In the fine print

In your school days you probably spent time messing around in the art room, apron on, armed with pots of colours, screens and squeegees.Remember the delight of spooning a thick glob of colour into a screenprinting frame and carefully raking it from one end to the other, lifting it triumphantly (or otherwise) to reveal your creation beneath?

 

 

Screenprinting has been around for a while in different forms. About 2000 years ago, the Chinese used human hair stretched across a wooden frame to form the screen and to this they attached a stencil made from leaves stuck together in different shapes. The Japanese extended this idea by using silk instead of human hair. Industrial screenprinting was patented in the US in the early 1900s and, later, multi-coloured images were developed using the same screen. It’s a method often used in commercial art; posters, T-shirts, ads on buses, even watch dials, are all easily screenprinted.

 

Pop artist Andy Warhol was apparently thrilled to discover the silk-screening process and used it widely in his work, describing it as “simple, quick and chancy”.

 

Artist and designer Leanne Culy and her husband Brian (who is a photographer as well as Leanne’s creative collaborator) have launched an exclusive range of screenprinted fabrics. Called Holiday, they feature Leanne’s characteristic New Zealand-themed designs. The fabrics are produced for their art and homewares company called Home Base Collections (www.homebasecollections.co.nz).

 

“Screenprinting can be a complex and technical business,” says Leanne. “But to do it at home I’ve used a simple stencil method, which is not only cost-effective but achievable with basic materials you’d find around the house. Creating bold, simple images on textural linen can give an otherwise ordinary bedroom a dynamic lift.”

 

Find inspiration from your interests and experiences, she says, such as animals or typography. “If you can’t draw, pick something you can trace around – a cutting from a magazine, a trinket from your home or a leaf from your garden. Lay it down and draw around it. A simple trace can produce a pleasing shape.”
Leanne previously worked in the film industry as a designer and stylist. After moving back to Hawke’s Bay from rural Northland, Waipawa-born Leanne began painting on oars, with sell-out exhibitions at Black Barn Gallery in Havelock North.

 

Asked by Esther Diamond to produce a range of cushions and tea towels, she created Flora and Fauna, a series of native bird and flower designs.

 

Inspired by “things we love about New Zealand”, Leanne’s work reminds us to slow down, take a look at the past and the favourite things that lived there with us. It’s a creative slice of sweet nostalgia, delivered in a fresh and contemporary way. 

 

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You’ll need: a screen – approximately 30cm x 40cm (from any good art shop or a shop with art supplies such as Spotlight), fabric including scraps to test, a squeegee (or, if you want to be organic, a stiff piece of card will do), Fas Fastex Textile Ink in black, white, red, blue and yellow (from these you can mix any colour), a roll of adhesive film (or lunch wrap or brown paper will do, though this can’t be used again, so use the adhesive film if you want to repeat the image), a sharp scalpel.

 

Step 1: Creating a design
Keep it simple. Choose objects that aren’t too difficult to draw or trace and cut. Leanne’s inspiration here is the garden.

 

1 Select different graphic shapes to draw or trace around. Lay out design elements then settle on which shapes will make up your images; this is the time to reflect on the design and make any changes. Draw or trace the shape.

 

2 Cut out the shape and tape it to adhesive film or lunch wrap and, with a sharp scalpel, carefully cut it out. Remove the cut-out shape and discard – this will leave you a stencil of your design.

 

3 Peel the cut-out adhesive away from the backing.

4 Place the cut-out adhesive on the flat side of the screen, where it will meet the fabric. Make sure it is smooth and stop leakage by taping around the edges, completely covering the mesh. Ink will go through the screen, but not the adhesive.

 

Step 2: Screening your image
Do a test run on a scrap of fabric before you start to gauge how much coverage is needed.

 

1 Lay the flat side of the screen down on the fabric and centre the cut-out image. Lay out ink at top of the screen.

2 This is when another set of hands is needed. Hold the screen firm and pull the squeegee down towards you over the image, using medium pressure. Repeat the process, moving up the screen and away from you this time, using firm pressure. You might need to do a third pull, depending on the fabric.

3 Gently tilt the screen away from you to reveal the image. Dismantle then wash your equipment immediately: using an outside hose is an easy way, as the ink is non-toxic.

 

4 Dry the image on the fabric with a hairdryer. You are now ready to overprint if desired. Iron the reverse side for 3 minutes.

 

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You’ll need: Squares measured to fit your bed size (we used eight 40cm x 40cm squares of 12mm-customwood for a queen-sized bed), 8 same-sized squares of Dacron for padding, 8 slightly bigger squares of good-quality fabric you have screenprinted (it took about 3m of hemp from Hemptech to do the headboard and sheet border), 12m of Velcro, a staple gun, sharp scissors. Once you have dried and ironed your designs, you are ready to attach them to the board using this upholstery technique.

 

1 Make a sandwich of wood, then Dacron, then fabric on top. Turn upside down and staple the overlapping fabric at the top and bottom first.

2 Turn the remaining sides of the fabric over so the edges and corners are as flat and smooth as possible. Staple. Repeat with all 8 panels. Attach Velcro to all sides – this will hold the panel to the plywood base.

3 We screwed a piece of plywood to the wall as a stable base for the headboard but consult a friendly builder for other ideas.

4 Attach the screenprinted panels to the plywood base with Velcro to finish the headboard. Make a matching sheet border by screenprinting a 40cm run of hemp. Sew it to an exisiting sheet, leaving the edge raw for texture.

 

 

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Please see the photo gallery for more screenprinting ideas.
  

Stockists
CCG Industries (screenprinting supplies) (09) 475 5224 
Global Piece (06) 878 8181
Hemptech (09) 379 7773
Home Base Collections (06) 835 8735
Ross Mitchell-Anyon (06) 348 0542
Spotlight 0800 276 222