LETS GET PRINTING! (PROCESS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF ART)

Took a drive up the coast to SF and got to dive into the underworld of reclaiming garments at the bins. Sorted through piles of discarded textiles and came away with a solid haul—blank shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, and a few other pieces ready to be reimagined. 

Nice to see people from all walks of life giving things a second spin. For this project, there’s really no other way but to dig through the bins. Sure, we could’ve ordered hundreds of blanks, hit the minimums, and gone all in with a big screen printing run. But that’s not the approach we were going for. Instead, we rolled up our sleeves and did it ourselves — learning through trial, error, and a few charming blunders along the way.

So here’s the scoop step by step on our first run of goods: 

Drive up to the bins (probably went to four up the coast)

Pick a buncha items

Go to a laundromat immediately and wash and dry all items on high heat

And bam… we got units and units of reclaimed textiles to play with

Place emulsion on silk screens 12 hours in advance of printing

Get a few graphics going and printed out at staples on transparency 

Pass off said graphics to be burned with an exposure unit

Then off to printing at the atelier 

Mixing and matching shapes, turning screens sideways, upside down, pressing ink through the screens, then cleaning them off

Yeah, it’s a bit of a messy endeavor, but we powered through 100 units for friends and family

More soon. Be well…