If you have any questions or would like more information feel free to contact Michelle at Print Cut Sew! via email or snail mail:
info@michellesaintonge.com
32 Hillview Dr, Dartmouth ,NS, Canada B2W 6J2 return to homepage Like this Article? Subscribe free to my rss feed to get more!
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Michelle:
Your website/blog is FANTASTIC – what a lot of work!
All the best for the 11th
By the way, the link from “designer’s I love” on the bottom right of the page, doesnt work.
dmc
Hi Michelle
I live in Halifax. I was wondering if you ever do workshops (in all your spare time, ha ha)?
I don’t do any workshops- but that’s why I created this blog- so that people could learn in a workshop tutorial style anytime they wished.
Do you know of a PC computer program that I can turn photo’s into cartoons.
Not real expensive, something I would be able to purchase maybe at a retail store. I know that photo shop offers some of this but if a specific program is out there I’d like to see what it is.
I don’t believe there is anything- all of my work is drawn by hand to achieve that graphic look- you could attempt to get something close with Adobe Photoshop.
Hello, I saw some of your posts in craftster forum and checked out your site. It is very helpful but alas I still feel lost, well maybe not lost. I just still think that I am just not suited to build screens and deal w/ all the chemicals as I am in an apt with no patio and I have a 1 year old! What advice can you give me knowing I don’t have alot of space or money..I have heard of these photoEZ sheets, with that and some good ink, squeegee, shirts…u think that would give me somewhat decent results? To have my own shop like you would be amazing, but right now I’m just looking to make a couple shirts for my friends and maybe sell a few at some craft shows, and I have been using a medium for fabrics mixed with acrylic paint for tote bags and things and that works great and all, but it does take a long time while doing it by hand, even with the freezer paper stencil because once you use it one time it’s warped and you have to make another stencil each time. Sorry for talking your ear off, just feel like there has to be a medium between the professional screening and hand painting/stenciling.
I’m sure all this information can be overwhelming. You should purchase a screen if you are not confident making one, then your should try making paper stencils from map making paper- they’re fast easy and reusable. If you download my free ebook you’ll see an entire section on paper cut stencils- I also have a quick post on how to do it. This could be a great way for you to start. BUT I would stop using acrylic with fabric medium because when you heat set it releases formaldehyde into the air and with a one year old in the house I don’t think that’s a great thing. Also, just so you know, I now work out of my home too- my bedroom and my bathroom are my studio- so if I can do it so can you!
Dear Michelle,
Your business sounds wonderful – much success! I was always facinated by
screen printing but do not have any hands -on experience. I am a textile designer ,living now, in Truro , NS. I worked for WestPoint Home in NYC,
designing bedding products. I would love to be back in the design field.
I was wondering if you need any help in your studio – mixing colors, repeats,
printing,etc. I am seeking some temporary work-a couple of days a week on a freelance basis if you could use me.
I hope to hear from you, soon and thank you in advance for any consideration.
Yours truly,
Joseph Fromme
as I need a s
Hi Joseph, I replied to your comment directly to your email. Thanks
Hello Michelle,
Love your site! Do you have any suggestions for blending new colors? I have been searching for a color chart with the mixing measurements so I don’t have to guess and waste good material when I try to blend new colors. Have you used the supercover base and tints?
Donna
Hi,
I have never come across a colour card with recipes. I think most people are logging and making their own. I generally use a pantone colour chart as a reference for a starting point for proportions and then I mix by eye- testing on a piece of fabric as I go- I also log the measurements and additions too. Once I get a colour I like, I write down the recipe and then print a swatch of the fabric and staple them together for reference later. It is worth it to take the time to do this- before you know it you’ll have a large colour guide for yourself.
It shows That I already subscribed. How do I get the “guide to screenprinting”?
You’ll be emailed a ‘thank you page’ and the link to download your copy is contained there. Please check your junk mail folder to see that the email did not get directed there. Thanks.
Thanks Michelle! I’m just a hobbyist who retired from government work 3 years ago. Now I have the time (but less money!) to do the things I want. Your site and the ebook look wonderful. (Just discovered today while Googling.) Keep up the good work and thanks for helping the rest of us. By the way, are you in Nova Scotia (NS??) . That’s a place I’d love to see some day. (sigh) Thanks again! KO
I am in NS- you should visit some day.
I love your work! Thank you for sharing it with us. I just got into DIY screenprinting and it is soooo addictive- I love it!
From a noob at this I do want to clarify (excuse me if it has already been asked) for every additional color you want to add, you have to allow for dry time and create additional screens (as many as you want layers), correct?
I have been doing single color screenprinting and was going to try multiple colors and was searching to see what the easiest options were. What dry time have you noticed on your paint? I use the Speedball fabric screenprinting inks.
Thanks again for sharing your craft – much continued success to you!
Alma
You might want to start by reading my intro to screen registration.
http://www.printcutsew.com/663/what-is-screen-printing-registration-part-1/If you do a search you can get the other articles.
But to quickly answer your questions, for every colour you print you need an new screen and you need to let the first colour dry to the touch at least. Drying often depends on the amount of coverage, the heat and humidity and the material you print on. So it will almost always vary.
good luck!
hi!
thank you so much, you have just made me want to do more printing!!
i havent been able to much over the past year or so.. loss of confidence and all that – but i started some work saturday, and popped on here to have a little look around and came across you…. and you really have given me that excited feeling! or a massve kick up the * – in heloing me think – ‘i can do it!’
thanks again… now going to have a look around here…
would love to post some images when i do them – see *when* not *if* now for me
cheers! paula , UK
I would love to see some of your newly inspired work!
Thanks for the tip on NatGeo’s Adventure paper! It’s cheap (as far as stuff used to make stencils go) and easy to cut! I have become a stencilling fool!
I heard Hurricane Igor pounded the NS coast — hope everything is OK out there!!
Cheers,
Natasha, SoCal
Hello,
Your website is great and I’m hooked on permaset inks but I was wondering if you have ever tried discharge printing and if so what did you use and what was your outcome?
Thanks so much!
robin
I have tried discharge printing with hand dyed fabric. It works very well and i have also used discharge with permaset inks for a colour discharge.
Hi there, I love your blog, I found it yesterday when looking up how to make my own printing table. Thanks for spreading the joy of printing! I did a textile printing design course at uni, but that was about (gulp) 8 years ago, so am a bit rusty to say the least.
So Im trying to set up at home, and have a few questions if that’s OK?….I downloaded your very helpful book, the lights i need for a bottom up lightbox are the blacklight tube ones, is it essential that they are 40w, could they be 30 or 20? as i have already built the box and trying now to find lights to fit (doh) is a bit trickier.
The felt for the table, …my boyfriend has some exhibition carpet, which isnt wool, its manmade fibres and thinner, but he has loads and thought I could layer it up, does it have to be wool?
One you have the calico fixed on the table, do you still need to pin a backing cloth to it?
The mesh for the screens, do you have a recommended thread count for the screens please?
Sorry to bombard you with questions, really appreciate your help so much!
Kind regards,
Sarah
Hi,
You can use lower wattage but you’ll have to shoot for longer- you’ll have to test it out.
It doesn’t have to be wool- wool is just the ideal material.
Yes, you will always want to use a “drop sheet” or backing cloth.
good luck
Wonderful website, I have this project in mind and would like to print it myself… I still am not fully equipped for screen-printing.
End product would be a Sarong (PAREO) for the beach with a funky graphic of my own. Printing large (75 in.) graphics on thin fabric hoping that the graphic makes it to the other side as well. How should I do this? Do I need discharge ink or would water base ink make it trough so that both sides are printed? Is there any ink out there that sets without drying?
I appreciate your help!
Cynthia
You will need to work with discharge or dyes- not pigments. But both these things need to be steamed in a steamer (not with an iron). What you are attempting to do is quite advanced. Good luck.
Michelle
Hi!
I found your website whilst looking for help in starting up screen printing…I want to buy an exposure machine and was wondering if you have any advice / recommendations? I’ve read along the way, people have built their own machines but I’m not confident or patient enough to do this! Is it not easier and more time efficient to do this?
Also , this is probably a very basic question (!) if I want to print larger than A3, how do I get my image on to the screen since most photocopiers only handle up to A3? I could divide the image up, photocopy it and tape it back together…but when I expose it on to the screen won’t the tape be exposed too??
Thank you in advance for your help!!
Sarah
Great Blog!
Can you give me some exposure times when using the sun?
as quick as 30 seconds but it really depends on the time of year, the time of day and your location to the equator. In other words, you’ll have to do some experimenting.
Yes- split the image up and i would approach a screen printing supply company that sells exposure units and purchase their least expensive unit to start out.
Hi Michelle,
Many thanks for all the excellent information you have so generously shared with us all. I’m used to using a T-shirt press with a pallet and spray adhesive, but would like to set up a textile printing table for woven fabrics. I’ve gone to the felt website you mentioned, and there are many choices – should I look for the firmest type of felt that they offer, or is there another criteria I should use to select the best one for this purpose?
Kind regards,
Liz
I don’t think I would use the firmest felt they offer. I purchased an industrial quality 1/2″ and didn’t look for more than that.
Hi Michelle. I am about to set up a home based screenprinting studio. Did you make your own printing table and exposure unit? Do you have any information that may assist? Jodie
I have lots of articles in this blog just for that. Check out my 101 series. Good luck.
Above you mentioned using discharge with permaset. What do you mean by that? Did you mix discharge paste and permaset? Did you lay down a discharge base and print permaset over top (this is what I assume)?
I use permaset and have also been playing around with screening discharge paste. Just curious what you meant.
Thanks! Great site. Learned a lot here.
With pigment you can mix the discharge right in with the pigment paste. Discharge will remove the dye not the pigment colour. So print it in one step, heat set the pigment then steam to get out the discharge. You might find you get a ‘ghost’ which is the very slim faint line around the pigment- but that is considered desirable and signals advanced skills with printing.