A Semester of Textile Printing

As some of you know and others may not know, I decided last year to go back to school at MECA&D (Maine College of Art & Design) to finish the BFA degree I started a *very* long time ago. During my second semester I was able to take a Textile Printing class and really loved creating repeats and blocks with repetition. 

For my first repeat pattern, I created popcorn. It was the week of the Golden Globes, so I couldn't resist making a "golden" popcorn print. The lines were super fine, and the ink was super opaque and thick, so not every line came through, but it may still be my favorite repeat of the semester. 

Next up was the two color Strawberry print. I printed it two different ways. One was using alginate and a steaming process, leaving it as a softer coloring (reminding me of the original Strawberry Shortcake). I think it would make a sweet baby quilt.

The second Strawberry print was with regular opaque inks that were brighter and deeper. I didn't have to print it, but desperately wanted to see the difference. I can't wait to be inspired to create a quilt for this one too. 

The silhouette print above was a my test print before printing t-shirts for my daughters and other family members. It became our summer 2022 t-shirt and now summer t-shirts might have to be a new tradition. 

Last but not least, are my Repetition blocks. These were made for my final class project at the end of the semester. It reminded me of our DNA and family history. How we are all connected in so many ways (ways that we can see and not see). That we are all a bunch of layers. Depending on which color is printed first or second or which ever order, the print change and the colors change. It was a fascinating experiment. 

In the end I decided not to trim them all. I wanted each of them to stay imperfect, off centered and have the raw edges. I connected them with fishing line (because we can't always see our connections to each other and hung them floating away from the wall. 

I hope you enjoyed this look into my Textile Printing creations. Thanks so much for visiting! Please be sure to sign up for my newsletter below.