Simply Silk Screen

3 days - All levels

Silk-screening is a satisfying way to produce fabric with repeat designs. You will learn to make strong graphic images with incredibly simple tools such as masking tape, freezer paper, and inexpensive, pre-assembled silk screens. Students will develop their own designs and experiment with applying them to fabric with media as diverse as textile paint, thickened dyes, foil adhesive, and discharge paste.

Taught by:  Jeannette DeNicolis Meyer

Supply List

• Silkscreen – if you don’t own one, buy a small, inexpensive pre-made screen. If you have more than one, bring them.
• Silkscreen squeegee (I use a cheap flat-sided wallpaper smoother or tile adhesive scraper, but if you’d like to buy a “real” squeegee, make sure it fits your screen)
• Duct Tape – to seal screen frame
• Freezer paper
• Xacto knife
• Rotary cutter mat for use with Xacto knife
• Pencil
• Sketch paper
• Masking tape (different widths)
• Newspapers for test prints
• Supplies to make a print table;
• A bathsheet sized old towel, with flat nap (no design incised into it)
• Plastic drop cloth
• Paper towels
• Hair drier – to dry screens to prepare them for another run
• Sense of humor for dealing with brain glitches as you try to think in terms of positive and negative spaces
• Chocolate in case your sense of humor fails you.

Fabric

• 1.5 – 2 yards of cotton duck or canvas

We will be using a variety of media with the silkscreen: fabric paint, fiber reactive dyes, discharge paste, and foil adhesive.  The paint and foil adhesive will work on just about any fabric, the fiber reactive dyes and discharge paste will work on cellulose fabric (cotton, hemp, linen, rayon, tencel) and silk. Bring at least 4 yards of washed, pressed fabric. If you have Synthrapol at home, wash all your fabric with it on “hot”, then press it. You can include a variety – white, black, hand dyed, and commercial fabrics. If you want to print on tee shirts and tote bags, bring cardboard or plastic to slip inside the shirt or bag to prevent the medium from going through the printed area to the other side.

SUPPLY FEE: $30 to cover fabric paint, discharge paste, and fiber reactive dyes