Silk Screen printing...

I have prepared a drawing for a silk screen print. This drawing is of some Islamic tiles  - a photo I took a few years ago (knew it would come in handy one day!).

I created a fine-liner drawing and then once finished - photocopied it about 4 times, 3 times onto normal printing paper and one onto acetate which was then exposed onto a silk screen using the light sensitive emulsion. With the three paper copies I decided I wanted 3 different blocks of colour underneath my detailed line drawing. So I cut all the yellow areas using a craft knife and a cutting mat, then all the areas of blue where then cut out and green... I think you get the gist! So I now have three different stencils to work with. Which had to be printed indivdually (as you have to wait for each layer to dry before printing th next).

 To print the stencils with the different colours I used a blank screen and a squeegee to spread the ink (I used fabric inks mixed with binder)

Right: there are the cut out stencils and above you can see the layers of yellow and green...

Left: Detail of the finished layered print! It took some time and it was time consuming having to keep drying each layer but it was worth it! Next I really want to repeat this tile pattern 4 times and make an Islamic inspired cushion, watch this space...

Simple foam board prints...

Here is the foam board print I etched into a few weeks ago (a little late I know...) I have lined up the stem of the leaf and repeated the print. A very simple way of printing with a really effective outcome, this was printed onto patterned fabric, which always makes a print more interesting to look at. I made sure I picked out the darker green in the fabric to ensure it would stand out on the fabric and not get lost. I also tried to match the thread colouring to some of the fabric patterns underneath. I used some water based inks (see pic) and two printing rollers - one to roll the ink with and one to roll the print with - which should be kept dry. I also use a sheet of glass to mix and roll the inks on, you can use an old piece of glass from a picture frame or a thin piece of plastic.