No, I hadn’t bought myself a print gocco (though now I wish I had!). But Belinda was kind enough to lend me hers 🙂 I’ve always wanted some sort of label to attach to the things that I make (knits, bags, clothes? maybe not socks though 🙂 ) so I finally gave it a go with the print gocco, to make some labels out of twill tapes. It was a bit intimidating at first, with me letting the box sit there for a few weeks while I fret about how I want the label to look and how to go about doing it. But thanks to some fabulous tutorials on the internet, I finally felt brave enough to try it. If anyone’s interested, here are the links that I’ve found useful:
- The Small Object’s print gocco tutorial
- felt cafe’s tutorial with print gocco PG5
- this photo tutorial at flickr
- Jen Leheny’s tutorial — including how to print with more than one colour
Once I actually got going and did it, it was actually quite simple (well the tutorials helped!) and not as complicated as I thought it would be. Print gocco is like a mix between screen-printing and stamping. First you get a design that you want to print (can be hand-drawn, printed from computer, photocopied, etc), then you ‘set’ the screen, next you apply some paint, and finally you stamp/press (to paper, card, or fabric, etc), and voila! Setting the screen was straightforward. Transferring to the twill tape took a bit getting used to, though. Had some hiccups in the beginning.
First try… gave a nice long press.
Oops, too dark! Better press it lightly next go…
Oops, too light!
Repeat, until finally…
Ahhh, that’s better.
Comments
Thanks for putting the links together. Looks interesting!
Cute tape. I must admit…I’ve coveted gocco machines from a distance. I just wonder if I’d use it enough. I never thought of printing on twill. Well done!
very cool!
oh wow you better teach me master! I mean i love my gocco but my work tends to look like your firsts! its only had one run since japan so I better get it out once we move!
Corrie;)
Looks good, Claudine! And you can always use it as ribbon ties for pretty packages, like socks. 🙂
Love that tape – so cool! Yes, I can see a line of ribbon for wrapping knitted gifts, eg for socks using a heap of bad puns (“Too soxy for you”, “Too soxy for words”) that sort of thing – heh!
Thank you for the tutorial links – the ribbon is fabulous!
It looks great Claudine. Mine turned out a blurry mess when I last tried labels. Do you use cloth or paper ink?
I’ve brought some plain linen tape that I want to use. I’m wondering if the smooth texture of the linen will make it easier?
Claudine they look great, I’ve got gocco envy now more than ever!!
Cool idea. What ink did you use for the twill tape printing? Did you use multiple lines of your name on the screen or just one line and move the tape along? I have used my gocco stamper kit to create wrapping paper and the instructions suggest using this to create fabric prints. The stamper kit means that you can print away from the machine.
I used the cloth ink for the twill tape, and just one line of the text. So I put the tape in place, pressed down, move the tape along, pressed again, and so on.
I did think of printing multiple lines in one press, but then I felt it would be rather tricky to keep all the tapes aligned at the same time. Maybe if you have extra pair of hands you could do that?
Printing your own wrapping paper sounds like a great idea! I’d love to try making fabric prints too sometime.
they turned out so great. so great.
good job.
ooooo i want a gocco too bad. thanks for sharing your experience and the links. the tape is terrific.
Those are really net! Perfect for handknits!!
This is really cute tape Claudine, it looks fabulous!
melx
Lovely! I have a gocco with which my husband and I made all our wedding stationery – luckily there was PLENTY of extra blank paper for trial and error before we got down to the real deal. (Strangely enough, the wedding things came out GREAT and everything I’ve tried to gocco since then has come out CRAP.)
The Australian supplier of Gocco products, http://www.nehoc.com.au has a good site with lots of info including downloads of the Gocco instruction manual.
Here’s hoping you one day have a Gocco you can call your own! Ebay is a good place to score them.
Ooh I’m Gocco jealous. I use a rubberstamp with my “name” on it and fabric ink. That works too, but the Gocco is prettier…sigh.
This is a great post!! I love your tags and have been searching for a gocco printer for ages… Do you know of anywhere you can purchase them from?
Hi there! I tracked back to your blog and your gocco twill came out FABULOUS!! I’m wondering how you ended up writing up your wording? Did you use a carbon pen or write in your normal handwriting and then get it photo copied? I’ve tried using my gocco with printing and handwriting and it was horrible. Completely unreadable. Hope to hear your secret!
Thanks!
-sondi
so cool!