I had never done any screenprinting before, but I went along to PrintClub in London to have a go – and the results were great fun.

Screen-printing is a thoroughly vintage method of imposing patterns onto paper by pushing ink through minute holes in a screen, what was originally silk. Now days people use plastic sheets and UV sensitive paint, that blocks the contrasting aspect of an image (the white, non-picture areas).

You can push different colours through different screens to layer-up an image, even using all four main colours to produce a composite CYMK print, or push new inks through the same screen to make new mixes of colour.

These images are the result of an image I created back in the early days of the Disappear Here project. As you can see, there is a degree of trail and error in getting a clean image and experimenting with mixed colours – but this is what makes the process so playful –  work should not be this fun. Every time you load the screen is slighlty different as pressure and amount of ink varies and the screen image becomes more worn – which is great as every print is unique, a subtle variation on the original.

The only downside with screen printing is that it is relatively time-consuming if you are new to it – and this can add cost when printing en masse. It would be great if there was something like this in Coventry where people could go along and have a try – it is a very rewarding form of craft that can produce very artful results. Give it a try!

Several prints of DH artwork are available to purchase on the website – SHOP