Yesterday Bill Fick visited Maryland Institute College of Art for a workshop. Bill brought about a dozen of his distinctive lino blocks for printing on T-Shirts. Even with four presses at work, there was a line of eager folks waiting to print the goodies, and a good time was had by all.
As Bill pointed out, this approach gets results! Watch out, screenprinters: not a detail was lost, and the oil-based ink produces a rich, velvety black. As a special bonus, each shirt gives you that “fresh from the shop” smell.
More pics after the jump.
Roll ‘em up and roll ‘em out!
Unfortunately, Bill didn’t stand still long enough for me to snap a decent photo of him. Or maybe I’m just a lousy photographer.
RESULTS!
I really do love seeing woodblocks and linocuts printed on fabric, but as a screenprinter, I have to ask: do oil/rubber/soy based inks used in traditional printmaking require some kind of curing to last on a shirt?
Discuss.
This was straight-up Block-Print Black from Graphic Chemical with a dash of chemical Dryer thrown in (most likely the dreaded Cobalt Dryer). The ink itself is Linseed Oil based, probably with some varnishes thrown in here and there. I was telling friends to let it dry for a few days (or a week? we’ll see…) and then toss it in the dryer for a solid baking…
Bill told us that it will fade with time, but that overall it holds up.
Time will tell. This campus is currently flooded with the shirts.
Linseed styyyyyyle!
Yeah, I always thought it was funny that when I had ink I needed to stay on a shirt, it washes off, but when I want it to wash out (like on an apron for instance) then it stays there forever.
Definitely very cool, and the print studio looks suspiciously clean…
Hi James,
Yeah, I suspect my new shirt will have that “fresh from the shop” smell until Hallowe’en or so…
Which is fine by me, because that’s the perfect time to wear my brand-new, totally HAWT Bill Fick Skull shirt!
Thanks James, I’m going to take that as a compliment considering the fact that we have 5 classes meeting in that room and it is Midterms next week…
We try to keep a tidy shop, some days more successfully than others.