Beer (Cup) Party

Before I leave the stack of photos from Art Quilt Tahoe, I should show you all this. It is a view of the "tower" that we used to lay our wet prints flat. Yes, that's a double beer cup for spacers between the foam insulation boards. It's a great system in a pinch. But we still were waiting for the beer.
 

Scarf Support

My printed yards fit comfortably on a square of rigid foam for transporting after I print and sit there till they are ready to be washed. The scarves -- at 6 feet long -- have their own narrow board to fit their size. Makes life easy, and the pieces don't have to fight for a spot in the queue.
 

Wish We Had This Everywhere

My studio visit to Karen's let me see her drying rack in person. It is two shelf units made into one, and uses foam insulation boards to hold the fabric. It's a modification of my crude system, and much more elegant. Wish I could travel with this, it would come in handy this week. 
 

How It's Done Right

Part of the benefit of taking a virtual class is that you really think about your own work space. When it was time for laying wet printed fabric flat, students designed amazing new ways to dry their prints. I'm sharing Karen's brilliant solution. I might just have to be her student!
 

Setting Up a Print Table

My 36" high table is just right for printing, fairly inexpensive, and is padded out. Here's a little tour of how I set up for printing. And my infamous drying rack.

Rack Redux

My second holding rack is now installed and in use. Can't say the studio has gotten cleaned around it, just that it now holds a place. This rack is a great help in keeping me printing instead of whirling about trying to find a place where I can land a wet print.

Stacking Prints

I'm multitasking here with printing and piecing. Until I can build another print holding rack, here is my backup plan. I've got Styrofoam insulation boards stacked with plastic drain segments and plastic sheeting wraps. Works, and that's all that matters.

Old Rack for New Work

This rack has a hand shaped set of "hinges" that hold the three sections together. I love this and use it to hang the just ironed fabric yards. This drying rack is something I've hauled around for about 40 years. Longer than some of my long-time friends!

Stacking Up

As I can now get a few days in the wet studio I'm making good use of my drying rack. I find it is so much easier to get these prints laying flat instead of hanging them on a line. The Styrofoam insulation boards are just perfect as they are light, rigid, and washable. Wish I could take these with me when I teach.

Hanging on the Line

With almost a dozen people printing for days, the prints start to pile up. Good thing there is a great drying rack at the ready. These prints will hang until they are either printed with another layer or head to the wash. Tomorrow we'll take these down and replace them with another batch.

Drying Rack Hack

We used some styrofoam as the base, and then layered painted cardboard with plastic cups to make our drying rack. I think we added about four more layers before our cups failed. But it was great while it lasted, and then we went to plan B. Fun printing class!

Stack O'Prints

Thursday I'll be selling printed fabric at the Genesee Valley Quilt Club here in Rochester before the meeting (like 9 to 10:30). I seem to always have red left to use, maybe a little goes a long way, so I'm using it up here. You can call me stacked!

Drying Rack Starter

With the help of a friend's drill press, I have the legs for one side of a drying rack. The large dowels can be pulled out when not in use. This will give me loads of flat surface to stack my wet screened fabric.