Textile screenprinting onto Tote Bags

After having tested out some trial prints onto fabric I started printing one of my own designs onto a few tote bags, so that I could get used to textile screen printing though experimentation. I converted 3 of my designs to turn into screens. My designs were completely opaque, so to make sure that the screen was covered I thought it might be interesting to experiment with a screen that hasn't been fully washed out yet. Leaving the screen only partially washed out allowed me to add texture onto my designs, instead of the prints being a wholly opaque print.

Most of the screens turned out well in my opinion, the texture worked really well with my imagery as it made it seem like a snowy mountain. I also enjoyed working out whether to use a transparent or an opaque base for my colour mix. As I had black fabric tote bags it worked best when I printed my first layer in an opaque white. This provided me with a white background for my other layers, so I could use a transparent base for these and the colour wouldn’t disappear into the black background. Instead, it allowed the colour to stand out on the white, while still being able to show all layers together.

There was one print that didn’t turn out well. This was because I was feeling too confident and thought I could print twice without washing out the screen in between the prints. Not washing out the screen meant that there was paint stuck in the mesh while I was setting up my second material to print onto and therefore the print turned out incomplete and unfinished.

Although the print turned out incomplete it reminded me that that was a part of my project all along. my project has a sense of messiness relating to it where I’m printing onto wasted materials that have been disregarded as they are no longer seen as fit for purpose.

Once I finished all three layers on a number of tote bags it was important not to forget to heat-press my work. Heat pressing isn’t necessary, however, if the prints are on material that needs to get washed in the future, for example t-shirts and other clothing, it’s useful to include this step. If you don’t heat press the work there could be a chance that the colour washes out a little, or the clothing might shrink, leading to the print turning out in ways that haven’t been planned.

Heatpress

Final tote bag outcome