What advice would you give to a student finishing school, who would be interested in pursuing a career in screen printing? Is it a dying industry? My advice to anyone that wants to pursue a career in anything is to just start doing it. Teach yourself stuff, find people who know stuff and ask them for help, if it’s too expensive to start with, find a cheaper way of doing it, just always be doing something. Don’t complain and give up because you’re not the best at it or not getting paid for it straight away, keep going and always try to be better. Work harder, try harder. Screen-printing has been around for about a thousand years and I don’t think it’s going anywhere, there are a heap of new digital printing methods that are growing and advancing, but screenprinting is still way cheaper, more durable and better looking than most. Plus there will always be people who like making things with their hands and people who value and pay for things that people have made with their hands. For people looking to print their own t-shirts, just as a hobby are their DIY kits available? Yeah there are starter kits for the photo emulsion process at art shops and stuff but they’re pretty overpriced, my advice to a person starting off would be to try out the glue and embroidery hoop to get a hang of the general process, or talk to the guys at Tooth and Nail in the city, they have an awesome printmaking workshop and screen-printing set up that is available to the public, and they run workshops teaching the photo emulsion process as well. How can people keep up to date with more screen printing workshops hosted by you in the future? Follow me on Instagram - @dave_foolsandtrolls Facebook – search for foolsandtrolls (one word) And the website – foolsandtrolls.com
ART | 41