It’s been a busy week at my day job, and I found myself brain dead by the end of each day. Hours and hours of starting at a computer screen writing code for an upcoming event that required online ticket sales and tons of graphics just about drained all my creative juices. I was determined to take advantage of this 3-day weekend and not only relax but try something I’ve been dying to try… silkscreening. I really want to silkscreen some fabric for our bedroom project… maybe some pillows, curtains, anything. Something that is mine, not bought, and made by me, is always more fun than buying something off the shelf. I’ve never screen printed before but just about all of my creative friends have either worked in a screen shop or own one.  I’ve always loved the possibilities of printing on fabric.

FIRST LOOK: This is the atrium that you walk through to get to the front door of our house

I decide to just sit down at my computer, open photoshop and draw out something simple.
Photoshop and Illustrator are my friends!  Here’s what I came up with….

There are many different ways to screen print. Using expensive store bought supplies or just DIYin’ it all the way with homemade stuff. I decided to try both. The first attempt was with a Speedball screen and Photo Emulsion. TOTAL BUST! Since I don’t have a laser printer I used my inkjet to print on the transparencies and even doubled them up but they just weren’t opaque enough and the sun went right through the film and that was the end of that. The second try was homemade and somewhat less of a pain in the ass, really.

I used some inexpensive curtain sheer and a quilting hoop and stretched the “screen”. I traced the design I made in photoshop on to the back of some left over contact paper I had laying around, cut out the design with an xacto knife and then stuck the contact paper to the screen using my blow dryer to heat things up a little and make the edges stick good. It worked! The contact paper would resist the ink and all should go well.  I also taped off all the edges so ink wouldn’t get on anything.

I have 6 Hardoy butterfly chairs that we are going to order new covers for in the coming months but two of them are outside in the front atrium of our house with not so great cotton covers on them. They’re pretty trashed so I thought since I was going to get new ones anyway (Circa50 sells vinyl mesh ones for outdoors, yea!) I would just print on these and spiff up the covers. They were my guinea pigs.

Can’t wait to order these. I love the white ones.

Using black speedball ink I did the first print on each cover, used my blow dryer again to speed up the drying and then did the second pass taping off one of the designs so it would fit on the fabric. They’re definitely not “perfect” but they actually turned out pretty darn good. I can see that I definitely need to try the photo emulsion method again but the contact paper worked surprisingly well.  My brain is swelling with ideas!  I think the creative juices are flowing again.

Here they are in the front atrium (also seen in first picture).  Once they dry you just set the ink with a very hot, dry iron and they’re set and washable.  For a first try, I’m happy, and they’ll be more fun to look at until I get the new covers.   I can see me doing this again for sure!  It was pretty easy once I got over being nervous about getting ink everywhere.  The screen really doesn’t let you.

MASTER BEDROOM UPDATE:
I also worked in the master bedroom, of course.  We got all the trim around the closet done, the inside windows are all stained, and I taped, floated and textured the “wall” behind the built-in dresser/storage unit under the windows.  Yes, I cheated on this.  It’s actually paneling that we couldn’t remove when we put up all the sheetrock because we would have had to tear out the built ins all along that wall.  OH HELL NO!  I can make just about anything look like sheetrock.  I did it in our last house and this house has one small wall in the kitchen and an entire closet of paneling that was given the “sheetrock” look.  Nobody EVER knows.  (except you of course!)  shhhh, don’t tell.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!