Print Club London - Pinfluencer Event

(Image via Pinterest. Check out my concentration face!)

I'll be the first to admit that I can't draw, illustrate or paint to save my life, but when the lovely Frankie offered to take me as her plus one to Pinterest's first-ever Pinfluencer event at Print Club London, I couldn't say no!

I adore prints - from bold quotes and quirky portraits to detailed illustrations, I'd covered my walls from floor to ceiling with them if I could. However, I've never really put much thought to the process behind producing the prints - to be honest, I actually thought that the majority of them were spun off of an Epsom printer somewhere in small batches and then sold as limited editions on market stalls. I'm glad to say that I couldn't have been further from the truth.

 

Screen printing really isn't a complex process, but it does leaves enough margin for every print to be a teeny bit different, which is the beauty of it. It also takes a bit of muscle, which means that there's a bit of hard work behind every picture. 

Illustrators start by drawing up their design and then turning it into a stencil by cutting out the 'coloured' parts of the drawing. The stencil is then fixed to the screen, which is a fine mesh fixed to a wooden frame.

The material you want to print on is then placed underneath, and a line of paint is placed right at the bottom of the screen. A blade is then used to push the paint across the screen, which floods through the holes in the stencil and transfer to the material below.

The blade is them pulled back over the screen to double-flood the stencil. And, ta-da...! 

 

I absolutely LOVED my time at Print Club, and would totally recommend checking it out to anyone that fancies exploring their creative side a little and making some prints of their own. The team run regular day-long beginner workshops, which take you through every stage of the printing process, from illustrating and stencil making to printing and finishing, all tied together with stories about the history of the technique. The day costs £50 per person, with all materials included.