Screen printed cushions

I made these cushions from some fabric I designed on my Textile day course during the summer term. They are based on manhole covers as part of a project on "City Scapes". As I wanted to develop my skills with screen printing I researched textile artists who use it in their work and was struck by the work of Neil Bottle.
The first stage was to paint the fabric with screen printing paints and then apply layers using block prints I made out of floor protectors you put underneath furniture to prevent scratching. That's all the circles and squares you can see. I then applied another layer using the silk screen and created stripes and the large flower type patterns which are actual manhole patterns cut from original photographs. These are drawn onto thin paper which is placed underneath the silk screen and then paint is applied with a scraper. The patterns can be used repetitively across the fabric and are good up to approx five to ten times before the paper starts to disintegrate.
I was thrilled with the results and felt they were begging to be made into cushions -

hey presto!!