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Creating
a home studio and Silk screening yardage
by: Erin Hickey
Creating your
own original designed fabrics is incredibly satisfying. For those
of us who are dedicated (addicted) to collecting textiles, silk
screening is a natural progression from buying to designing.
The set up
A home silk
screening studio can be easily set up given ample space and token
effort. A spare room or an empty basement can easily be converted
into a textile studio. Plumbing would be a big plus as it would
facilitate clean up. If it is not available, easy access to a
bathtub or an outside hose would suffice. The appointed studio
should be large enough to house the printing table including walking
space around it. The table should be approximately 45" wide and
long enough to create sufficient yardage for whatever purpose.
Five yards is appropriate for most uses, though draperies and
upholstering requires more fabric, but they could be printed in
shorter runs. The table should be low enough that you can reach
across the width, if not a step stool can be used. Cafeteria type
tables are ideal, though two or three attached end to end may
be required. Padding is then laid on the table. A thin dense foam
or upholstery batting works well. Over the padding, canvas or
muslin is stretched and stapled to the table around the perimeter.
This is your finished table, it may seem like a lot of work, but
the hard part is over! Now the fun begins.
The supplies
To print yardage,
the supplies
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Introduction
This
has been a great past year at G&S Dye. We participated
in multiple shows, the most sucessful being the CQA
(Canadian Quilting Association) show. It was nice
to see all the interest in dyes and paints. We connected
with many of our existing customers who we didn't
even know were quilters. The interest in us coming
out to speak at guilds is at an all time high. For
2001, we expect to be participating in more quilting,
sewing, weaving and needlework shows here and abroad.
On
a personal note, travelling again is in the plans.
I have a few more trips to the States and across Canada
to meet up with customers and get some R&R. When I
can sit still, I intend to further pursue my interest
in snowboarding and my video editing web site (Moviemac.com).
I may even be teaching you or your kids snowboarding
(most likely the latter) this Winter.
Finally,
I'd like to thank Laura for her dedication and help
over the past year. She's been a great employee and
help to our company. Her friendly smile and great
customer service will be missed. As one employee leaves,
another one joins us. Erin is now immersed in G&S
products and has proven already to be just as service
oriented. Good luck to both!
Dixon
Chan
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required
are a screen, artwork, ink and fabric. The screen
frame is made of wood with a synthetic silk-screening
fabric stretched over it, similar to an artist's canvas.
The most versatile method of putting artwork on a
screen is the photo emulsion process. Photo emulsion
is a compound that is applied to the screen, and after
it has dried in a light free area, is "shot" on a
light table with the artwork. This method creates
a long lasting screen without laboriously cutting
out stencils or applying multiple coats of screen
blocking compound. This process in itself requires
some expertise, but the whole step is easily omitted
by taking advantage of services offered by G & S.
We provide pre-stretched screens, photo emulsion and
artwork shooting.
The
artwork
Artwork
appropriate for shooting can be directly drawn or
printed onto velum. Velum is a translucent paper that
comes
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in
rolls from an artist supply store. For drawing or
painting directly on the velum use India ink or black
artist markers and pens. For computers, just scan
the image and print out with a laser printer (minimum
600dpi) Using an inkjet printer does not work well.
Grey areas do not execute well in this process so
shading and texture must be accomplished with stippling
and/or crosshatching. Mistakes are removed with a
x-acto knife. Large patches can be replaced by cutting
out the section and replacing it with a new piece
of velum the exact size of the hole and taped without
overlapping the velum.
Creating
an interlocking repeating pattern can be easily done.
A rectangular piece of paper 40" to 45" wide and 12"
to 24" long is a good size. This measurement you must
write down as it is your repeat length, and is important
when printing.
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