I'm Keeping This

A demo print, this is a print with a soy wax screen, where the wax is put on the screen instead of on the fabric. I love making a motif that has a spine -- it means that I can attach the motif in a line and imply a large screen or a large image. I'll have to make more.

Screen Time

It's time to crank up the hot water to "melt" (150 F) and hose down the screens I'll take with me next week. I've a standard utility sink outfitted with a typical kitchen faucet with a pull-out sprayer. The small additional force and the hot water make short work of washing out the soy wax and thickened dye. 
 

Small Fry

Oh, the things that come in the mail! You might call this down-sizing but I'm hoping it's "right-sizing". I've purchased a 7" size electric frying pan for soy wax. More room to work. Thanks for the tip from one in my workshop. Next week I'll use it for Printing Under the Influence. A small but mighty group!

 

Back to Screens

I've had so much fun silk screening today. I am just about unpacked from teaching last week, and the screens are getting a new set of circles with hot soy wax. I bought a set of inexpensive brushes to use for that purpose. 

Kind Days of Christmas 8

I would not experiment half as much if I didn't have a crowd behind me asking the question "how do I do this [fill in the blank]?".  One of the latest was the printing a thin white line with thickened dye. That kind question led me to experiment with a tjanting tool and soy wax resist on silkscreen. Viola!
 

Soy Wax is My Friend

Instead of coating my fabric with soy wax as my resist for applying thickened dye, I use the soy wax on my silkscreen and then print over and over. I love using soy wax -- it's quick, inexpensive, washes out the dye with cold, wax with hot. Here is the skillet and some of my tools for drawing soy wax.

Making a Particular Sceen

I've a task to make a sheet and blanket combo for a couple of babies, so I've drawn on the screen with  a tested watercolor pen and used masked with tape. I'll use soy wax to paint out the background. Here's the print wet. I've printed the open circle and stem in green. Then used a brush to paint in the red centers with thickened dye.

 

Boring But Necessary

It was washout and cleanup after a printing week. I'm using my standard issue kitchen grade faucet and hot hot water to remove the soy wax resist from the screen. Next week is design week. 

Screen Printing

Ah, the myriad ways to make a screen for printing. These are a few soy wax examples, and the proofing of the screens. Brushes, tape, paper, stamps, noodles and a few other ideas for printing with a silk screen were part of Virtual Print today.

Start the Clean-Up

Layers of stuff that traveled this summer to workshops have landed on the print table. Now I'm ready for a week of printing, and these give me ideas for the week. Brush strokes from soy wax may work out fine on a screen. Or just directly drawn on a plate for monoprinting. Such finds.

Remedy for Hot Bath

I'll add this tip after the fact. A couple of weeks ago in Coupeville (and the fun of Glorious Printers!) we needed hot water to wash the soy wax from our screens. This ingenious tub was created. We poured water from the tea kettle over, and presto! Clean screen. So, reuse those large foam thingies.

Washing Up and Out

Setting up a print studio is fairly simple. I don't measure, weigh, or fuss. But having a sprayer (pullout variety!) is essential to get the soy wax out of the screens. Seconds and I'm washed out. Mind you, I've cranked up the heat in the water, but it's the sprayer that does the trick.

Filling Holes

I've made this element on my silk screen with a pool noodle cut-off for the round, then sliced again for the half moon shape. I'm filling in the center bite with soy wax. This lasts through many washings in cold water, which removes the thickened paste. Hot water takes out the wax.

New Tape Tricks

I've taken a screen, stripped in some tape, and then painted soy wax over it all. Taking off the tape leaves me some wonderfully ragged lines. I'll show you results after the washing out.

Go Big Screen

Third day of the weekend retreat at the Schweinfurth Art Center has me pulling some graphic prints on fabric. I love the size of these screens. I know that my large squeegee is just at my elbow, but this one was handy. The screen has soy wax applied as the blocking agent.

Layer It On

These aprons (I will be selling at the end of this week) have been part of the experimental stream. Soy wax, direct dye, and now stamping with textile paint. More to add tomorrow.

Wax and Wane

Tried two versions of the circle that I need for my next piece. One is wax directly on fabric (left), and the other is wax on the silkscreen, then printed. These circles are about 12" in diameter. Like 'em both.

New Toy -- My Skillet

I was introduced to using soy wax for the silkscreen's resist by Susan Purney Mark's video. I love the idea, as waiting for the thickened dye to dry (for deconstructed screen printing) is forever. With my new birthday skillet, I melt in minutes, and the wax is set before I can get my rubber gloves on make a screen pull.

Resist(ance) Day at Bev's Barn

Rufus is at the ready, to add more paw prints to our very wet flour resist pieces. My green fabric is the start of the soy wax resist trials. I will wait for tomorrow to wash out the dye painted over this pattern. A great, if soggy, day at Bev's Barn. We had a ball, and thanks Maureen for guiding us through the process.