stella printed shirt

I took a class on screen printing at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I had always wanted to try screen printing ever since I got involved with color matching in the digital printing world. There are many correlations between the two methods of printing. I took a week of vacation to learn this new skill and it was absolutely worth it.

inspiration

One of the first things we learned in class was how to stretch your fabric to the table and set up for repeating prints. One easy and classic way to learn repeating prints is with a tessellation design. At this point in the week, I was already missing my dog, and I decided to make a Boston Terrier tessellation print. With a face like that (see below), Stella is often the inspiration of many creative endeavors.

sketch

A tessellation is a repeating pattern without any gaps or overlapping elements, usually using colors that show a direct contrast from one shape to the other like an altered checkerboard. Traditionally, the negative and positive spaces are the same shape and they all fit together perfectly. One of the most common examples of a tessellation print is the houndstooth pattern. I didn't realize until the end of the project, that I may have subconsciously modeled the Stella print after the houndstooth shape. Do you see the similarities?

Classic Houndstooth Tesselation

Stella Houndstooth Adaptation

color mixing

Learning how to mix the pigments was a lot of fun. Much about color mixing for screen printing was different than in digital printing. I never realized you use a "base" which is a clear paste that is used to carry the color of your choice onto the substrate. To change the color of the base, tiny drops of color are added to the paste. These colors are very concentrated and a little drop really goes a long way. I learned how to keep a "recipe" for each color so I can make it again if I like it and run out, or want to replicate it in the future. The two colors I arrived at were a soft magenta mauve and pastel teal. They look great against the speckled unbleached cotton fabric.

screen printing process

I was a complete newbie before this class. Since this is a repeating design, I learned how to create guidelines with thin black thread, measured precisely at four inches apart, which is the distance between the corners of my design. I was printing full width and it took me about 2 hours to prepare the fabric on the table.

Next you prepare the screen. I was amazed when I realized we were making most of our printed elements with contact paper and an X-acto blade. In fact, that is how I made this tessellation print. I cut the design out of the middle of a sheet of contact paper, and stuck the remainder of the sheet on the bottom of the screen. Every piece that is cut out of the paper will let pigment pass through to the fabric below.

Once the screens are prepared, you the line up the design inside the registration threads. Next, slab a goop of colored pigment onto the screen using a squeegee at just the right angle. Drag the pigment across the screen a few times. When you lift up the screen, the design appears... like magic.

I had to repeat this process over 30 times while staggering what part of the fabric I was working on because each section needs to dry before the screen makes contact again, or the colors will smudge. This fabric took me about 6 hours; I entered a flow state and loved every single part of the process, even the tedious parts and the clean up.

Screen printing seemed like magic to me before I learned how it works. But honestly, it's still magical. By working in digital printing, I have become spoiled with being able to print as many colors and details that I want.

garment details

I kept this fabric in a drawer for a few months trying to decide how to use it. I finally found the perfect blouse pattern from République du Chiffon. I used the sleeveless version o the Suzon pattern and I had just enough fabric! The pattern and instructions were in French so I had to translate each sentence in Google and use context clues. I'm super glad I made a muslin first because I didn't translate the first section of the instructions which says you have to add your own seam allowances, and my shirt would have been ruined! Luckily it's not, and it is very much my style.

I found some lightweight swiss dot fabric for the ruffle in my scrap stash that works well with the teal accents in the shirt. I like the way the stripes level out the tessellation print and tie it all together.

My first screen printed project was a success!