WEEK 17 & 18 - NATURAL DYE SCREEN PRINTING

I created some natural dye binders made with manutex and natural dyes, to create my printed samples. Knit cannot be trimmed, so I had to make sure my prints went to both edges with no gaps, as tape could not be used to secure the fabric on the print bed. I pinned the knit onto a sheet of fabric that was taped onto the print bed, and this allowed me to print the full length of the fabric. This was a very intimidating process, as sometimes natural dye binders don’t come out as bright as they look after printing as it needs to be steamed and washed, which could ultimately wash away the whole print or make it very light.

I created a blend of two colours within the binders per sample, to achieve the same interesting ombre effect seen within the jumpers within my fashion context. This worked well in achieving this look, and thankfully after steaming and washing the samples, there was no fading in the prints. I am really happy with how these samples have turned out, and they look really well placed amongst my other samples. It was fun working with screen printing again as I have not done this for a while!