SCREENING - PART 4

........continued

After a morning of learning traditional screen printing techniques from Val.......we switched gears in the afternoon and were led through a number of other options by fellow Fiber Junkie and good pal, Judy Simmons.

Judy introduced us to improvisational screening......instead of burning a screen with an image, a design can be drawn onto the screen with water soluble products, such as these washable crayons.

....or watercolor pencils, charcoal drawing pencils........

As shown above

Judy drew images onto the screen using a variety of products before covering the screen with the dye.

Once the dye has been pulled through the screen......she showed how to achieve additional images by using rubber stamps to remove some of the dye. (Like stamping only in reverse!) Notice the red and orange irregular shapes....they were created by placing torn pieces of paper beneath the screen which blocked the dye.

I've been trying to find a good (and easy) way to add lettering to my work......this method opened a new path for me. Using a charcoal drawing pencil.....I wrote words on my screen.....then spread on a Glass Medium by Liquitex.....pushing it evenly as possibly through the screen onto the fern fabric beneath.

Obviously, the design of the fabric wasn't compatible.....and I realized I used too much medium.....which smeared the black charcoal lettering as it was transferred. I'm not discouraged.....it's a start and I intend to experiment further.

The Liquitex changed the 'hand' of the fabric quite a bit......it too is water soluble so that could be a negative. However, I wet the fabric several days later and it seemed like the lettering remained stable.....I did not 'wash' it.....just wet it and let dry again.....

Martine House (an honorary member who we are urging to join the group more often) made this design. If I remember correctly, she printed it on a paper towel...the design was created using torn pieces of paper. Martine is so talented she could turn a paper plate into a piece of art!

We Fiber Junkies are VERY enthusiastic.....and tend to over plan our play dates.......therefore, we truly ran out of time in the afternoon to do justice to Judy's great ideas. So.......Judy will be leading us through another session soon which will also include a demo of her Thermofax....a piece of equipment she uses to make her silk screens.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into screen printing....it was a new world for me...... I'm counting my blessings to be among such talented and good friends.