Paper and Threads

These are the designs for my next two silk screens at my Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Experimental Screen Printing class.  For Project 3, we needed to prepare designs for two screens, one with a design/drawing and the other with only typography.  When the screens are printed, the images will need to be accurately placed (registered), so the designs are printed perfectly together.  This image is a composite:  I layered my two designs, each taped to a piece of vellum, clipped them together, and then took the photo as a reference. 

One layer has my figure and the 3 black stripes.  The other layer has my calligraphy printed on acetate, cut into pieces, and taped to the vellum with clear tape.  I just wanted to see the superimposed images before going to class tonight to make the actual silk screens.

The image on the right is the original figure, created last year as a collage.  I sketched a fashion model and then cut out black and gray paper to collage on my drawing from that fashion illustration class.  This weekend I traced the collage, made patterns for the pieces, and cut the parts out of black paper and a sheet of text from a word processor that was printed on acetate for the blouse. 

It will take most of my 4 hour class tonight to learn how to register my two designs, and then register them, coat my screens with photoemulsion liquid, dry them for 30 minutes, transfer my designs to the screens in the exposure unit, wash them thoroughly, dry them for 20 minutes, and then tape the screens for printing.  I wrote this just so I can remember!!

My classmates, who are taking the course for credit, need to turn in 3 registered prints in 2 weeks. 

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I am taking an Experimental Screen Painting Class at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) this semester, and hopefully will gain an understanding of the many methods for screen printing.  I have previously done 2 types of screen prints, and those two prints are at the end of this blog post. 

We made a 4 Color Reduction Print over the first two weeks.  I had no idea what they even meant 2 weeks ago!  Read here for method:  The white shapes on my screen print are the color of the fabric, and I brushed screen filler over every place that you see white to "protect it", and then pulled a print with light blue pigment.  The light blue color is #1.  Going forward, I brushed on "screen filler" to delineate the areas that I wanted to remain light blue, and then pulled a print with darker blue.  This process, i.e. screen filler to delineate areas you want to save, and then pulling a print with darker colors (#3 dark purplish blue and then #4 black). It made my brain hurt trying to figure out the process.  Before adding the black pigment, every part of my screen except for the black areas at the bottom of the screen were brushed with screen filler to maintain the printing I wanted to save.  To pull a print, pudding-like pigments are put along the top edge of the screen and a squeegee is used to pull the paint down over the screen in one slow, consistent movement.

My Print on Fabric: 

My only other experiences with screen printing were one day workshops printing on fabric with fabric paints.

One color Screen print with mask - a Christmas Tree Decoration:

In the first photo, I made multiple prints of the green tree on a big piece of red fabric using a contact paper "mask "over the screen (with the green sections cut out), only allowing me to print the areas that are green as the print was pulled.  The gold color is machine quilting with metallic gold thread.  

Thermofax Screen Print with several colors of thickened Procion MX Dye - A Quilt Journal Page:

I don't understand how thermofax screens are made, but essentially a stencil is burned into a screen using a Thermofax photocopying machine and special paper.  I brought black and white ink jet prints to the workshop and the screens were made for me during the workshop.  They are more like stencils with multiple areas on the screen that let paint through. On this 8.5 X 11" quilt journal page, I used several different screens, and colors of thickened dyes for this tiny art quilt.

 Stay Tuned:  Next we are making photoemulsion screens and it is all still a mystery to me. 

Posted by Shirley at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I went to my second Monotype session this week at MoMA and made 3 prints - but only uploaded two here - another ballerina and another Axel print.

Weekday NYC Urban Sketchers met in Rockefeller Park in Battery Park City this week, and I was completely mesmerized by ducks.  When I arrived I watched a male swimming all over the pond behind a female and a total of 7 ducklings that were scattered and having fun.  I sketched them quickly and spent the next hour watching them to determine their coloration.  I can't describe how much pleasure I got from sitting in the sun, watching and photographing them.  Midway through the hour 3 gangster males arrived and fights began.  But the original male kept them away from his family.  It was very noisy! 

I quickly sketched one of Dubuffet's four large LaVache paintings when at his exhibit at Acquavella Gallery on the Upper Eastside.  My goal was to paint it with my acrylic paints before putting them away after my abstract painting class ended.  The painting is on a watercolor postcard. 

Monotypes, Pen Drawing with Watercolor Wash, and an Acrylic Painting - I think I need to focus! 

Posted by Shirley at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are 120 monotypes in the MoMA exhibit Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty.    

On April 26th MoMA offered a drop-in session for museum visitors to make monotypes.   Education staff from MoMA and staff from EFA Blackburn Studio set up a mini-printing shop on the second floor of the Museum, and we were able to sign in and then spend 75 minutes making up to 3 prints.

Here is a 4 minute video about Monotypes, as an introduction. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLfYVzk0sNiGEYF87Bj0us98NVd-h6aOvK&v=DC8L2O7I0wk

We each had a palatte for the ink, a brayer to coat a plexiglass plate, and a variety of simples tools to remove or add ink to the plate.  This was my first experience making an ink monotype, although I've made some with thick dye on fabric.  The methods are not very similar. 

We made our drawings in the ink, or with the ink, on the plate and then took our plate to the Staff who soaked the paper in water and put our plate and paper through the press. 

I took my sketchbook with me because I had sketches of some dancers from two New York City Ballet rehearsals I watched (drawn before it was too dark in the theater).  These were my inspiration for prints 1 and 2.  With the remaining few minutes I sketched my imaginary friend Axel for print #3.  The paper is 11 X 15" and the prints are 8 X 10".

 Print 1

Print 2

Print 3

Posted by Shirley at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)