Printing fun at Megalo pt 2

As promised here are some more pictures from the 6 week block of Introduction to Screenprinting on Fabric I taught at Magalo.

Thank you to Claire, Barbara and Ngaire who have shared their images with me, so that I can share them with you! 

Screenprints and images by Claire

Claire created some lovely patterns through repeating a single image printed in different colours and explored printing onto pre-cut fabric pieces with the intention of sewing them into garments. I look forward to seeing the final product!

Screenprints and images by Ngaire 

Screenprints and images by Ngaire

 Ngaire combined beautiful hand drawn images with text which resulted in lovely compositions.

Screenprints and images by Barbara

Screenprints and images by Barbara

Barbara experimented with combining imagery created using the photo-emulsion technique combined with paper cut stencils. She printed lengths of fabric by randomly printing the image onto cloth. I love her use of fabric as a shade cloth over the deck area which is perfect for afternoon drinks, morning teas and hanging out in the hammock. After Christmas the shade cloth will be taken down and used to make PJs.

Such a wonderful and creative bunch of people. I am always so impressed by their creativity. They were so inspired that they are going on to form their own print club to continue printing at Megalo next year!

Printing fun at Megalo

I have just finished teaching a 6 week block of Introduction to Screenprinting on Fabric at Magalo's new facilities in Kingston. The new space is amazing and such a pleasure to be in.

And of course, I had a ball sharing my knowledge and passion with 8 keen soon-to-be-addicted-to-screenprinting participants.

Screenprints and images by Kahlea 

I always love how diverse everyone's designs and images are, and printing onto textiles lends itself so nicely to repeat motif printing.

Screen prints and images by Muzi

There was lots of experimental works being created, including Paal's printing onto old tea towels and doilies and achieving great effects, Muzi's striking colour combinations in geometric prints and Kahlea's fabulous patterns.

Screenprints and images by Paal

I got so carried away teaching that I often forgot to capture the creativity. A big thank you to Paal, Muzi, Kahlea and Mandy for sharing your images with us.

Screen prints and image by Mandy 

Mandy's image above is a great example of the different sorts of effects paper stencils (using both the positive and negative cut outs), and combining it with a line drawing that was translated using photo emulsion techniques.

Sam, Barbara, Ngaire and Claire also created some beautiful artworks which I hope to share with you soon.

Screenprinting fun at Megalo

Ive just finished teaching a 6 week block of screen printing on fabric at Megalo. I always enjoy the experience and never ceased to be amazed by the creativity and diversity of images by my students.

Here are some images of them in action and some of the fantastic prints they created.

Gen experimenting with mixing two colours 

Gen's Fantastic Mr Fox image combining paper cut stencil and a photo emulsed screen.

Lisa printing her first photo emulsed screen.

Liz printing her first screen.

Liz's amazing repeat print

Neil creating a back ground colour for his Matisse style prints

Sara experimenting with a three colour watermelon print combining paper cut stencils and photoemulsed stencil.

Sara's watermelon print. Love the colours!

An action shot of Sharon drying her bearded men print combining blocks of colour and linear hand drawings. 

Jacqui's happy accident where she printed the screen in one colour (blue/green) then blocked out areas and reprinted over the top in pink. 

Jacqui's repeat cloud print on a tshirt

The Queens Diamond Jubilee - new designs

The Queen is a topic of debate here in Australia. Some would like to see a republic, whilst others prefer the status quo. I quite like having a Queen and all the associated history, tradition and links to Britain (where I spent 6 years living and working in London and I consider it my second home).

We have a long weekend in June coming up, the Queens Birthday, and to celebrate I have designed and printed tea towels, cushions and t-shirts which will be available online and at selected outlets. I have wanted to explore this image for a while, so its pretty exciting to see it realised from the pages of a sketch book I kept whilst in London.

The Queen Stamp (design measures 26 x 30cm), on linen tea towel.

Royal Male (design measures 28 x 22cm) on cotton tshirt

This year we also celebrate 60 years as the Monarch of the Commonwealth. During her reign the Queen has seen six decades of enormous social change and development including the first man in space, JFK's assassination, the peace movement of the 60's, the fall of the Berlin wall,  and the cloning of Dolly the sheep. A website which celebrates the Queen's Diamond Jubilee can be found at which contains all this and more about the Queen. 


Whilst I was looking around the site I discovered the complete collection of Queen Victoria's journals from the Royal Archives.  Queen Victoria was a keen artist and she captured people and places throughout her life. Below are some of her sketches, to see the entire collection visit www.queenvictoriasjournals.org

Water colour by Queen Victoria 6 June 1845.
Image from www.queenvictoriasjournals.org 

3 November 1853 

18 April 1862

Its pretty cool to be able to see Queen Victoria's sketches and read her diary (if you have the patience to decipher her spidery writing)!


x 

Design of the times article

I had the pleasure of chatting to Philip O'Brien from the Canberra Times last week about winning the Legacy of Good Design Memorabilia competition to design products for Canberra's centenary next year.

The result is the article which appeared in last Friday's paper.

Click on the image for a readable version

Thank you Phil for such a lovely article.

Teaching Screen printing at Megalo

I love screen printing so much that I also teach screen printing on fabric at Megalo Print Studio and Gallery in Canberra.

I have just finished teaching a 6 week Thursday evening class.  

In the class we covered:

• creating designs using paper stencils and photo emulsion (light sensitive); 
• learn registration marks to create multi-colour prints;  
• experimenting printing onto different background fabrics; 
• and in our last lessons we also explored how to put your design into repeat.

Below are some images of the beautiful designs created in the class.

Marcelle working out paper stencil

Linda experimenting with colour and overlay patterns
 using a photo emulsed design

Jen's delicate hand drawn tree printed on tea towels

Dianna printing 2 colour paper stencil pattern 

Rachel's 2 colour photo emulsion stencil

Close up of Rachel's Escape design. 

Seona's 2 colour paper stencil print

Seona's 3 colour print onto patterned fabric

Marcelle embarking on a repeat print design using 3 colours

Marcelle adding the second colour

PS Marcelle has just sent me a picture of her finished Birds and Hearts fabric. Here is is below

Fabric and image by Marcelle

Vignette repeat fabric print

Its hard to believe that my solo show in Melbourne opens tomorrow night. Ive pretty much got everything ready, all I need to do is catch the train this evening. I cant decide if I am more excited about the train trip (I love travelling by train) or the exhibition opening. 

Probably both!

My show will consist of images which have been drawn onto ceramics. In the picture below you can see two of them next to the stencil ....

Preparing fabric repeat stencil

The images have been screen printed onto paper, and also collated into a repeat fabric print.

Vignette repeat in navy

Vignette repeat in sepia

Vignette repeat on the print table

 Next post will include photos of the works hanging in the gallery!

or come along and join me for the opening if you are in Melbourne...

6pm Friday 30 March
Brunswick St Gallery
322 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065

Teaching Screen printing at Megalo

Every Thursday night for the past 6 weeks I have been teaching a Screenprinting class at Megalo.

Class participants are taught the basics of screenprinting: using paper cut stencils, photo emulsion stencils, registration for two or more colours, and how to create basic repeat patterns.

Sherree printing using a photo-emulsed screen (above)

Big smiles from Steph as she displays her Gaudi Towers - created using one screen and repeating the image. (above)

More smiles from Bonnie as she displays her bows - created using one screen and repeating the image.

(above)

Sam printing her paper stencil lion (above)

Sam's lion using a combination of paper cut stencil and photo-emulsion techniques (above)

Carly's amazing 7 colour print which was then sewn into a dress - her first ever screenprinting project! (above)

Sophia's Marilyn repeat experimenting with shade and colour (above)

By the end of the 6 weeks we were printing repeat lengths of fabric. Above is Suzy's repeat inspired by lichen. (above)

The group had such fun that on the last evening everyone chose to print onto a tea towel as a momento of the class. (above)