Screen Printing How to: #1

Here is a slide show, documenting the building of a screen. It was supposed to be the first in a series, but I ended up moving to Australia. I may, some day, continue with it. But it's not the pressing matter it once was.

slide show

Chandrasekhar's Addendum

A book I made for a craft fair, and forgot to mention.

Hand screen printed cloth cover. Artichoke Flower print, buttonhole bound, An assortment of papers, including vintage music sheets, and pockets for treasures. Cloth, hand screen printed end pages.

DIY: Delegate it Yourself

Whether you know how to do something, or just know someone who knows how, the most important thing to remember is to never stop creating. I am afraid of losing momentum; I am afraid that if I'm not in motion, then nothing is happening. Something isn't happening.

Here is the most recent project I worked on. I screen-printed 30 shirts for Surfin Serf's 2006 kia spectra tour http://www.myspace.com/surfinserf. I hope to do more of this kind of thing. I hope other people are doing more of this kind of thing. Commerce of skill. A changing of hands so local that it's a handshake. Kindly leave your talent where others can see it, and at least perspective will come to light, and at most something huge will eventually happen.

Surin Serf is a band local to Orlando. They're touring a bit, and doing a couple shows in Florida and Maryland. I know they want to play more, so if you'd like to have them, invite them. They will come.


Supplies:
A bath tub/shower/water screen
screen filler
drawing fluid
pigment
extender
a steady hand
a kitchen table
cardboard
30 shirts
Cost: approximately $170

A Capable Lover.

The insight behind the truth and the citation of past experience is best documented between the lines of the fiction it parallels. In great fiction, a balance is attained between these truths and the unbelievable to create an unquestionably enveloping story. We are not only our experiences, but the interpretations of these experiences amplified by the stories we tell. The truth of the moment is preserved by our stories. This book is dos-a-dos bound, double-sided, with three covers. The two outside covers are hand screen-printed and embellished. Inside of one side of the book is a short story that I wrote, and the other side is a blank book. A synopsis might be pointless. The whole story turned into a synopsis, sort of. Anyway, I heard an old movie has the same ending, but I can't remember what it's called...

bikes

This pattern is hand screen-printed, using the photo emulsion method, and an attempt at repeat pattern registration. The fabric is hand-dyed cotton. The pattern is inspired in memory of Sharon Hiett, as well as are the quilted pieces below, but it sounds silly to me to say anything expanding on this.

The bikes to the left are free motion embroidered in gold thread on muslin. They are quilted and bound using a traditional quilt binding method.

The evolution of the artichoke flower

This motif came from cutting an artichoke, and stamping with it, using black acrylic paint. The motif was developed through drawing.









I then used the motif as an element in the above patterns and colorways. These repeat patterns were designed using CAD for textile design (Texcelle). They are a mild southern gothic tale for cloth, and I had the opportunity to tell the story in its proper medium (as seen below).




The shirt is a readymade. I distressed the fabric with bleach, and mixed the pigment of the print to match the lighter parts of the shirt, while reverse appliqueing a crochet rose window on the front, and secure holes on the back. I wanted to bring to life the concept in the CAD designs, and give this shirt the used and ethereal appeal that can be seen in the south's familiarity with, but often blind eye towards religion: a fable beautiful in tradition and intention.

The Little Skeleton

The Little Skeleton began as an assigment based on Frida Kahlo's life and work. I was influenced by elements of her culture, life, and art. The pictures above are the beginning of what became a long, but quite fluid process. To the left, is a section of the scarf that was influenced by Frida Kahlo's life and work. The colors of the cloth are vibrant, and feminine. The image is dia de los muertos-esq, and ethereal in the vein of Kahlo's imagery. The fabric is hand-dyed silk charmeuse. There are two sides to the scarf, as seen in the picture above to the right. The front has the print on it, and the back is solid fuschia. The picture to the right is of the critique for this project, during which it was suggested that I use this character to develop a story. Stubbornly, I denied my affinity for writing. I wished I could be such an artist that never needed to say what she meant about what she did...


Eventually, telling the little skeleton's story became the obvious answer to a difficult question: How do I make my computer art final tangible? I wanted a narrative, and had almost forgotten that it was pretty much laid out for me. Having just been to deserted Coney Island in the dead of winter, I had a perfect setting, and the story just flowed into it. The above images are the preliminary ideas for the finished little skeleton. They are reverse applique, and applique, embellished, and hand bound covers. The following images were laid out in photoshop before becoming the tactile, finished, The Little Skeleton.





The following are images from a sort of thumb-nail sketch I executed before going into making The Little Skeleton. Luckily, I improved upon what became muddied colors and indistinct blocks of color in this project in the final product.


























Finally:

The character of the Little Skeleton is the concept of death in a child's mind, unaddressed. He is solemnly carefree, evasive, morbid, cautiously playful, and innocent of all of the aforementioned.

The pages of the book are made from natural fabric (all cotton: muslin, cheese cloth, waffle, canvas). They are hand-dyed and hand screen-printed with original illustrations and text. The pages are collaged together using applique techniques and a sewing machine, all bound with pigskin leather. The cover is reverse appliqued, and hand-embellished.