WORKSHOP / SQUEEGEE SENSATIONS

The art of silkscreen printmaking has a great many virtues. It's a versatile process, with vast potential for experimentation. In the right hands, combining squeegees and ink with screens and paper can lead to the most beguiling of images... 


One of the truly great things about screenprinting is its accessibility – introduce beginners to the basics of the process and pretty soon they'll be creating their very own prints. With this in mind, we invited Look Up artist and budding silkscreen maestro Josie Blue Molloy to run a taster workshop at Central Parade E17, home of the Look Up gallery 'til mid-January 2018.

Compositional creativity by one of our workshoppers

Picture the scene. Fifteen guests – all eager to start printing, a few bottles of wine, an array of colourful inks, various papers (some with risograph printed background textures), a handful of different screens with ready-to-print geometric elements, and a veritable truckload of enthusiasm. Following a brief introduction to the joys of the squeegee, Josie and her excellent assistant – illustrator Ellie Crews – proceeded to hand over the reigns. Our so-called beginners then proceeded to knock it out of the park, creating three or four prints apiece with fascinating, visually rewarding results.

Josie introduces our crew to the myriad joys of silkscreen printing

Getting busy with the squeegee

Ellie Crews prepping a screen

Detail showing the risograph background texture

Using an acetate sheet to work out composition and registration

Vibrant prints created by one of our awesome workshoppers

Pulling prints, the silkscreen way

Drying time for these beauties

Squeegee time

Inky magic