022 - SCREEN PRINTING

I recently bought some smart inks and I was keen to experiment with them to see if they would lead me anywhere. I have photochromic, thermochromic and hydrochromic ink to play with.

Things I need:

- Apron

- Mask

- Gloves

- Pots

- Spatula

- Masking tape

- Fabric (wash with non-biological washing powder)

Going with the sustainability theme, so I picked up 3 shirts from the charity shops, all 100% cotton, but different colours/patterns.

I took data from various websites that I found interesting and relevant to my project, put them in illustrator to make them possible to screen print. I printed them on acetate, and got them ready to screen print :

I printed the words above in 3 different type sizes to see which one was best for readability and neatness of the print. The words say "ice" in 82 different languages.

The process :

Pulling the ink onto the fabric :

This shirt had the word "ice" in 82 different languages. The words (no matter the language) would disappear when put under heat. I also added red paint to the thermochromic ink. Which meant that it appeared a very dark brown under normal temperature, but when heat was added, it turned bright red :