An introduction to screen printing onto fabric led by Yorkshire textile designer Millie Rothera.

Join textile designer Millie Rothera for a morning of screen printing and leave with a useful piece of artwork, either a tote bag or tea towel, designed and created by you! You will explore screen printing, a historic craft still used today on textiles and paper, and learn valuable skills that you can continue to develop at home.

Screen printing is an effective form of hand printing where you push pigmented ink through a fine woven silk screen using a tool called a squeegee, and onto either fabric or paper. By pushing the ink through the fine mesh only a thin layer of colour is deposited onto the material surface, creating an evenly printed image. This process can be performed over and over again making it an ideal printing method for mass production.

In this introductory workshop Millie will use her six years of screen printing experience to guide you through each step to creating either your own printed tote bag or tea towel. Within the workshop you will design your own pattern or image, transfer that design into layers forming each colour, choose an effective colour scheme for your design, mix the colours using pigments and screen print your design onto fabric using paper stencils, a silk screen and squeegee. 

Participants will be shown demonstrations as well as have guided one-to-one help and advice on how to achieve the best results. Prior to the workshop, participants will receive an email of design ideas so they can arrive at the workshop with a vague design idea.

 The workshop will involve:

·      Introduction to the basic tools needed to screen print

·      Designing a pattern or image through drawing

·      Cutting the design from paper

·      Choosing an effective colour scheme with the help of colour cards

·      Learning how to mixing your chosen colours

·      Understanding how the design is built up through layers of printed colour

·       Screen printing onto fabric

Skill level:

Beginner- no printing or drawing experience necessary.

Cost:

£60 per person – all materials included.