SILK SCREENING

The final component of our alternative process was to create something that was marketable, so I decided to learn how to silk screen and make some nifty t-shirts. This proved to be a lot harder and more complicated that I originally thought, but in the end it was lots of fun. 

The first step of this project was to choose an image. I decided to choose this picture of someone (me) lying on a hammock taken from their point of view, because I think that is one of the most peaceful things in the world. If everybody spent less time being serious and more time lying on hammocks, the world would definitely be a better place. It is so calming and sometimes also very enlightening if you are dealing with a lot of negative junk, and I really wanted the image to evoke that feeling so that I could share it with everyone else. To transform this image into the final product, I had to go through a lot of steps. First, I used photoshop to make the image black and white and then posterize it. Doing this makes the image into blocks of colour, making it easier to transfer onto a shirt. I made the image into three different shades (black, white and gray) and then made two copies of the photo that were either just black and white or just black and gray. I then changed the contrast on the two photos so they were both black and white only, but varying parts of the photo were black. Next I printed the pictures onto clear acetate in order to transfer them onto the silk. In order for this to work you need to have a piece of silk stretched across a wooden frame and covered in light sensitive emulsion. I placed the acetate printouts onto a light table and placed my silk canvas over top of them, then turned on the light table for 20 minutes so that the emulsion was exposed and the images were transferred onto the canvas. The parts of the image that were black prevented the part of the silk they were underneath from being exposed, so afterwards when the canvas was rinsed, that part of the emulsion would rinse off and the silk would show through. 

This then allowed me to use the canvas as a stencil to print onto my shirt. I put the first picture on the canvas down on my shirt and used fabric ink and a roller to roll ink over top of it. The areas where the silk showed through transferred the ink through them, so that part ended up being coloured. Once the first layer had dried I printed the second picture on the canvas with different silk patches over top of the first one in another colour, filling in some of the white and making the print on the t-shirt two different colours. I did this on two different t-shirts, using a variety of cool colours to evoke a feeling of relaxation and summer. I think that the finished product is pretty cool and I am glad that I went through this whole process :)

 My original photo
aperture f4.5 and shutter speed 1/30

 The posterized versions