Masochist Tutu Revealed

I mustered up the onus to photograph my undercover costume. It's missing a few pieces... the ribbons on the boots, the bodysuit and the head piece. But you get the just of it. I put a lot of work into this baby, and I daresay it paid off. My materials were: a thift store skirt, tulle, aluminum mesh, chicken wire, pattern paper, self-leveling gel, red wire, broken mirror, eyelets, black elastic, and transistors.

John Galliano

A friend of mine alerted me to John Galliano, a super cool fashion designer. Yes, he kind of looks like a pervy pirate, but his work is inspiring. We're talking dramatic and awesome here. Unfortunately I couldn't find many good photos online, (I think he keeps them pretty locked down). But no matter. To get how cool he is you really need to see his runway shows anyways. So here are a couple links!

Revel in this unusual and delightful runway show from spring 2006 here.

Peruse John's fancy website here.

Enjoy!

The Silk Screen Journey

I spent a few months last year learning how to navigate the exciting world of silk screening, so I thought I'd share what I've learned so far. Following this entry is a five part tutorial which describes the photo emulsion method. This method is the most complicated and expensive, but it's also the most versatile. You can also attach a stencil to the screen or paint one on with screen filler, but you are limited to simple shapes with these mehods. I used this method for my first silk screen project ever, which was these cute Chritsmas cards.

You can also make stationery...

Or t-shirts!

So let's do it.

Silk Screen Tutorial Part 1 - Shopping List

I'm afraind you're probably going to have to buy a lot of stuff, and you can't get all of it at the art store either. We'll start with what you can get at the art store...

*Silkscreen(s) - The cheapest one I've ever bought was $28. There are wood frames and metal frames. The wood frames are cheaper, but they warp over time. However, the screen can be replaced on the wood frames.
*Sqeegee - There are cheap plastic sqeegees and more fancy squeegees. Honestly, the cheap plastuc ones work fine.

*Photo emulsion, sensitizer, and emulsion remover - Diazo makes a kit with all three for $25.

*Silk screen ink or extender - The regular ink is about $10 a jar. The extender can be mixed with acrylic paint so that it is safe to use with a silk screen. I've never tried the extender myself.

*Hinge clamps - These will keep the screen in place as you work. They run around $30-35 for a set.

*Screen coater (optional) - One of these guys is also about $30-35, and strictly speaking you don't need one, but I highly recommend investing in one. Trying to spread the emmulsion with a sqeegee is a nightmare.

*Huge piece of acetate (optional) - This will be really handy to register your prints. If you're only doing one colour then it's not that helpful, but if you're doing 2 or more colors, I'd spend the $2. Plus they are reusable if you wash them off.

*Piece of glass or plexi-glass that will fit in your screen - My art supply store cut one for me. It was around $8 I think.

From the photo place:

*250 watt photo flood bulb - Less than $5!

From the hardware store:

*utility lamp - Preferably one that is mobile and one that can safely manage the 250 watts. *Masking tape

Grocery/Department/Thrift store:

*sponges

*paper towels

*spatula

*small bowl

*j-cloths

*spoon
*toothbrush

Squeegees!

Screen Coater.

Emmulsion.

All of these items will make more sense as we go through the process. So let's begin!

Silk Screen Tutorial Part 2 - Do Your Image Right

You will need to choose an image that can be easily reduced to a high-contrast black and white picture. For the at home method, the image should have little to no gradation in colour. This is because using a photo flood bulb is not precise enough for the gradation in colour to register on the screen. There are amazing fancy light machines with wild UV bulbs that CAN pick up extreme detail, (OCAD has one), but unless you have access to a machine like this, keep your image simple. I choose this image, which is an illustration of Clytemnestra:

As you can see, it is two colours, black and red. If I want my final printed image to also be two colours, that means I have to split the image onto two separate screens. Thus, I need to separate the two parts onto separate pieces of paper. So Clytemnestra and the bathtub will be on one screen and the blood will be on the other.

Clytemnestra, sans blood splatters.
Here is the blood. As I'm sure you've noticed, the red has been changed to black.

The next thing you need to do is get these two images printed onto acetate.

Silk Screen Tutorial Part 3 - Getting the Screen Ready

First of all, wash your new screen with a regular cleaner and let it dry. You want to be sure the surface of your screen isn’t dirty.

Now you’re ready to coat the screen with photo emulsion. From now on, try to work in a dimly lit area. You want to keep the emulsion away from light as much as possible. Follow the package instructions for adding the sensitizer to the emulsion. Now, pour some emulsion into the screen coater. Let it sit for 5 minutes or so, to let the bubbles settle.

Take a deep breath, get Zen, and coat both sides of the screen twice. With the screen coater helping you out it’s really not that difficult. Here's a video of me pretending to coat a screen. I didn't record the real thing because I didn't want to expose my screens to any light.

Once it's coated lay the screen flat to dry in a dark place and keep it there until you’re ready to expose it. Make sure the screen itself isn’t in contact with anything. Let it dry for two hours or so. The screen is now "sensitized". This means that when it is exposed to light, the emulsion will harden. The sooner you expose, the better.

Silk Screen Tutorial Part 4 - Let's Expose Stuff!

This is where you’re light bulb and lamp come in. Set up your lamp above a table. You can use a pie tin or tin foil around the light bulb to help the light spread more evenly. Prop your sensitized screen up under the lamp. You want the flat side of the screen facing down, but you want a space between it and the table. Place your acetate image in the middle of the screen. Put the piece of glass or plexi-glass on top of the image. (In my example here, the screen was a bit small for my piece of glass, so I had to just tape the acetate down. But the glass helps make a sharper image).

Arrange the lamp the appropriate distance from the screen, and turn it on. Let it expose for the appropriate amount of time. Speedball has a chart of guidelines regarding exposure times for a 250 watt bulb:

Screen Size . . Lamp Height . . Exposure Time
8" x 10". . . . . . 12 inches . . . . . 10 minutes

10"x14". . . . . . 12 inches . . . . . 10 minutes

12 "x 18" . . . . .15 inches . . . . . 16 minutes

16"x2O" . . . . . 17 inches . . . . . 20 minutes

18"x2O" . . . . . 17 inches . . . . . 20 minutes

When the time is up, take your screen to the nearest hose or sink, and rinse, rinse, rinse. Use cold water. You’ll need a strong blast of water pressure, and it takes a while, but you’ll start to see the emulsion rinsing out, leaving a stencil of your image.

Hold your screen up to the light and be absolutely sure that all the parts of the screen that need to be open, in fact are open. You can use a toothbrush to scrub stubborn areas. If you’ve underexposed the screen, the emulsion will not be hard enough, and you may have chunks of the screen washing out that you don’t want open. On the other hand, if it’s exposed too long, the emulsion will be too hard and you won’t be able to rinse out your image, leaving you with a blocked screen. In the event of either of these cases, (and they’ve both happened to me), you have to wash the emulsion off with emulsion remover, and start again. Which obviously really sucks. If it does happen, don’t wait to clean the screen. Emulsion becomes impossible to remove fairly quickly.