Hello!
I am doing a screen printing course! I have tonnes of pretty patterns gleaned from Pinterest that I would loooove to print onto my own fabric, but I think my aspirations might be a tad more ambitious than my abilities, hehe. Whatevs, it should be fun and I am finally making use of my screen, bought using a Jacksons gift voucher that was on the point of expiration. Confession time; this purchase actually took place about seven years ago (eep!) and up until now the screen has been utterly and perfectly pristine and unsullied by anything so messy as actual fabric paint … perish the thought! Well, it has at last had its initiation ceremony 🙂
I decided to start with something simple; my first effort is a stylised field of poppies. The screen print component is a imperfect grid of wonky red dots, like a really lovely Nano Iro pocho dots pattern that I saw for $50/m in a local shop which shall remain nameless. Ah, the joys of living in Perth…. hey, I’m all for supporting local businesses and have got nothing against someone making a living, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. $50/m is overstepping somewhat, no?!
I used a lightweight white cotton from Spotlight, and mixed a deepish but still quite intense red/orange, like the colour of a, well the colour of a poppy! The break-down is about two thirds mid orange (which I would describe as garishly, in-your-face, “life jacket” orange), a third new mid red (which I would describe as “crimson”) and the tiniest touch of black. I added about 10% transparency medium but I don’t think this quantity was enough to make any difference. After it had dried I went over and manually added a black dot in the middle of each orange dot using a Sharpie laundry marker.
“Registering the print”, which is printer’s speak for lining up the screen so that repeat designs sit seamlessly alongside each other and you are not supposed to be able to tell where one stops and the next starts; is a heck of a lot harder than it appears… my nine prints are laughably misaligned. I think though that since my design is random and intentionally wonky it can almost get away with having a less than perfect line-up.
This fabric to appear in sewn-together garment form very soon… stay tuned!
Lucky you, that's sounds like fun, I can't say I have ever seen a screen printing course here locally. Can't wait to see what you make from the poppy fabric.
Lucky you, that's sounds like fun, I can't say I have ever seen a screen printing course here locally. Can't wait to see what you make from the poppy fabric.
That is pretty cool.
thank you Dk's wife 🙂
Looks like fun. I have always wanted to learn to screen print.
Oh how fun! My background is in printmaking, and I was always impressed with people who could get 50 perfectly registered prints. I was able to get maybe 25 with 30 passable. With the method you're using, if you'd like to have things line up the same way all over, you can create a kind of grid where you'd be aligning the centers of the frame with folds or small marks on the fabric. That way you'd get an even spread of the poppy dots. Either way, it looks like you're having fun with it, and that's what matters!
Adri; thanks! and your registration record is pretty impressive! Next time I will definitely be marking out a defined and accurate grid on my fabric to work with, rather than rely on my eye, a wish and a prayer! 🙂
You can do it!
Love that you're willing to do something imperfect and can't wait to see how you'll use this fabric. Not being about to achieve perfection immediately (or ever) puts a lot of people off using their creative ideas. Hope you'll share some of those Pinterest prints you've mentioned. I've no doubt you'll soon be knocking off Liberty prints!
How cool. I was thinking to do a screen print course at Fremantle arts centre, in the end I decided on natural dyeing, so screen printing next time. Love your poppies, it's always fun learning new things, keeps this obsession of ours interesting!
Lucy; that is where I am doing my screen printing! and the natural dyeing sounded cool and interesting too. It's fun to be playing about with colour and pattern for our own creations, isn't it? 🙂
I think the imperfections make it perfect! Can't wait to see what you do with it.
Laura Ashley started her business the same way – she couldn't draw anything but wonky spots and stripes. So who knows where this will take you?? Actually, it looks fresh and nice, and the japanese styles you like will work well with this.
Screen printing sounds exciting, gets added to my to-learn list …
sounds fun! can't wait to see what you do with the fabric!
How neat! I didn't realize screen printing could be done on a small scale. The fabric is so pretty. I can't wait to see what you make with it.
I'm a sucker for poppies! Love your fabric and can't wait to see what it turns into!
Hey you're a jack of all trades.
and master of none! 😀
Very cool! I've done an extremely small-scale screen-print project before (one screen print per baby bib, and I had to make my own screens with mod podge and old nylons and embroidery hoops). I can't imagine how long it would take to screen-print yardage by hand! I'll be looking forward to seeing what you make out of this!
yes very cool, but difficult to get it to line up. thanks for showing.
Screen printing is awesome! Your fabric looks really cool.
1. Love this print!
2. Screenprinting HOW EXCITING!!!
3. I can't wait to hear/see more!
I love your fabric exactly the way it is! How much more interesting it is than a perfectly-lined-up print would be. The difference in effect between the two printing approaches is enormous.
thank you Carol 🙂
What fun!
Registering a print is sooo hard. When someone asks why fabric costs so much, I often point out the color registration circles on the sides of printed fabrics. The potential to screw up grows exponentially with the number of color screens used.
Suppose you are very good and you align your color screens (by hand) correctly 0.95 of the time. The first one is a freebie, 1.0 probability of success w.r.t. the other colors you will lay on top. Let's assume you lay down black first. Then you have a 0.95 prob. of getting the next color aligned correctly. That means 5% of your fabric was a failure and sent out to an odd jobber or for textile recycling or (gasp!) landfill.
Keep adding colors, one screen at a time. (0.95)^n more colors means, that with 8 colors (+ black), 0.95^8 = .66. 1/3 of the fabric will be misprinted! I like Hoffman quilting fabrics, which sometimes contain 15 different colors + black. 0.95^15 = .46.
You can betcha they align better than 0.95, but you get the idea why fabric costs go up with the number of colors in the print.
that's an excellent way of thinking of it! and maybe goes towards explaining the high price of Liberty… commercial printers use carousels which greatly improve the odds of perfect registration with each print and colour change. Right now my probability of a correct hand-alignment is about the same as the odds of getting hit by lightning (although I am hoping to improve) and the thought of printing with more than one colour is pretty terrifying!
Poppies! I always forget I love them until they turn up at the side of the road. Then I squee. 😉
It's a lovely fabric, and your adventures in screenprinting sound like fun!
I am really looking forward to seeing where your new adventure takes you and what you make with your fabric. I love Indian block prints, they never line up perfectly but I think this gives them character. I like to see the hand of the maker. Also, I am always shocked at the prices you mention for fabric, I thought it was expensive enough in the UK!
Go Carolyn. You're so resourceful. And the print is so cool too.
Beautiful poppy print! This sounds like so much fun Carolyn!
Awesome!
Screen printing! So cool…
Was this a one print workshop or are you going to work on more designs during this course? Which would, of course, allow you to get that pesky repeating-trick right.
I'm looking forward to seeing what you make of this nicely printed fabric.
thank you! yes I am going to be doing more printing during the course, and hopefully practise will improve my registration a bit 🙂
I love it!
Oh, this make my heart sing!
That looks great. I was planning on doing some printing this weekend and this was just the perfect inspiration. Thanks!
Oh, your course looks like a lot of fun! It's nice to be able to do something artistic involving fabric but not sewing, for a change, isn't it? Excited to see what you will make.
Oh oh, this really sounds like fun! A friend and I have been plotting to do a screen-printing course together. I've always wanted to learn. It's so gratifying to dye/print and make something from start to finish, no? And now I'm off to see your finished project. 😉
This is so interesting! A screen printing course. So far the poppies look great, and the one with the leaves…wow!