I could really get into this!

That's what I told the hubby last week after my first screen printing on fabric class.

I explained to him that I could really get into this screen printing thing, so I'll need to take over the rest of the basement for my "studio". He just snorted and went to seek refuge in his computer room.

I'm taking a four week beginners screen printing on fabric class with my friend Emily at the Lillstreet Art Center. It was technically my birthday present from the hubby, and I think he may be regretting it.

Here's my first ever screen print. I'm calling it "Bubble Tree" since that's what Santiago called it and I think it's fitting.

I was petrified because in the first class the instructor had us cut out images w/contact paper and just slap them on the screen. Just like that, come up with an image now, and print it! I totally can not draw. Stick figures are my forte. I am able to cut out circles and a vague tree shape though, so that's what I went with.

Here are the screen prints that Emily and I made on the clothes line drying. She did the cute jellyfish. I think they look like Atari jellyfish, don't you?

This is the oiled image that I drew in PowerPoint. I love PowerPoint! The image has to be oiled if it's on paper so that the non printed part becomes translucent. The emulsion used to make the screen is some kind of photosensitive goo that burns away the image part, so anything you want to use as the image has to be solid, and everything else light has to be able to go through to harden the emulsion.

It was kind of fun being in a darkroom again (if not ridiculously hot). It brought me back to those blissful times spent in the photography dark room in high school. I was surprised that they used a bug light in the room. I remember the dark rooms as being all dark w/a red light on and that was it. I must say, it's much easier working in a dark room that has light.
And this is my first ever real screen that I made this week. It took almost the whole class time to make the screens so next week I get to print! How exciting is that?

Well, I'm off to make another bag that's due by the end of the month.