Positively Fishy

You are probably wondering what this is unless you are familiar with screen-printing. It is a peek at my film positive for a new fish fabric design.



The design was done to scale in Adobe Photoshop and then digitally printed onto film. The film is required for permanently exposing the image onto the screen using a photo-emulsion process. The area that is now black will correspond to what is screen-printed. As I am using a large screen for this print, I have had to cut and very precisely tape together my digitally printed films that were not big enough otherwise.

It is unusual to have such a vast screen-printed area but as I am choosing to print onto undyed, organic cotton fabrics, it will allow me to produce printed eco fabrics in any colour I choose. It also means that interior designers will be able to have custom-printed colours. To keep the fabrics environmentally-friendly, we use Permaset Aqua inks that are solvent-free and water-based.

I am mixing and testing ink colours today and will have the screen ready to print by the end of the week. It's always exciting when we have a new design to screen-print!

Tsk Tsk is in the Studio

I was honoured to have the very talented Tiel Seivl-Keevers in my screen-printing class yesterday.  Tiel is an illustrator, fabric designer, soft toy-maker plus a young mother of two.  Tiel needed no introduction to screen-printing but wanted to refresh her skills to concentrate on fabric designs & prints this year.


 
These floral prints are an example of Tiel's unique style and you can see more of her work by checking out Tsk Tsk, her design company.



This beautiful white print was done on paper and only smudged a little because the screens (43T mesh) we were using were better suited for fabric.  Paper generally requires a finer mesh screen and poster ink.  However, you can successfully screen-print on more fibrous, hand-made paper with the fabric screens and Permaset Aqua inks.