Well that was fun!

Today was the day of the Screen-printing workshop... and it was AWESOME!  Krystal and I did the workshop together and we have had a great time meeting new people and learning a new skill.  Turns out that screenprinting is FUN!

I didn't take lots of photos during the workshop itself because I was so busy DOING... but I did get a few of Krystal while she was busy.  Don't panic... I asked her if I could share :)

Our tutor today was Sophie and she was lovely... very relaxed and extremely knowledgeable.  She made sure we all experienced lots of success and was more than willing to go the extra mile.

We started off the day using three of Sophie's photo emulsion screen printing trays.  We had three different designs to try and a few different colours.  We printed the designs onto paper to get the idea of HOW it all worked... how much pressure we had to put on the squeegee and how to get different results. Here's what I produced... Design 1 - Sophie uses this one to make Christmas envelopes:

Design 2... have to admit that this pattern didn't particularly inspire me... and orange isn't my favourite colour:

Design 3... totally loved this one! I especially like it on the brown paper... so much nicer in real life than in the photos.

By now we'd had a taste of what screenprinting was all about so Sophie moved us onto making our own stencils to turn into screen prints.

I started off doing a Google hunt... Oh No!!!  How many tangents can a person go on when they start looking at Pinterest!!!  In the end Krystal kindly suggested that I might like to just 'pick something' so that I didn't waste the whole workshop looking at ideas!

I decided on a bird on a branch with some flowers and leaves.  We had to draw our designs out and then go over them with vivid:

Next we transferred our designs to Yupo paper... Esther will be thrilled to hear that I've finally found a use for all the Yupo paper she gave me ages ago!!!

The next step was to cut out the designs.  We actually wanted the negative of the designs so it was much easier to use a craft knife and make our stencils this way.  I spent ages cutting along all my lines and I was super careful to make sure I went slowly and patiently... not easy I can tell you! Patience is not a virtue I possess in any great quantity... sometimes I don't even have it in a tiny quantity! But I persevered and eventually I had something that looked pretty good.

Then we had to tape our cut out stencil onto the screens... again this took patience... a lot of care... and a HEAP of packing tape!!!

I finally had my design ready... I was so excited... I put my paper under the screen... I got my paint ready.... I used the squeegee to spread the paint over my design....  

are you getting as excited as I did???

I lifted the screen... and this is what greeted me:

Nope... nope... nope... are you KIDDING me???  Hmmm... I don't think I like screenprinting after all :(

It turns out that first prints are often like this... so I went ahead and did my second print.... ahhh.. that's better:

Hmmm... maybe screenprinting IS cool... let me try again:

My confidence was returning... so let's try putting my design onto some fabric:

I know the lower part of the branch didn't completely print... but wow!  I MADE that... I'm liking this screenprinting lark!

Let's try a different type of fabric:

I got an even better print with the finer weave fabric!  The possibilities started spinning around in my head!  Sophie provided everyone with a well made cavas tote bag to print our designs on... how could I refuse???

End result... I have about a dozen paper prints of my design and another half dozen on fabric.  I've learnt a new skill and had heaps of fun along the way!  I have to say a BIG thank you to Krystal and Mikayla for such an awesome Mother's Day gift... this really was a fabulous present... thanks girls xxx

Before I go I'll share a couple of Krystal's photos and the design she created.  Krystal taping down the stencil she cut out... and that's our tutor Sophie in the background:

Using the squeegee to spread out the paint:

You can almost see the design on this one:

And here it is... look at all the detail on her design... she clearly has FAR more patience than her mother... and she didn't inherit patience from her father either LOL

So there you have it... a new adventure has begun!