Swatch swap....

Well a big thank you to Jesse for this week's project idea. Having said that, I don't think I had any idea what I was taking on! Jesse came up with the idea of starting a swatch swap which anyone could take part in. That was inspiration enough for me to dig out my old silkscreen and get it cleaned up. That in itself was harder than I expected, as I'd left it full of screen filler two and a half years ago. After scrubbing with turps for hours, I turned to professionals who got it looking brand new in a matter of minutes. Bless them.

Then there was the problem that I don't have a studio, let alone a printing table, so my first project for the week was to do something about that. I made a calico-covered pad that straps onto my dining table. It needs another couple of straps to pull it the other way, but my goodness, it's pretty. It's not as good as an actual printing table, but being the nomad that I am, it'll travel with me next time I do a big inter-country move. And it could always double as a camping swag. Versatile!!

Right! So then I was ready to print! I decided to go with cutting some paper stencils and screen printing them. I forgot how long it takes to cut those things out! And mine weren't even complex. (I also tried potato stamps, but the results were awful). I have a tiny selection of textile paints, so tried a few different fabric colours, teamed with a small palate of paints. Here's a selection of what I came up with:
I had a few problems (obviously). Some of the paint bled, mainly on the parallelograms (gosh I love that word). On the reds (above right) there was kind of an oil stain around the paint. If anyone (Elly?!) can give me some advice on how to overcome these mistakes, let me know. I'm also wondering if my printing pad is too spongy. I think I'll have a better idea when I add the straps to pull the pad horizontally (am i making sense?).

Anyway, you can see more of my swatches on the flickr group that's been set up for the Swatch Swap. Anyone wanna swap?

Until next Sunday....