Blank Silk Screening

A blank silk screen is very useful for quick screening. My next project requires a band of dyed and undyed calico (muslin) shapes. Because I would like the shapes to be very crisp I masked off areas with freezer paper. Then, using a blank silk screen ie no designs on the mesh, I have screened on background colour using thickened Procion MX dyes. Although the screen is fairly large, I couldn't reach over the whole area and I had to slightly overlap each application. Some brushing with a dry brush smudged the joins nicely. After the cold batching, I laid the cloth on the driveway and hosed with cold water. This helps to remove the initial surplus dye which just floats off in the water. It then went through the normal wash routine. The dye colour has not back stained into the undyed calico. Images show small portions only.

Freezer paper shapes ironed on to calico (muslin).

After silk screening with a Procion MX and Manutex (sodium alginate) mixture. The camera flash shows up on the still-damp freezer paper. The lighter blue being the freezer paper and the darker navy is the dye on the calico.

After cold batching overnight, and the removal of the freezer paper. Nice crisp shapes as intended!

Washed and ironed. It looks abit paler here, and some of the dye has washed out, but also photographed in a different light. No back staining. Folded over as a band which is how it will be used in this project.