Monday, February 8, 2010

On Screenprinting and Paying Attention

It's been a while since we spoke of failure around here.

I got Lena Corwin's Printing By Hand for Christmas. I had been itching to learn screen printing, and printing in general, and this book finally made me feel like the info was accessible. I have another book about it, but all it really did was confuse me. Not Lena! I got so excited about it that I made up a stencil, devised my first project, got all the materials out, and got started. I was bound for success.

And because I know myself, i read the instructions twice. Before even starting. I re-read each step as I worked it, and this is what happened:

A lovely, clear stencil all ready to go. BUT- I read the instructions, but not the bottles. I used screen filler instead of drawing fluid, and thusly ruined my screen. The project never got off the ground. Well it did get off the ground, but then crashed and burned.

But now we get the the annoying part of the post where I tell you the bright side: I ordered plenty more screen fabric and some more inks for cheap on Dick Blick. I got over the crushing fear of failure (again, it's a recurring theme here for some reason. This blog should be called Fear of Failure is the New Awesome. Only it's not the New Awesome, it's the Goofy Stumbling Block Which Exists Only In My Mind. But that's a terrible name for a blog, so we will keep things as they are. Anyway.). Also, the most fun thing about this is that BF came home, and was quite excited to see that there are screen printing supplies and instructions laying about the house. Turns out he is actually interested in this! This is- wait for it- a Crafty Activity We Can Do Together! This is pee your pants worthy excitement here. He never wants to do creative things with me, and for my part- i shoo him away from all my art supplies because he is like a toddler in that he picks things up, clings to them for about 6 seconds and then throws them down where ever he is at that second. So, I am thinking that this could be the beginning of Something Fun.

By the way, the intended project was to screen print some paw prints onto some fleece remnants I bought at the fabric store and turned into doggie blankets. We keep our house really cold to save on power (although the rates are so high here, I shudder to think of what our bill would be if we let it get over 63 in our house EVER) so the dogs get cold. And for about $3, two fleece blanket-like remnants with the opportunity for customizing- it was just too appealing.

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