Go Big Go Bold: Prints Galore! (Supplies)

Instructor: Pat Pauly

The supply list has been provided by the instructor. If you have any questions, please contact the instructor at patpaulyart@gmail.com.

Supply List

  • Old clothes to wear, apron, rubber gloves 
  • 4 Washs (or cut towels to size) 
  • Optional medium sized bucket (2 gallon or so), we’ll have one if you are not driving
  • one small (4”) high density foam roller (the type used to paint walls) 
  • optional — 3 wide plastic scrapers, my favorite – Bondo brand spreaders, used for spreading “bondo” auto resin body filler, or “Roman” brand wallpaper smoothing tool (Amazon/wall paper stores.) 
  • 9 tall spoons – for stirring the dye (need long handles) ice tea spoons work, but no Paint Stir Sticks
  • Partial Roll of blue masking tape 
  • Roll of Duct tape for taping silkscreens, or tape meant to tape out silkscreens (Dick Blick)
  • A sharpie marker, 4 sheets of plain copy paper 
  • 10 yogurt or plastic containers (quart size is best) with lids, please no wide containe        
  • Optional — 1 small squirt bottle with small hole nozzle. Pat will have some to use.
  • Scissors to cut cloth, scissors to cut paper
  •  Optional table risers (or bed risers) to elevate the printing table optional if you want. There are some available at the workshop
  • Notebook, pencil/pen, camera / phone camera  to record or take notes
  • Things for printing: 2 to 3 Stencils, cutouts, a yard approx of clothesline or other rope/string. Thicker plastic things for rubbings. Don’t buy anything, just look for objects with a slightly raised surface. 
  • Silk screens: (3-4) 16” x 20” or similar (order from Dick Blick wooden framed ones http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-cord-stretched-frame-with-110-monofilament-polyester-mesh/) or purchase from Pat at workshop for $35
  • Fabric: 15 yards minimum, cut 4 pieces that are ½ yard long, and cut 11 (or more) pieces to be one yard pieces (feel free to bring more like 20 -25 yards) of PFD 100% cotton, I use Test Fabrics #419 or #400M. (Call for prices and availability at testfabrics.com.) You can also soda-soak other cotton, linen, lightweight canvas, predyed cottons or blends of those fibers. Just be sure they are ‘prepared for dyeing’ (PFD) fabrics. Avoid commercial prints, even those that are white on white. If the fabric is sold as pdf, I do not prewash before soda soaking.

Before Class

  • Watch the videos on my blog on computer not phone (www.piecesandresistance.blogspot.com) for soda soaking and printing. At the bottom of the blog’s is a large group of words, search for “video” for all the  videos
  • Prepare fabric for printing by soda soaking. Step one is not optional. 
    1. Add a tyvek tag  with your first name and last name written in sharpie.  Sew a Tyvek label on the corner. But this has to be sewn on BEFORE SODA SOAKING. You would not want to sew through soda-soaked fabric, as it will damage your sewing machine. Do not pin or staple. Tyvek is a plastic type of mailing material, also used for house wrap in building construction. These tags should hang off one corner, must be larger than 2” x 4”.
    2. Soda-Soak your fabric ahead of class. Wear gloves for this. In a large bucket add two-gallons water to two cups sodium carbonate (soda ash), add fabric (about 1-2 yards) loosely to this solution and soak 15 minutes or more. Ring out, hang on a line to dry, do not dry in dryer. Continue with small batches until all your fabric is soda soaked. One great tip: after fabric has soaked, place in a sink (or bathtub) to drain a while or overnight, then hang on line to dry. No drip! 
    3. You can make the soda-soaked fabric way ahead of time. You can reuse the solution over and over. I’ve stored cotton for a year to wait to use it. So, do a few at a time, not in the washing machine, just in the bucket, drain, hang, store. Note: drying in dryer may cause a fire. 
    4. Note: I purchase my soda ash from pool supply places. I make sure it states “100% soda ash” on the label. 
  • Graphic Notes
    Keep a notebook ahead of class of simple forms, shapes, patterns and images that you want to use in your work. You need to have reference for the marks you will be using. Keep a Pinterest board, a box of images, or handful of sketches you can readily access to pull graphics. This is both for jumpstarting your prints, also for starting your OWN mark for a series of prints. Black paper and scissors are a great warmup for exploring the relationship of objects in the composition.

Feel free to email me (patpaulyart@gmail.com) with any questions. I look forward to our workshop!