Birmingham Design

In 2024 I was very lucky to take part part in three Birmingham Design events. First I ran my CMY screen print workshop at Birmingham Design Festival in June, then I was also invited to exhibit at the Birmingham Design Makers' Markets in July and November. Thanks so much to the Birmingham Design for including me, thanks also to the Birmingham Design team and photographer Angela Grabowska for these lovely colourful photographs of my work at November's market!

 

You can find more information about Birmingham Design and the events they run on their website https://birminghamdesign.co.uk/

Canns Down Press Angel Garlands

At the start of 2024 I was busy screen printing my angel design in as many different colour combinations as I could. There were green, blue, purple and burgundy angels as well as pink, orange and turquoise angels! I love printing colourful angels so it was a great project to work on. From about ten different variations Canns Down Press then chose six different coloured angels which they published as angel garlands in August 2024. It was exciting to see the finished garlands at last and I enjoyed selling them at events in the run up to Christmas.

The angel garlands are printed on both sides in lovely sparkly metallic inks on 400gsm kraft recycled card. They come with silver thread and the angels have little holes so they are ready to thread and hang up. Angel garlands are still available to buy from Canns Down Press along with angel cards and sunflower cards https://cannsdownpress.co.uk/artist/karoline-rerrie/

 

Rainbow Coloured Flower Tote

Had lots of fun screen printing this rainbow coloured tote bag over the Easter bank holiday weekend. Quickly sketched the A4 flower design, hand cut simple stencils and then screen printed each layer of colour onto squares of fabric and finally a tote... once I knew there wouldn't be any mistakes! Really enjoyed working with lovely colourful textile inks and fabric, it makes a nice change from printing on paper. 

Getting ready for my Spring Tote Bag Printing workshop at Winterbourne House on Tuesday the 14th of May. Hoping to screen print a few more colourful examples ready for the workshop. During the day participants will be creating their own designs, hand cutting stencils, screen printing squares of fabric and totes, just like I did! We'll also be using the same professional quality materials and equipment as I used for my flower tote. 

There are still a few places available for the workshop so if you would like to learn to screen print or you want to print your own totes then don't miss this chance! Click on the link below for more details and booking. 

https://www.winterbourne.org.uk/whats-on/spring-tote-bag-printing/

 

Spring Tote Bag Printing at Winterbourne House & Garden

 

My next screen print workshop in Birmingham will be 'Spring Tote Bag Printing' at Winterbourne House & Garden on Tuesday the 14th of May. In this workshop participants will draw their own design inspired by different seasons, plants, flowers or a theme of their choice. They will then carefully hand cut stencils of their design using a scalpel. Next participants will use their stencil & bright coloured textile ink to screen print their design onto squares of fabric & tote bags. There will also be time to add a second colour to designs. 

It's not often I get the opportunity to run this workshop as it is expensive for me to buy the fabric & tote bags. We will be using professional quality fabric printing screens, squeegees & lovely colourful inks. Participants will each have some squares of plain fabric & at least two plain totes to print onto which they can take home at the end of the day. There will also be hand outs for participants with step by step by step instructions, a list of materials & suppliers. All for £65 which is excellent value. So if you are interested in learning to screen print or would like to print your own tote bags please don't miss this chance! Booking is via Winterbourne's website https://www.winterbourne.org.uk/whats-on/spring-tote-bag-printing/

Lucky Screen Print

A whole box of 'Lucky' cat prints arrived at the end of July but I've not been able to share them until now! The cats were screen printed in two colours by Printed by Us in Sheffield, then signed by me in Birmingham. They've arrived back in Sheffield and are available online from Printed by Us. The original version of Lucky was screen printed in black and green, the last few of these prints are also available. 

https://www.printedbyus.org/collections/art-prints/products/lucky-a3-print-karoline-rerrie  

Lucky the cat is a design I created a few years ago for Printed by Us. They're a social enterprise which works with homeless and vulnerable people to teach them how to screen print. The prints and products they create are sold online and from their shop in Sheffield. All profits from selling the products are reinvested in the project.

 

Summer Screen Printing Workshops in Birmingham

For anyone interested in learning to screen print I have a few different workshops coming up in Birmingham over summer and will be listing more details on my blog. The first one is my regular 'Introduction to Screen Printing on Paper' which will be on Saturday the 24th of June and also repeated on Saturday the 2nd of September.

 

In this hands on workshop participants will be learn how to make a photo stencil and screen print an image, illustration or design of their own. First they will coat a silk screen with light sensitive photo emulsion, then they will expose their A4 black and white image onto the screen and wash it out to create a photo stencil. Next participants will learn how to set up to screen print including how to register two different layers of colour. They will use a vacuum screen bed and print using colourful water based inks, a squeegee and a silk screen. By the end of the workshop participants will have hand pulled a series of at least ten screen prints on paper.

This workshop also includes details of materials and equipment suitable for screen printing on paper and it is accompanied by a comprehensive hand out with step by step instructions and a list of materials, equipment and suppliers. Basically it covers almost everything I have learnt over the last ten years! 

We will be working with existing images so participants will need a black and white image of their own which is suitable for screen printing. Some basic guidance for images can be given. All other materials and equipment will be provided during the workshop. The price of the workshop is £80 per person and places are very limited so please get in touch if you are interested. For more information and to book a place please email Karoline karoline.rerrie@yahoo.com

Rainbows for Cambridge Contemporary Crafts

 

Earlier this year I was invited to take part in the Pride celebrations at Cambridge Contemporary Crafts. It's a great opportunity to have some of my rainbow coloured screen prints on display so this month I've been working on new prints especially for the gallery. The first of these is some rainbow coloured hearts which have taken me a while to perfect. It usually takes me several attempts to work out the design and colours of prints made using hand cut stencils. But I don't mind because the printing process is so much fun and so are the results! 

First I drew the design, then hand cut the stencils for each of the three different layers and lastly I screen printed the overlapping layers of colour to create the prints. After trying darker, then lighter shades of colour I also tried printing the three different layers of colour in different orders. After a lot of deliberation I decided on lighter shades and yellow for the background. I finished an edition of twenty Rainbow Hearts on A4 white Fabriano Unica paper. Hopefully these will be on display at Cambridge Contemporary Crafts during June. https://www.cambridgecrafts.co.uk/