[image description: a photo of two block-printed patches, one on blue fabric and one on orange. the print design is a vertical rectangle depicting a landscape, with a road leading across an empty field and a large sun and clouds in the sky. a scarecrow is positioned next to the road, and birds fly across the clouds. all-caps text across the sky reads "Not entirely alone", with the sun as the "o" in "not". end ID]
hello narcissist cookbook fans on tumblr! if you're going to the 09-06 OKC or 09-07 Dallas concerts, I will also be there, and I've made patches to give out! look for the black jacket with the big gold spikes, can't miss it, see you there <3
[image description: a block-printed patch on light green fabric. the design depicts a key ring with an old fashioned key and a large plastic motel keychain with the text "Practice being brave" on it. end ID]
New patch! I'm super proud of the fine detail on this one, the text was so much work but I love how it turned out. Find me this upcoming tour (at the Cleveland/Knoxville/Columbia shows, black jacket with the big gold spikes) and I'll have this one to give out :)
i am gonna make it through this year if it kills me!
[image description: a block-printed patch in black ink on orange fabric. the patch design shows a pair of interlocked hands, with a halo around them, and the words "twin high maintenance machines" around it. end ID]
i've been doing a bunch of tMG-inspired linocuts to make patches for my jacket, and i haven't been posting any of them yet but I'm super super proud of this one and thought y'all might like it <3
[image description: a photo of a linocut print on a patch of fabric comprised of different colored stripes pieced together to make the trans flag. the print has a cluster of honeysuckle flowers and a jasmine flower, with the silhouette of a flame behind the blooms. text around the design reads "i feel so proud to be alive". end ID]
hii!! i really love your mountain goats patches, and i was wondering how you make them?
Hi! I'm so sorry this has taken me a little while to answer haha, I've been putting it off because I wanted to give a nice in-depth response.
My patches are all original designs that I make as linocuts and then print onto fabric! I use a Speedball lino carve tool that has several different carving tips, easy carve rubber blocks, and screenprinting ink, and I print onto regular cotton fabric. Screenprinting ink is thicker than the type of ink you're supposed to use for block printing, but I've found that I have to be pretty heavy-handed with the ink to get clean prints on fabric, and screenprinting ink has worked better for me in that regard (plus, it's technically machine wash safe as long as you heat set it).
More specifics/some process photos and a timelapse from my latest tMG patch under the cut!
I don't know if you're looking for specific technique advice, but here's some of what I've figured out after a year of making my patches:
I usually make my design digitally and then use tracing paper to transfer it. If you trace it onto tracing paper using pencil, you can then just flip your tracing paper pencil-side down onto your block and use a little bit of pressure to transfer the pencil markings. This process also simultaneously mirrors your design so that you carve it backwards and then it prints forwards.
Before transferring my design to the block, I like to do a wash with an alcohol ink on the carving surface, so that it's easier to see my carving.
I usually trace the larger details of the design with sharpie, but for the smaller details trying to trace them will often just mess up the lines, so I leave those in the transferred pencil and carve them first to avoid smudging the transferred lines.
I also carve my entire block using the smallest tip on my carving tool, which does take longer but I vastly prefer the really precise control that it gives me! After I have the entire design and an outline around it carved, I'll use a craft knife to cut off a big blank margin around the outside of the design.
For printing a batch of patches, because I typically do a lot at one time, I usually cut out all my fabric before starting to print. I ink the block a little bit heavily, but I keep a close eye on any excess ink around the edges of the design and clean the block off as needed. I don't have any fancy equipment for making prints, I pretty much just put a sheet of paper down on my work surface, put down a piece of fabric, press my block face down on the fabric and use a large book and some pressure on top of the block to make sure the print transfers well. It's taken a lot of practice to figure out how to get prints to turn out well and I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning!
[image descriptions:
1 - a digital drawing, black lines on a light green background, of a ring of keys with a large key and a plastic motel keychain with the words "practice being brave".
2 - the same design, copied to tracing paper.
3 - my hand holding a pink rubber lino block with a blue ink wash on the surface and the mirrored design in pencil.
4 - the same block, fully carved. it fits comfortably in my hand.
5 - the block with a ruler held up against it to show the scale of the text, the entirety of the word "practice" is about 1 1/4" wide.
6 - the design printed in black ink onto light green fabric.
end IDs]
[video description: a timelapse of a white person with dark hair and glasses at a desk carving a linocut block. the shot is stationary and mostly focuses on the block, which is a design of a key ring with a keychain and the words "practice being brave". end VD]
This shows more or less my entire process; the design went through many iterations over the span of a couple weeks, but once I got it nailed down I did the entire rest of the process in one night - just the carving alone took about two hours. I prefer to write text physically not digitally, so the text in the digital version is basically just in the correct alignment so I can freehand over it on the physical copy. This being my most recent design (for now, I'm hoping to knock out a new one before next show in three weeks) is by a pretty big margin the most precise and detailed one I've done!
Thanks so much for your interest in my process!!! I've got absolutely no formal training on doing linocuts, just stubbornly figuring things out through reverse engineering and trial-and-error process, so I have no idea how this measures up to anyone who does do it with any expertise. Hopefully this was helpful in some way/answered your question! 💛
made another new patch this week! it's still a bit till the next concert where I'll be able to give some away, but I'm super happy with the design :D catch me at the 01/21, 01/24, or 03/03 shows and I'll give you a patch!!
[image description: a block-printed patch in black ink on yellow fabric. the design uses the negative space, so the background of the printed area is black and the design is the yellow fabric that's left unprinted. the design shows a bit of a road, with large cracks in the asphalt and a flower growing out of the cracked area. text reads "All your threats are empty!" end ID]
hello! are you going to any of the following mountain goats concerts: 04/19 Salina KS, 04/20 St Louis MO, 04/21 Pelham TN? hey wow I'm going to those three shows! and what's more, I've made patches to give away (for free!!) to people at those shows! here's what some of them look like:
[image description: a set of four patches with black printed designs laid out across the back of my jacket. they are: a nametag design reading "I am just a broken machine" printed on blue, a cluster of flowers and a flame reading "I feel so proud to be alive" printed on a trans flag, a boot with a footprint and the words "be untraceable" printed on yellow, and a pair of interlocked hands with the words "twin high maintenance machines" printed on white. end ID]
i've got eight designs in total and multiple colors of each one! find me as the person in the black jacket with the big gold spikes on one shoulder and I'll let you grab a patch - the trans flag heretic pride one will be specifically upon request because I don't have as many of that one, so if you want that one please ask me for it! looking forward to hopefully seeing some of y'all out there <3
found some time last week to carve and print this design that I've had in the books for a little bit, inspired, of course, by spent gladiator 1+2! find me at the portland solo show - I'll be in the black jacket with bigass gold spikes on one shoulder, can't miss it - and I've got these and some of my other patches to give out to anyone who says hi! <3
[image description: a stack of three block-printed patches, with the same design in different colors. the design depicts a matchbook with the cover folded back and one match on fire. words written across the other matches read "Stay Forever Alive". the patches are printed on red and orange fabric with black ink, and dark blue fabric with white ink. end ID]
