Simply Screen Printing Online Workshop
Learn how to screen print with textile artist Leah Higgins in this comprehensive online workshop. Once you have signed up you will have 12 months access to approx. 25 hours of videos, notes that you can download and support from Leah via monthly Zoom meetings, a private Facebook group and email.
If you click on the ‘Welcome’ button you will find an overview of the workshop. And if you click on the ‘Sample Lesson’ button you will see Leah print some lovely fabric using a piece of net from a bag of wood.
Below is a preview of the home page for the workshop. You’ll need to sign up to gain access to the rest of the content. You can sign up (by clicking the sign up here button) at any time and work at your own pace!
Welcome to Simply Screen Printing!
Screen printing has been around forever. It has been used on an industrial scale to print everything from clothing and wallpaper to cardboard boxes. You may even have been introduced to it at school. If you Google ‘screen printing’ you’ll find lots of stuff about exposure units and colour registration that make it look costly and complicated, maybe even scary.
Screen printing doesn’t have to be costly, or complicated. You don’t need to invest in expensive equipment. You don’t have to have a studio or dedicated space to work in. And you don’t have to take a week off work every time you want to print. But you do have to have fun!
In this workshop I’m going to show you how you can screen print fabrics at home, using whatever space is available even if it is just a kitchen counter. I’m going to show you how to keep cost to a minimum by starting with just one screen and recycling and repurposing many of the other things that you will need. I’m going to show you how to use things like paper, masking tape, string, bubble wrap and flour paste with your screen to print fabric that is full of colour, mark, line and shape. And, because we will mostly be using thickened Procion MX dyes, I’m going to show you how you can start and stop printing whenever you want without worrying about leaving a dirty screen, I’m going to show you how to screen print in a way that fits around our busy lives.
This ‘on demand’ workshop is split into nine units, each containing videos that you can watch over and over and notes that you can download. You can get started today! Just click the ‘start here’ button under Unit 1. You can work at your own pace. And you have access for twelve months so don’t panic when life gets in the way!
During that period you’ll also have support from me via a private Facebook group and email. And I’ll be running live Q&A sessions each month via Zoom.
Unit 1: Setting Up for Screen Printing
How you set yourself up, and how you work, will depend on how much space you have, whether it is just yours or a shared family space and, of course, how much money you want to spend. In this unit we are going to look at the the key elements you need to get started.
Unit 3: Screen Printing - The Basic Process
Learn how to use your screen and your squeegee in such a way that you can control, and vary, the type of marks they make. We will start by looking at the basic screen printing process and how to pull perfect prints. We will then look at how imperfect printing can be used to give us even more creative opportunities.
Unit 5: Eliminating White Space and Adding More Colour
In this short unit we look at two simple methods for adding colour to a piece of printed fabric whether it be to ‘colour in’ white space or to radically change the colour of the fabric.
Unit 7: Temporary Resists
In this unit we will look at resists made from masking tape and from freezer paper. We also take our first look at how different types of resist can be combined on one screen.
Unit 9: Using Masks on Fabric
We have spent most of this workshop focused on resists that are added to a screen. In this section we are going to look at resists that are added to our fabric and, to avoid confusion, I am going to call these ‘masks’. They mask areas of our fabric. With masks we are creating a pattern or design on the fabric before we start printing.
Unit 2: Colour and Colour Mixing When Using Procion MX Dyes
A basic understanding of colour, and how dyes work with our fabrics, can help you achieve the colours you want and make it more likely that you will love the screen printing process! In this unit we are going to take a quick look at four aspects of colour that will help you achieve the best from your screen printing.
Unit 4: Loose Resists
In this unit we are going to look at loose resists that are placed on our fabric and picked up by our screen as we pull the first print. We are going to look at things like paper, thread, plastic films or sheets, net from bags of fruit. We are also going to take a look at commercial stencils and how the fabric itself can be used as a resist.
Unit 6: Breakdown Printing
My favourite screen printing technique where thickened dye or print paste acts as a very temporary resist, breaking down as we print. We will look at two ways of making a breakdown screen; drawn screens and embedded object screens.
Unit 8: Semi-Permanent Resists
In this unit we look at three products that can be used to create semi-permanent resists on our screen. Sticky back plastic which can be peeled off our screen, washed and stored for reuse. And childrens washable PVA glue and flour paste both of which can be used multiple times but will wash off a screen once we are finished with the design.
Gallery of Finished Fabrics
Take a closer look at the fabrics printed during this workshop.