WHY
Sometimes when I shower I like to read French words off shampoo bottles in my best Parisian accent and pretend I’m Amélie.
After months of my nagging, my dad finally decided to take me to “Da Home of Da Master” a.k.a. his pal Roger’s house/makeshift-print-studio to learn the sacred and ancient art of Screenprinting Like a BOSS. We basically got the 411 on old-skool printmaking. It’s safe to say that I now have another bullet on my list of favorite things to do.
We couldn’t stay at Roger’s for very long so I only got to print one design, but I’m beaming nonetheless because the finished print looks fantastic! If I do say so myself!
This design, which I shall hereby call “Forest Magic” for lack of a better name (ideas, anyone?), is basically a compilation of my doodles that I put together on Photoshop like 15 minutes before the actual printing process. I couldn’t take any pictures because we had to work in the dark, but I did get to bring home the materials we used.
Two separate silk screens for a 2-color print.
What you do with a screen is lay it face up on your substrate (that’s the fancy word for the surface you are printing on), and spread textile paint over the silk net thingy like peanut butter with this fabulous doodad known as a Squeegee. Greatest word ever, I know. Now go ahead and say it 5 times.
Pop suggested taking a picture of these outside on the pathway to our house ‘cause the sun was out and Harlow the Cat was begging to play model for the day.
As of now it’s in a state of lonely canvas sheet sitting on top of my desk day after day and I really ought to sew it into a bag or something, but I’m really looking forward to printing more designs and hopefully including some process shots next time!
As a prelude to the TON of new things I’ve worked on these past 3 weeks, and to make up for nearly a month without posting anything, here is Theresa Wayman in quick-doodle form.
With term exams and my Ateneo entrance test looming ahead, it looks like it’ll be a while before I manage to get back to my old Tumblr habit, but hopefully you all stick around long enough to see the new projects I’ve got in store!
Phase 2, less creepy if not entirely not-creepy? Prolly had a little too much fun with the black ink but what can we doooo (Taken with Instagram)
I go to a Catholic school, and every year, my school arranges for each of the 9 separate sections (or classes) in each grade level to have what’s called a recollection - it’s when your section gets to skip lessons for a day and do spiritual things together like praying and opening up to each other about your feelings and stuff. Prior to the actual recollection - or in my case, since I’m a Senior, a 3-day retreat somewhere up in the mountains - you get to nag your friends and classmates to give you retreat letters that usually contain “thanks for everything”s and all the reasons why they think you’re cool, which you get to read (and bawl your eyes out over) during your retreat.
Because it’s kinda hard to keep all the letters you get organized, my classmates and I each got to personalize our own PO-Box-esque brown envelopes that we taped on the back wall of our classroom, and this is mine!
I get an envelope full of letters every year, but this one’s especially significant because I’m on my last year of high school, and these retreat letters are probably the last ones I’m ever going to receive. On top of that, of all the 4 years I’ve been a student at my school, Senior year’s the first time I’ve ever felt a real bond with my classmates. I went into my final year before college wanting it to go by as quickly as possible, but these letters made me realize how much I’m gonna miss my Senior section and how sad I’m going to be when I graduate. So I guess I just wanna say kudos to everyone who wrote me a letter for making me feel depressed and shit. I love you all to bits.
Made some “thank you” cards for token bags that my classmates and I are giving to families during an outreach trip to the province this week! In case you’re wondering about process, I basically just drew the lettering and foliage with brush & ink, scanned the drawing and adjusted the colors on Photoshop, then printed the finished design onto recycled paper, which my dad (I’m very clumsy with a box cutter) then cut into little cards.
“Thank you for opening your doors and allowing us to stay with you.”
Lo and behold! Here’s the cover I made for a monthly zine my friends from school and I put together. If you happen to be at Komikon Indieket on July 14, come on by our booth and say hi!
