Be warned, screen printing is utterly addictive! About three years ago I took a short course at my local college – two hours a week for five weeks – and I haven’t looked back since. From the first minute on the first day I was hooked, and the 8,640 minutes before the next lesson dragged for what felt like an eternity! I just couldn’t wait to get back to the studio.
Ever since I was little I have been addicted to fabric, sewing and making, thanks to my Grandma. She had her machine and fabrics out constantly and I used to love delving through the beautiful treasure while she created on her old Singer. A lot later when my love of sewing was rekindled – after it had been pushed aside for sport, boys, good times, husband and babies – I discovered stunning screen printed fabrics from artists not only in the UK but also in Australia, the USA, South Africa and other far flung places. My creating was now taking place in the internet era, a time when it was possible to source all that wonderful talent from my kitchen table. I was in heaven, and whilst I was in love with sewing these beautifully creative, immensely tactile fabrics, I knew deep down I wanted to be sewing with my own created fabrics.
It was a while again later – once work, children and family commitments had subsided – before I had the opportunity of trying it for myself. But boy, when I did, something exploded in me and I haven’t been the same since!
Screen printing is the art of transferring your own images, whether they be simple doodles or more intricate repeat designs, onto a material, such as paper, fabric or ceramic. It is incredibly versatile and personal. There is something immensely satisfying about seeing the design that you sat and doodled being transferred to a screen, followed by the physical process of actually printing it onto your chosen surface. Screen printing allows you to print not one, but multiples of the same design, each one coming out slightly different, which to me is the delight of hand-printed fabric rather than a factory printed roll.
The versatility of hand printed fabric is enormous, from printing one-off silhouettes for a cushion or printing a repeated pattern, to using it in quilting or a number of other sewing projects. It has the mystery of being an incredibly technical process where surely you have to enrol in a college degree with high-tech facilities in order to come anywhere close to success. It certainly can be that complicated, but it can also be the simplest technique ever, where you can make beautiful objects literally from your kitchen table.
This book aims to teach you the simple basic steps of screen printing, from the equipment you need, to step by step instructions of different ways to prepare your screen, with simple projects to create with your beautiful, unique fabric.
I hope you will be as enthusiastic as I am as you work through the process and take delight in creating your own designs. I do apologize now though, as the world around you will change when you start printing. Everything will become an inspiration to you – from the shadows the trees make, to the simple patterns of the lines in the road. The world around you will never be the same again!