The past couple weeks, I've put together a screenprinting table that's two feet wider and double the length of my first screenprinting table, which I built with my dad. Our pressboard-on-sawhorses did the trick for a while, but as I ramp up production, a larger printing surface speeds up the process by a lot. I ordered this table from a supplier in LA that sells equipment for the garment industry. Putting the thing together was a bit of a chore, but I now feel like I've got the tools to make Silvania grow out of hobby-status and into a business that will, with any luck, support me. I may even be able to move the operation out of my basement this year....
You're invited: Friday, December 4th 5:30pm - 8:30pm Las Primas, 3971 N Williams Ave, Portland Enjoy a drink or dinner at Las Primas and shop Silvania's new products. Las Primas, Spanish for "the cousins", is the North Williams restaurant of real-life cousins Catalina Acuña and Sadie Morrison. They serve food inspired by the fresh, flavorful street food of bustling Lima. I will be there with new Silvania products so fresh they aren't even on the website yet.www.lasprimaskitchen.comwww.silvaniaperu.com
A friend of mine recently asked me how I screenprint yardage, so I set up my camera on a tripod in my studio to document my first time printing 'Pasto'. The technique I use for screenprinting yardage is not only the old-school method, it's the ultra-low-tech, do-it-in-your-basement variety. My grandmother's screenprinting workshop used the same method, but her equipment was much bigger and better. Behold: Most of the screenprinted fabric you see in modern clothing is printed using a completely different method, in which silkscreens are cylinders and the printing table is a conveyer belt. I have had fabric printed this way in a large factory in Lima. While the process lacks the charm of manual yardage screenprinting, it's easier to print wider fabrics and...
