Sarah Lewis enjoys the possibilities of block printing by hand, and makes her own blocks from a variety of materials. She finds it absorbing to play with all the ways one might print a given block, and of course the colour possibilities are endless. She uses acid dyes and prints her scarves on silk or wool. The fabric is then steamed to fix the dye. Inspirations for designs are very varied – a wave across a straight line from an antique dress fabric, mosaics and tiles seen on holiday, a photograph of reflections of a boat.... She is interested in many patterns used by weavers, especially ikat designs. Sarah likes to layer colours to achieve a richer effect – for instance her ikat inspired designs are usually printed twice, in similar colours but not quite aligned, the overlap resulting in a third colour. And then there are borders... It is time consuming, but for her the individuality to each scarf that such a technique imparts is worth the effort.

Read more about Sarah on our Meet The Makers page