Silkscreen Prints

Artist Statement

For this project, we created a design and then learned one of the silkscreening processes. For my design, I decided to make company T shirts for my mom’s store Rustic Arrow in Freeport. I took inspiration from her instagram page, and a post of the Maine symbol with a small heart at the bottom. I decided to make my own design of Maine, and replace the heart with an arrow pointing at Freeport. 

For this project, we practiced using a variety of unfamiliar techniques and materials. We first began by using black sharpie on drawing paper to create our design. We used various apps such Adobe illustrator and Cricket to transfer our designs to vinyl. We created our own silkscreen presses using silkscreen cloth and wood panels, as well as ink to press our designs onto paper and fabric. I decided to use a light blue ink for the T shirts, a similar color to the blue used on my mom’s logos on her sign and tags.  For my extended print, I used white gel pen and colored pencil to create a variety of line patterns and symbols that represent Maine. 

I went through a few processes while creating this piece. Learning how to use the Adobe illustrator app proved to be a challenge, and i had to navigate my way through fixing and straightening lines to make my design more clean. Learning how to create a silkscreen press was also an unfamiliar process, which included cutting out the right sized silks cloth, attaching it to the wood piece, and adding/ducktaping the vinyl. Practicing with printing was another challenge, and I to figure out the correct amount of ink, and pressure to apply when printing so I would not make mistakes, especially when it came to printing on fabric.