Teaching to Silk Screen

Since I have felt like I have been in a bit of a rut in terms of my By Hand Project, I decided that I would take one of the ideas mentioned in class and teach someone how to silk screen. Thankfully my boyfriend was kind enough to be my guinea pig.

I thought that it would be interesting if we both silk screened the same image. In doing such, some interesting variations arose in aesthetic. We both used a silhouette image of a moose and then dug through my endless supply of fabric scraps to pick our backdrops. He chose a simple navy blue and white striped fabric and I chose the coral with white polka dots. He opted to use red as his silkscreen color and I chose blue.

I thought it was interesting that we chose opposing colors for both our fabric and ink, and yet we both ended up with a similar color scheme. This may possibly stem from our backgrounds in fine arts and the predominant color wheel that has been instilled in our minds.

In teaching him how to silk screen, I was reminded of the social aspect of craft that we have discussed in class. Though I’m not sure if he will want to do this with me again, I found that it was much more fun to have someone to chat with during the process (waiting for the glues and paints to dry can be very time consuming).

This brought me back to the topics of quilting circles and the article about needlework and fancywork. I definitely can sense the pleasure that comes from sharing a craft with someone else or a group of people. It certainly made it more enjoyable for me. Hopefully I can either persuade him to try it again with me or find another willing friend.

Also worth mentioning, is the choice of fabric used in this silk screening attempt as opposed to my very first attempt. The fabric used on my first try was lightweight cotton batiste, which is not a thick fabric but it is not terribly thin either. This time we used sheer voile, which basically has the consistency of sheer window panels. The voile served much better as a screen because of its ultra thin weight and kept the image from looking like a stamp impression, like the batiste had done.

The screens are still drying so I will update with pics once they are finished J

On to the next adventure

So this week I have been working on developing a design that I could use as a repeating print. It is definitely more complicated than my first attempt, so it is taking much longer to get through the design steps than I had anticipated. I have been working with this design using Adobe Photoshop from collections of brushes that I have downloaded. I've decided that I want to focus more on interior fabrics rather than apparel (my first silk screening attempt).

Also, I am going to try multiple types of fabrics for the screen so I can decide which one works best for me and possibly on different types of surfaces. Below is the image that I have decided on and planning to transfer it to curtains to liven up my apartment a little :)

I'll update with more pics of the work in progress as it comes along!

My First Product

I’ve completed my first attempt to silk screen an image today. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the way it turned out, but I still think I need to tweak a few things to get it just right.

For one, I used a lightweight batiste fabric as my “screen.” (Batiste is essentially a very thin cotton fabric that can be picked up at any fabric store and in a variety of colors). Most websites and silk screening demonstrations recommend a sheer fabric, tulle, or even nylons ie.) pantyhose. I think next time I will try a different fabric medium to see how my results may vary.

Here is a breakdown of the steps:

1.) 1.) Choose a high contrast image. I chose a picture of my bicycle and used Photoshop to “black out” the image into the areas that I wanted to transfer. It is important to have a stark contrast between the white and black space on the image for the image transfer process.

2.) 2.) Position the fabric in the embroidery hoop. Keep the fabric as taut as possible to make sure that the fabric will not shift.

1.) 3.) Place the embroidery hoop with fabric over your image. You are going to trace the image onto your “screen” ie.) your embroidery hoop. Place the screen over the image so that the fabric is touching image.

2.) 4.) Trace your image using a pencil, pen, or marker.

1.) 5.)Use the ModPodge to paint the screen. You want to apply the ModPodge to the negative space on the screen ie.) the area that you do not wish to transfer. Apply two to three generous coats.

2.) 6.) Let the screen dry.

1.) 7.) Transfer your image. Place your screen, with the fabric closest to the transfer surface, onto your surface. If using a T-shirt, place a piece of cardboard between the layers.

1.) 8.)Pick a screen printing ink color and paint your screen carefully so that your screen does not shift.

1.) 9.) Remove screen from the transfer surface and let the ink dry. This step can take a while depending on how much ink you used to paint your screen.

1.) 10.) Once the ink is dry, iron both sides on medium for 3-5 minutes and you're ready to wear your design out!