Orange Spiral Arts: August 2015

Hello, hello, hello! Thank you so much for visiting! I am beyond thrilled to be a part of the blog hop put on by Lynn Krawczyk of Smudged Design Studio! I adore Lynn's artwork and was pretty giddy when she invited me to participate in the promotion of her new DVD. The DVD is called Thermofax Screen Printing Essentials for Fabric, Paper & Mixed Media.

The DVD is put out by Interweave, which is a craft media company that focuses on creative self-expression.

I watched Lynn's DVD and learned sooooo much! Lynn is thorough, speaks well, and shows a variety of techniques to try with thermofax screens, including printing on fabric, paper, and wood. Even though I probably won't be buying a thermofax machine, I loved that Lynn shows how the screens are made using one! Note: You do not have to buy a thermofax machine to enjoy thermofax screen printing. There are plenty of people, including Lynn, who sell thermofax screens with great designs, or you can have a custom design made.

I highly recommend Lynn's DVD for textile artists as well as mixed media artists. It is about an hour in length, and is packed with things to try. I could not wait to get started after watching it!

Let's Get Printing! Here are the things I tried as a mixed media artist.

After watching Lynn's DVD, I had to make a decision about paint. I don't know about you, but I have a ton of craft acrylic paint. I decided the most affordable choice for me would be to buy a jar of GOLDEN Silkscreen Medium. Since I work mostly on paper or canvas, this choice works for me. If you want a medium for fabric, you will need GOLDEN Silkscreen Fabric Gel. Unfortunately, GOLDEN does not make a silk screen medium that is designed to work on both paper and fabric. You'll have to choose both mediums, or choose a different kind of paint. Lynn talks about paint in the DVD, and also has a great list on her site.

For my first dive into working with thermofax screens, I decided to use two of Lynn's ready-made designs. Below you will see the different thermofax screen prints I made on a variety of papers.

Thermofax Screen Print on Watercolor Paper

I started with a piece of 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper by Canson. As Lynn suggests in the DVD, I found the middle of the paper for the first print.

The cup and the spoon that you see in the upper left is orange acrylic craft paint mixed with GOLDEN Silkscreen Medium in a 1:1 ratio. I spooned out a portion of the paint above the design on the screen, and had my sponge brush ready to pull the paint downward. Lynn suggests pulling the paint in one direction, such as down, all the way across the design. I used sponge brushes like Lynn shows in her DVD. I also recently saw someone on Instagram use a plastic credit card to pull the paint across the image, and that worked, too.

Below you'll see a series of photos capturing how I printed several "scribble circles" on one piece of paper.

I used a little too much paint on this one. Oops! However, I was still happy with the results.

I eventually came back to the watercolor paper and printed across the whole sheet. Here's what it looked like when I was done. ATC Swap anyone? Lynn is hosting a Screen printed Artist Trading Card swap, if you're interested, and I will be cutting this sheet up for that purpose!

Thermofax Screen Print on Brown Paper Bag

I wanted to try another kind of paper, so I grabbed a brown bag that already had black India ink circle designs on it. That was fun, too! I liked the combination of small and large scribble circles, inked and screen printed.

Thermofax Screen Print on an Ink Jet Print on Copy Paper

Still curious, I grabbed an ink jet photo print to try with the second thermofax screen I got from Lynn. As you can see, I am really attracted to circles! Watch the series of photos below to see how thermofax screens work on ink jet photo prints! (FYI: This is just a print on regular 24 lb. copy paper).

For me, this makes for the perfect collage fodder for a junk journal, art journal, or mixed media collage piece!

Thermofax Screen Print on Drawing Paper as an Under Layer

Speaking of art journals, I love to use designs as an under layer, then scrape acrylic paint on top. I often do this with stencils, but I thought why not use a thermofax screen print?

I used plain white drawing paper, and the white acrylic craft paint mixed with the GOLDEN Silkscreen Medium with the second thermofax screen from Lynn. Since it's white on white, it's a little hard to see.

I dropped some acrylic craft paint straight from the bottle, then used the card scraping method to spread the paint across the paper.

Depending upon how I scraped, the paint would either cover or reveal the pre-printed pattern design underneath.

Personally, I like it when things are not perfect in art. The variation in color and clarity pleases me.

Thermofax Screen Print on a Magazine Page

Since I am fairly in love with painting on magazine pages, I had to try the thermofax screen printing technique on one. I already had the white acrylic craft paint mixed with the GOLDEN Silkscreen Medium, so I stuck with that color.

First, I scraped some blue acrylic craft paint across the entire magazine page. I wanted to slightly obscure the original image, as well as give the shiny paper a matte finish.

With the scraping technique, the craft acrylic paint dries quickly. I was ready to screen print right away.

I really love how this one turned out! The dark parts of the image below really helps the whole design to pop!

That concludes all of the different papers I used with the thermofax screens. I have some special notes and a fun announcement left to share, so don't go away yet, please!

NOTES:

It is important to use a dry screen and a dry sponge brush. Wash everything at the end of your art session, and let things dry overnight.

When you are done with a screen, you can set it in a bucket of water and wash it later.

Remember to use appropriate paint with your thermofax screen. Acrylic craft paint will clog your screen, and block the design, unless you add a silkscreen medium. (See the above part of this post about which medium to use for paper, and which medium to use for fabric, or see this link for Lynn's paint recommendations).

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!

Lynn has graciously offered to give away two thermofax screens of your choice, to one lucky winner. To enter, please leave a comment below with something you love about this Orange Spiral Arts blog. If you have a suggestion for what might be different, kindly share that, too. I genuinely wish to grow and improve my offerings. Thanks in advance, and good luck!

The winner will be announced on Monday, August 24th, 2015, right at the bottom of this post. At that time, I will tell the winner how to send me an email with their contact information.

Follow along the blog hop:

Maddie Kertay

Monday August 17

* * * * * * * *

Lisa Chin

Tuesday August 18

* * * * * * * *

Briana Goetzen

Wednesday August 19

* * * * * * * *

Dawn DeVries Sokol

Thursday August 20

* * * * * * * *

Pokey Bolton

Friday August 21

* * * * * * * *

Pam Carriker

Saturday August 22

* * * * * * * *

Lynn Krawczyk

Sunday August 23

We have a winner! Rachel of Rach-ology: Handmade U, you won two screens of your choice from Lynn Krawczyk! Congratulations! Please send me your contact information at orangespiralarts (at) gmail (dot) com, and I will forward your info to Lynn!

Thank you everyone for your bloghop participation. I loved reading your comments!

Happy Creating!

Cheers,

Briana