intentional Printing: Simple Techniques for Inspired Art Fabric (Interweave/F+W Media; $26.99.) Take part in our blog tour with stops along the way at:

• SueBleiweiss.com 4/1
• Virginia Spiegel.com 4/2
• Twisted Sister 4/2
• Muppin.com 4/3
•  Lesley Riley 4-3
• KristinLaFlamme.com 4/3
• Bloom Bake Create 4/4
• LyricKinard.com 4/4
• JaneLaFazio.com 4/8
• CraftyPod 4/8
• My Clothes Line 4/9
• MelanieTesta.com 4/9
• LeslieTuckerJenison.com 4/11
• Bonkers Handmade Originals 4/11
• Smudged Textiles Studios 4/14
• Sew Mama Sew 4/20
• Lisa Call.com