TSNEM – August 2016

August– Printmaking; fabric or paper

I want to make a quilt for a fund raiser for the Baker River Valley Snowmobile Club. My idea is to use the signs along the trails as blocks. But how do I make those signs into quilt blocks.  I don’t applique well. I don’t really want to embroider it. I thought about using crayons.

But then I saw an episode of Quilting Arts TV demonstrating screen printing.  I knew that would work for this project.  I knew I had some iron-on vinyl used in this process. All I would need is organza and ink.  I have been trying to complete the new craft challenge without spending a lot of money. So this was perfect!

This is the result.  I wrote out my whole process. It’s available here as a free PDF, if you are so inclined. Also, check out the Quilting Arts TV (season 16, episode 5), if you can. The episode shows how to add color to your screen print. The dvd is available on amazon.

Through this process I learned what not to do.

• If you have a large design, don’t scribble the whole design with permanent marker. This is done so the design is visible after you cut it out.  My design was large enough that the smell of the marker was potent. It also took a bit to dry. Next time, I’m going to just trace around the design.
• Don’t screen print in good clothes. Hopefully the black ink will come out of my tan jeans. I put some dish detergent on it to pretreat it.
• Make sure you have a large enough area to work. I didn’t realize where I had put my card/squeegee. When I  moved my fabric over, ink got on the back of my fabric.
• Make sure your water pan is large enough for your finished screen.  I used a pyrex dish I had. It was long enough but not wide enough. I’ll get some of those aluminum roasting pans next time.
• Make sure you put the vinyl sticky side up.  When I put the little dot on for the center of the P, I notice the dot was still on the parchment paper. Oops. I put the sticky side up and pressed it again.  No problem.
• Make sure the screen is taped down and taut.  Once the screen sifted on me and made a mess. Good thing I was still in test mode and it didn’t happen on my fabric.

The following are products I used and links to amazon, if you can’t find them locally.

• Heat & Bond Iron-On Vinyl
• Speedball Screen Print Ink
• I purchased polyester organza at a local Joanne’s.

Once I finish hiking the 4k’s in NH, I’m going to start on the rest of the signs to make the quilt.

Have you ever tried screen printing? Did you enjoy it?

I did. But I’m still learning.

C