13
16
17
18
19
19
HOW TO MAKE… A PRINTED TOWEL screen to dry. If you use a hair dryer, take care: if the hair dryer gets too close to the screen mesh, the heat can burn a hole in it. If washing the screen between stencils, make sure the screen is completely dry before reusing. 13 Either allow the print to air-dry or, if you’re printing on fabric, wood or cork, speed up the process by using a hair dryer. It’s important you keep the hair dryer moving so nothing burns. You can check if the print is dry by lightly pressing a fingertip onto the printed area. If it’s dry, no ink will appear on your finger. Be careful not to smudge the printed area in case it’s still wet. Heat setting the print 14 Before you use the fabric you need to heat set it. This means that you need to use a heat source to cure the ink onto the fabric. The 84 MOLLIEMAKES.COM 94
easiest way to do this is with an iron (the heat from a hair dryer isn’t enough). Put the iron on the cotton setting. Don’t use steam, as the fabric can’t be exposed to water until it has been heat set. Get an old tea towel (or similar) and lay it over the print so you’re not ironing directly onto the fabric. 15 Once you’ve heat set the print, wash the fabric as usual. Iron the print for at least five minutes, but keep the iron moving – you don’t want to burn the design. Making the beach towel 16 Draw your design onto a piece of paper. You can sketch out several shapes, then choose the ones you like the best, or use the templates on page 96. Transfer the shapes onto stencil paper, then cut the stencils as per Steps 1-3. 17 Iron the beach towel and lay it out flat. Prepare the screen and
attach the first stencil to the front as per Steps 4-7. Get your squeegee and inks ready. Place the screen in position and spread a generous amount of ink above the design. Start printing with one flood stroke and then apply pressure during the three hard pulls, as per Steps 8-10. 18 Carefully lift up the screen from the fabric and repeat. You can print the same shape a few times in different spots on the towel. Following Steps 11-12, peel off the stencil and wash it, then wash the screen so it’s ready for the next print. Make sure the screen is dry before printing the next shape. Use a hair dryer to dry each print on the towel before printing the next one. 19 Repeat Steps 17-28 for each of the stencils, in different colours, until you’ve filled the towel with shapes. Heat set the towel with an iron as per Steps 14-15 to finish.