Breakdown Screen Printing

Yesterday it was Rikki's class again at Cottenham and she is the worlds GREATEST screen printing teacher! I had such a blissful morning learning a really fun, new technique. We mixed toothpaste (19p/tube!) with cheapo aloe vera body lotion in equal parts; painted it onto the screen to act as a resist and then blated it with a fan heater to speed dry it. Here is the dried screen ready to go.

I chose my fav pinks and dumped two dilutions on the screen so I would get a more interesting print.

The theory with using this technique is that the toothpaste mixture will slowly dissolve as you print and more and more inks will come through. Oh it sounded such fun!

I was SO EXITERATED I couldn't wait to get going.......

This is the fist 'pull'. Boring eh?

Once I had made 9 pulls the pattern had really started to emerge and it settled and didn't disintegrate any further so I just kept on printing. Needless to say, I was using old cotton sheeting for this experiment.....now I shall have to think of something to do with it. Pillowcases perhaps?

By the way....the screen was a nightmare to clean....the toothpaste mixture had welded itself to the mesh and will need to be pressure washed off.

I really recommend this printing....it was such fun!

Oh dear...I was to rude to Elaine last week and told her that her apron was boring and perhaps she should print it and SHE DID!It looks great doesn't it? She is going to add her name too. We shall be block printing next week.

I also had fun experimenting with designs that Hope and Grace had done for their curtains. (More on that another day as I can't upload many pictures at once via email unless I do it through Posterous. I still have so much to learn.)

I have made up big pots of pinks, mauves, lime green and orange in readiness!

Home by 1pm and time for lunch. I wanted to share this toast topper recipe that my mum was taught to make by a chef when she was a dietician in a London Hospital in the 1940's.....Interestingly, she used to add margarine and malt vinegar. I have modified it over the years and don't add the fat. Why waste the calories?

It is GREAT if you are on a diet:

Mix together:

grated cheese

grated carrot (equal quantities or even more carrot if you want to make it even fewer calories!)

finely chopped onion, or spring onion (cilanthro)

chopped parsley or chopped chives

A dollop of English mustard or any old mustard (optional)

Worcester sauce, or balsmic vinegar or malt vinegar....any old thing will do or whatever you fancy!

Toast the bread on one side. Spread the mixture on thickly and place under a hot grill until lovely and brown.

ENJOY!

It was Sally's birthday so I picked a big bunch of flowers for her. I'm loving the abundance in the garden at the moment. It is so hot and dry and I love perennials as I never have to water them. They just keep on flowering and the more I cut them, the more they produce!

Cupboard-a-day update

Oh dear....it didn't happen yesterday....Tony's fault!!...He suggested that we walk over to Girton for a drink in the pub garden. Rosie liked the idea and wagged her tail, and I didn't need much persuading so off we went. Maybe today I shall find the time?