Learning how to screenprinting

I’ve written on my general personal blog about how we have been learning how to screenprint this weekend. I’ve been itching to try it for a while – it was on my main goals list for 2011, although I’m not sure I mentioned it on my list here because it didn’t seem simple/frugal living related. However, we had such fun that I want to mention it here to encourage everyone else to have a go ;)

The day course introduced us to the basics of screenprinting – the process of creating our own photo-emulsion screens, using paper stencils, printing solid colours, colour blending, and printing onto paper & fabric – and was in itself a lot of fun. But the best thing is the place we did the course, Factory4 in Leeds, offers workshop facilities/equipment for anyone wanting to screenprint (or make fine silver jewellery, woodwork, or frame pictures) but doesn’t have the money or space to buy all the equipment themselves — this means we can practise our skills without having to spend a lot of money. (It’s an hourly fee of £4 to use the equipment, which includes a technician’s support if needed, and £3 to borrow an A2-ish size screen, the photo emulsion for it and the destencilling soap afterwards.)

Actually, our reasons for wanting to try it do have a kinda frugal element – John wants to design his own t-shirts (so will only have to buy plain basic shirts rather than fancy pre-printed ones) and we both want to make some artwork for the house (which will be cheaper than buying it all in – we do like to support independent artists but have a lot of walls to cover!). Once we get better at it, I also like the idea of printing onto recycled/reclaimed materials to give them a new lease of life, so that’ll cut our material costs further. But cost aside, weeee! so much fun!!

Other posts you might like:

Learning patience from wild food (and veg growing) Free photo printing or actually get paid to print your photos