handmade screenprinting workshop

Last month I taught a workshop on handmade screenprinting in Peebles, near Edinburgh.

Firstly the workshop participants cut out paper stencils based on previous sketches they had made and printed these onto fabric, using screen mesh stretched in an embroidery hoop as a screen and printing with fabric paint:

Then participants prepared second screens using drawing fluid and screen filler stencils, and printed these as a second layer on their textile prints:

Some more prints:

...and more:

...and a selection of the final prints laid out on a table:

The aim was for participants to try out handmade screenprinting, and to make the base for a textile artwork that could be added to with embroidery or worked on further if the artist wishes.

The workshop participants came mostly from the Peebles Creative Space art group which meets regularly with their teacher, artist Claire Blyth.  They all worked hard throughout the workshop and I think they made a variety of beautiful and original textile prints.

nasturtium prints

I printed my nasturtium designs using paper stencils and a handmade screen-filler screen...

I printed the first layer using paper stencils under an embroidery hoop with screen mesh.  I used discharge paste to print these designs - it takes the colour out of fabric, to leave a negative-looking shape.

When you print with discharge paste you can't see the print, except as a wet mark where the paste printed.  Then you have to wait for it to dry, then steam it for about 20 minutes (e.g. in a colander above boiling water in a big pan - wrap your printed fabric in tea towels or some other fabric before putting it in your homemade steamer).  After steaming you can wash the print and that's when the discharge print appears, taking the colour out of the fabric.

After the discharge prints had dried, I printed on top of them with normal printing paste (orange screenprinting ink), with the screen I made previously using drawing fluid and screen filler.

I'm planning to embroider over these pictures and make more layers using stitch.

how to make a stencil on a small screen using drawing fluid

I prepared a small screen for printing, using an embroidery hoop, some screen mesh, drawing fluid and screen filler...

First I cut out a square of screen mesh (you can buy this from George Weil, or just use net curtain fabric) and put it over the inner hoop of an embroidery hoop:

Then I trimmed the screen mesh and put the 'screen' face down over an image I wanted to trace, and traced it onto the screen mesh with a pencil (the pencil doesn't show very well in this photo, but I could see it well enough to paint over the lines).

Next I painted over the pencil lines using screen drawing fluid (the blue-coloured liquid in these photos, made by Speedball), left the drawing fluid to dry, then spread some screen filler (also by Speedball, you can get it online) over the screen using a plastic card.

The front of the screen (where I spread the screen filler) will now have some filler over the blue drawing fluid image, but if you check the back (inside) of the screen, you should still be able to see your drawing fluid painted image clearly, without too much screen filler blobbing over the edges of your image.  As long as you can see your image from the back of the screen, it should wash out ok...

I left the screen filler to dry (you can speed up the process with a hairdryer) then held the screen up to the light, to check if there were any holes in the screen filler, and painted over these with some screen filler and a small paintbrush.

When all the screen filler was dry, I just washed out the drawing fluid under the tap.  You can use a fingernail or toothbrush to pick off any bits of screen filler that are blocking your stencil, then hold the screen up to the light to check that your drawing fluid image has washed out...

Your embroidery hoop screen is now ready for printing!

Christmas Cactus stencil print

I made a stencilled card for my Dad's birthday...

First I took a photo of a Christmas Cactus plant I have, then I printed the photo and traced the shapes of the leaves and flowers. I coloured in selected areas of the traced design:

Then I traced the areas that I would stencil in different colours, as separate layers, and cut them out of card with a craft knife:

Then I stencilled the design onto a blank card using a brush and acrylic paints:

I stencilled the 'soil' by cutting out that area and drawing in there with a black coloured pencil, as opposed to paint, to add some texture to the picture.

A Christmassy-New Year-Birthday print!

You can make a stencilled picture with your own design by following those steps.

paper stencils and photo stencils on pebbles prints

The next steps of my pebble prints...

I printed large shapes with a paper stencil (cut out of newsprint with a craft knife) and smaller designs which I'd exposed on a screen coated with photo emulsion (the blue screen above), on top of the textured background I created previously using dyes on an open screen.

Making hand cut paper stencils, and choosing where to position the exposed designs by moving the screen around and blocking off the parts I didn't want to print allowed some spontaneity in the printing process.  I enjoyed not planning the design of the whole picture in advance.

monoprint with dyes on an open screen

I made this mono-screenprint recently on a course I'm taking about creative textiles.  I laid out some string and flour on a piece of paper and placed a blank screen on top, then spread turquoise Procion P dye over the screen with a squeegee, pressing down hard over the textured objects.  Then I painted some yellow dye over the top of this with a pipette.  I then left the whole thing to dry and after it was dry, removed the paper and string (which was now stuck to the screen with the dried-on dye - I had to pull the paper and string off) and printed it onto calico by pulling Manutex paste through the screen with a squeegee...

It made some interesting textures where the traces of string, flour and stuck-on paper interacted with the dye.  I printed it six times (on six different pieces of fabric) before the dye on the screen started to fade too much to make a good image.

I'm planning to use this as a background for an art print I have in mind, and so I'll screenprint over the top of this next with stencils and pigment fabric inks (not dye).

kitchen table prints logo

I've made a new logo for this blog.  I cut the design out of lino then printed it and scanned the handmade print into the computer. If there's anybody out there, please let me know what you think!

New logo:

Old blog photo: