Wednesday, September 15, 2010

On the Case

It was suggested to me by friends and family that perhaps Winged Beast pillowcases were necessary, perhaps even wanted. I'm always curious to see what works and what doesn't, creatively and in the marketplace. Thus begins this little test project.

As I can't sew, I found some really good looking ones for dirt cheap at a Value Village in Bellville(and my mom got a bunch at auction). After washing them (because I'm nice like that) I set to work printing them. Now follows some photos of that process.

Here's the pillow case, laid out in a handy workspace (my amazing kitchen table). Because the fabric's thin, I put some newspaper on the inside to prevent the ink from bleeding through. I also put a large craft mat  underneath to give the case a little more thickness. Experience has shown that thin fabrics need this little bit added so they meet the screen well.

After that, the screen!


And then then the ink! A nice close up.


The print applied! But, I'm not done.
I wanted these to be special, to have something that wasn't on the t-shirts with the same print. Some added value, if you will. So, I hand-painted some colour for sparks and the robot's eyes, giving them a comforting glow. I used silkscreen ink and a dollar store paint brush. Doing the "Don't Let Go" prints has made me pretty comfortable with this... and it's a nice change of pace from the silk screening.
And that's the story of how I made this pillow case. I made a bunch more, too. You can see them at my Etsy store!