Screen Printing at home

So I have been planning to try my hand at screen printing for a while. A few months ago I indulged in some retail therapy and bought the screen and squeegee and a pot of Permaset paint.  Its been sitting on my desk ever since and I've been desperate to find some time to give it a go.

During the last few weeks I choose a design. I traced it on to a cardboard manilla folder and using a craft knife, carefully cut out the design.

This weekend, and a few U-tube video’s later, I thought I might give it a go.

Using masking tape I attached the design to the flat side of the screen. I masking taped the rest of the screen to prevent any paint getting though.

I then turned the screen and placed on a piece of calico.

At this point you have: flat surface – fabric – stencil – screen.

 

And then for the paint application:  

• I dolloped some paint along the top seciton of the screen,
• took the squeegee,
• swipe down, up, down, and
• carefully peeled the screen away.

 Just like that – there’s paint on the fabric. How nifty!

I was delighted with the outcome.  I made three of the same and let them dry.

 

.... and then it all went wrong.  
 

The aim is to let it air dry and then 'heat cure' the paint (as per the intructions of the jar). You can use an iron or the oven. Here’s today’s lesson folks – if using the oven, do not assume that all is well.  Do not walk away and start some other chore or get distracted. When it says on the jar: 2-3 minutes, that is all!  Not 3-4 0r 4-5.  Only a short spell.  It may be that you need a lower temperature. Because otherwise .... lo and behold, your fabric will burn!

Yes, the lovely designs now have a browned aesthetic and indeed smell somewhat of caramel. You have to laugh.

Might go for the iron next time.

Paper decorations

In a blatant display of idea poaching, some easy and effective decorations were spied. “We can make those!” we cried. “Perfect for Christmas” we cried.

I had some old decorative paper lying around so choose a cream-ish paper and a Victorian red type design. I used a press to make the circles and then glued alternative designs together so they were double sided. Then a line of stitching and Bob’s ya uncle.

(Just in the interests of full disclosure – it did occur to me later that gluing the whole sheets together and then pressing out the circles might have been a more time efficient way to go – but perhaps the card would have been too thick ... yeah.)

Success and failure

As suspected - I didn't make it beyond Day 4.

I did finish the bag though - I quite like it.  Its definitely a winter bag.

Hunger drives productivity

Well, the country has been all a flutter with success after a gruelling and not particularly enjoyable rugby final last weekend. Yay for the win.

Having been enjoying and partaking in the celebrations for the past few weeks, we decided that after the final we would try a bit of a cleanse diet to rid our bodies of the evil residues of beer, chipppies, and pies. It seemed sensible at the time....... I'm not so sure now. This is because:
1.) I'm hungry.
2.) Whilst this was sold to me by the other half as some structured medically-sound eating plan, on reflection it seems remarkably like a silly fad diet.
3.) I'm hungry.
4.) Life isn't fun when one can only eat fruit and veges and crappy soup.
5.) I'm hungry.

We are up to Day 4 or 7 days. I suspect I will not make it through.

To distract myself I have been trying out a new bag pattern. Its based on a pattern seen here at Warehouse Fabrics. I've made a few tinkers but I wanted to see what the outcome was before I kicked off making a few. I think the shape it probably a little small for my liking but I will wait and see how it turns out and then amend. I have a bit of an odd-bod ensemble of fabrics for this one - this lovely woolie tweed which has a cute wintery feel - coupled with a blue satin fabric. These are both pretty tough wearing fabrics so should stand up to some punishment. Not sure if this will look good or a disaster, but I'll pop a photo up when I'm done.

Girls natter rugby

Whilst I've never been a sports nut, and I never thought I'd get absorbed in a sporting tournament, the Rugby World Cup has been such fun.  The spirit of the whole thing has gripped the country and the most unlikely of us have jumped on the band wagon.  This becomes apparent when you're sitting having coffee with a group of girls and we are jabbering about the rugby rather than the usual topics.  The flags in all the shops, on every car, the support at every level, and the visitors from around the world has been excellent.

I've been lucky enough to be given tickets to a few games through work and the spectacle has been awesome (as we flew up to Auckland for one of the semi-finals last weekend I realised the cost of our flights would have paid for the plastering in the hallway ... but you only live once right?).  I am struck as the teams run out onto the pitch to the deep roar of the Maori horn how gladiatorial the whole thing is.  We should all be wearing sheets and have laurels on our head as we roar for our teams and watch the spectacle.

It's fun to turn up to a game that NZ is not even in and pick a team to support.  I picked Wales for the Saturday semi-final and was devastated for them when they lost - it would seem that wearing red, cheering madly and waving leeks is not enough to ensure the win.  However, the All Blacks game was a triumph (no need to pick a team to support there).  I will be so very excited for NZ's team if they can win the final - they deserve the pressure of this very passionate and demanding rugby nation lifting, and to be able to relax and unwind without the proverbial monkey on their broad shoulder.  I shall be yelling my wee head off this weekend and hope that this time round cheering madly will generate the right result.  Go the ABs!

Teapots in town

I just love love love love my recent teapot purchases. How gorgeous are these enamel teapots?

I spied them at an online auction and fell in love - thank goodness there were only 3 for sale otherwise I'd have a whole room full.  I collected them from the vendor yesterday and am totally delighted.

They will look gorgeous with cut flowers but right now I just love them sitting there as a splash of colour and style. Hurray!

From naf-wolf to nifty-wellington: a framing revamp

I like to pick up nicely shaped picture frames from second hand shops because often with a lick of paint or a refurb, they will look good as new. It seems a terrible waste that they are just thrown out so it makes sense to use these no-longer-loved frames and make them loved once more.

One such frame I picked up at the recycle shop for $2. It was pretty hideous to be frank, grey frame and with terribly naf images of some American Indian wolf baying at the American Indian moon (apologies to the artist - its a subjective assessment). It had also received some water damage so the picture was going mouldy and icky inside. Even I had to wonder when I picked it up if this was my best investment.

I removed the picture and gave the frame the classic white paint treatment. I then got a sheet of cardboard to use as the mounting - using the mouldy version for a template so I knew it was spaced correctly - and cut out the squares for the pictures.

I faffed a bit on what to put in but I'm delighted with the choice. I had found a book called "Points of View" at a recent book fair. It was full of sketches of spots around New Zealand, cityscapes and country churches etc. The book was only $4 and I bought it with the intention of taking some of those pictures and putting them on the wall. (Sorry to all those purists - I did feel like a heathen destroying a book but there seemed little point having lovely pictures hidden away in a book on the shelf) .

There were 3 nice shots of Wellington (one of Oriental Bay, one of a Thorndon street, and one of the tug boat in the harbour). These were too ideal not to use. I have used an old bit of cardboard box to be the back of the frame and I still need to quickly restring the back so it hangs vertically rather than horizontally.

All in all I am totally delighted with the outcome. From a discarded frame and a discarded book, the result is just brilliant. I know exactly where this will go (once the wall plastered and painted of course).