Deconstructed Screen Prints
I believe I can now officially say I'm having fun with this interesting process. Deconstructive Screen Printing is not new but it is new to me for sure.
I still had a couple of 43" x 43" dry cuts of my cotton fabric which had been soda soaked from last weeks adventure into printing and I decided to make a screen and print them off. I began by drawing a design on the screen using some print paste and black dye which was left over from last Sunday. I was not sure the dye would be any good but I hate throwing materials away so I used what I already had mixed.
The print paste I mixed with the black dye was really too thin and after I finished the design I realized the lines of the design were running together. I set the screen in the sun to see if that would stop the bleeding but the black dye just kept spreading out until there was very little open screen. It also ran down the face of the screen before it dried so there were drip lines all over the design. I was not excited about this development.
I was tempted to wash it all off the screen but opted to bring it back into the studio and add another design layer on top of the first using thicker print paste. I added some lines of yellow and some of green. I allowed this to dry and then printed.
What happened was a total surprise. The first print was a white design with a black background. The print paste I was using had no dye so the black came from the original design and the yellow and green design acted as a resist. Print 2 was much the same but more color began to show. Prints 3 and 4 were much lighter with more yellow and green beginning to show along with the black which continued to print. You can clearly see the drips. In the first two prints they are white. Then they are black.
Prints: 1 top left, 2 left bottom, 3 top right, and 4 bottom right.
Detail of Print 1
I then decided to introduce a dose of yellow into the print paste. I was able to print 4 full images and 2 half images before the resist areas began to break down and I ran out of space to print.
I am very happy with what happened and I my understanding of the process is a good bit better.
Prints with yellow dye added to the print paste.
Detail of an area where I used the print paste with yellow dye.
My idea is to print a number of additional designs to be used with this one to see if I can actually complete a piece with this. I would love to be able to repeat the interesting effects that developed in these pieces. It is such a different way of thinking and very exciting. I am enjoying the richness of the marks, the textures and the color.
Thank you for stopping by and I welcome your comments.
