Silkscreening

Background:
Textile design is the process of creating patterns for cloth. These patterns may be representational or non-representational. We spoke about this topic when we designed the patterned scarves this year. 

REPRESENTATIONAL (LITERAL)
References objects or events in the real world.

NON-REPRESENTATIONAL (ABSTRACT)
No reference to anything recognizable.

Project:
Your assignment is to create a silkscreen design for a men's t-shirt that one of your male friends will wear for the fashion show. Please ask someone NOW so you are prepared with your model.

Because this assignment is a bit messy, we will be starting a second project while we are still working on this project. This will work out so you are not waiting for a group to finish -- you can be working on the other project. 

Steps:

• Look up silkscreen tshirt designs. Print out 4 designs that you like and paste them in your sketchbook. Etsy and Pinterest are good resources here. Draw 5 different sketches (size 11x14) of a pattern or design due Friday. 
  

• 1. Animal
• 2. Text
• 3. Pattern
• 4. Pop Culture
• 5. Your choice
• Complete your design. 
• Decide what will be positive and what will be negative in your design.
• Tape both your design and the contact paper to a cutting mat.
• Using an x-acto blade, cut out the positive shapes (the shapes that will be inked).
• Place your shapes on the silkscreen. Tape off the excess that you don't want to show through.
• Watch my demo in class (video to come).
• Practice!
• Silkscreen your design onto a t-shirt! 

Things to Remember:

• Your design will be worn by a man. That's not to say that a man can't wear feminine designs, but gauge your model and what he will be comfortable with.
• "Floating shapes" and very small shapes are hard to control. Keep your designs large and high contrast. 
• You CAN design your image on the computer or on your iPad, but keep the items above in mind if you do. 

Grading:

• Design (Visual Impact)
  
• Technical Quality
  
• Personal Investment
  
• Advertising