The example shown below was part of a project I submitted for my Fibres class at Concordia University. That was the year when my husband was battling cancer, and I used art to work through my feelings about it. This piece represents the role of the caretaker in a cancer journey. The red leather seats are similar to the seats at the hospital that I slept on countless times while my husband recovered from surgery or received chemotherapy. The fragmented quilt and pillow with a hard tumour inside represented my lack of peace and rest. 

 

Screen printing is a process that is as painstaking as it is rewarding. The design must first be created on paper or using a computer. It must be either completely black or completely white in order to be successful, which usually necessitates digital intervention using Photoshop. Finally, the image should pr printed or photocopied onto thin white copier paper for best results. 

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Meanwhile, the silkscreen must be prepared with a special light-sensitive emulsion and dried completely. This process takes place in a room lit with special yellow filtered lights so that the emulsion remains reactive. 

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Then once the image is ready, it needs to be "burned" into the screen. This can be done with sunlight for simple images, but for more complex ones like the design below, a special UV exposure unit must be used. The printed black and white image acts as a stencil, only allowing the light to pass through the white fibres of the paper and blocking everywhere else with toner. 

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When the screen is removed from the exposure unit, it can be rinsed as shown below. The parts that have been exposed to UV light are cured and waterproof, and the shielded areas rinse away with the pressure washer. Then when the screen is dry it can be used as a stencil for printing medium (usually a gel-type pigmented base). 

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