Fabric printing
instinctual mark-making & screen-printing
Making your own patterns & prints on fabric is one of those life-altering moments (for me anyway), where you realise that anything is possible.
With a combination of traditional screen-printing & stencil-printing, merged with more experimental mark-making using found objects, you’ll be printing all your t-shirts, tote bags, tea towels, and naturally dyed fabrics too!
Taking a piece of plain cloth & some paint, you can create your own work of art, design your own fabric or create your own homewares.
It’s the perfect combination of messy paint play & perfect printing process - you’ll see be exploring what else you can use to make a pattern on fabric.
I developed my love of screen printing a lifetime ago at TAFE, where I hand cut intricate designs to print onto t-shirts. Previous to that I had explored and experimented in high school with simple print-making techniques such as mono-printing.
But when I really delved into screen printing was when I had kids and started this business. Back then it was called Red Seed Studio; and my husband & I would hand screen print our designs one -by-one onto hemp or organic cotton fabric, to create homewares.
We did this in our little backroom with children at our feet. I love the way that messy paint or ink, and the perfect pull of the squeedgie creates a crisp print and defined line.
The first time I saw my own hand drawn illustrations turned into my own hand printed fabric was a bit of a life-changing moment.
Since then I explored, experimented, made mistakes, played with the process and techniques to bend the rules somewhat. And all the while loved the fact that we can make our own patterns and prints onto fabric! What fun and joy.
Course curriculum
Videos sharing step-by-step processes & downloadable designs
The foundational basics
creating your own stencil, the design process > cutting it out
screen-printing set-up and how-to
setting up your space
Mark-making
using different hand made tools that you create yourself
experimenting with mark-making
how to know when to stop, and when to keep going
printing with vegetables (more coming in late 2021)
Projects:
hand cut stencil tea towels
tote bags
found objects - making patterns with what is in your studio or environment
make your own fabric designs
stitch over your mark-making
Let’s get messy, create patterns & make our own designs ⟶
FAQs
Here’s some common questions about my fabric painting course, if you have anything specific, please send me an email. General faqs about all my courses can be found here.
What will I learn?
You’ll learn how to hand-cut your own stencil design to use for screen printing or stencil printing. We’ll also explore making marks (patterns and prints) on fabric using found objects and vegetable printing.
Can I do this at home?
Absolutely! It can get messy, I won’t lie about that. But what you’ll need is simply a table (or floor) that you can work on, and a big cloth to spread out underneath you.
This is screen printing and fabric painting at it’s most rustic, ‘use what you have’ process.
What tools & supplies do I need?
You’ll need:
fabric to print onto (I always suggest natural materials, but it’s great to experiment). Also some test fabric, such as calico is good
a sharp blade, like a scalpel or X-acto knife, or a special stencil cutting knife
a self-healing cutting mat (though you can use some cardboard at pinch, if you need)
fabric paint (I use water-based and Australian made Permaset Aqua, which washes off with water)
paint brushes and stencil (stippling) brushes, available at an artshop
stencil cutting paper can be Ezi-cut, or thick printing paper (though not ideal), or plastic sheet like an overhead projector type sheet, often called acetate sheets
a blank printing screen and squeedgie in a matching size
spoons, spatulas and apron or cloths
access to water to washing
When can I start?
The course is available for immediate access, and you can watch the videos whenever you want for as long as you want.
If I ever add more content (videos or projects) you’ll receive these in your student portal automatically.
Is this beginner or advanced?
This shows the simplest ways to begin stencil printing and how to set up for screen printing of small batch printing. I don’t share how to run a full screen printing of meterage fabric, as this requires more space than the average home studio.