I come bearing pictures! Examples of tools and stencils. But I'm going to start with some of my prints drying. These have since been finished and have been turned in. The teacher said I either got an A or a really high B on them. I hope it's an A, I think they came out very well and clean. I only had one really bad print, all the rest are lined up perfectly and have very little to no haloing.

A halo by the way is when the print sticks to the screen a bit so the ink doesn't settle perfectly and you get a ring of a different texture. It looks like a halo, hence the name.

Just a note. There are a LOT more pictures beneath the cut. :) So please press read more if you are even vaguely interested.

Tags: materials | screenprinting

I felt like these two things should go into a separate post instead of the main costuming catch up one. Often times in class we'll be going over various things throughout history and it gives me ideas for more current clothing using similar design elements. 

The image on the left is the result of going through ancient greece. I liked how a lot of the garments were different ways of draping and fastening the same basic shapes. The faux sleeves created by a belt and various ties is one of my favorites.

The image on the right is inspired by several dresses from the 1950's. I've got a large amount of avocado green kona cotton that I've been trying to figure out what to do with since I got it. I'm thinking of making that dress. I haven't completed the sketch yet and am not sure if I want to add more tiny little ruffles or pin tucks or anything like that.

Tags: fashion design | sketching

Here is sort of a short overview of what we've been doing in costuming. We've gone over a lot, from history to practical costuming knowledge. So I'm going to start with the grade sheet for the class.

Just a note. There are a LOT more pictures beneath the cut. :) So please press read more if you are even vaguely interested.

Tags: costume design | fashion design | Fashion History | projects

Hello everyone. In case you haven't read my profile, my name is Victoria and I'm an Art student at Santa Monica College. If you want to know more about my interests and why I'm on the site just check my profile or send me a message on the forums. :) Since I've been in school for a few weeks now I'll do a general recap.

The start of the semester was a bit hectic. For some reason SMC has been cutting down on classes and setting the ones that are available at truly awful times. I've heard that it's because of demand and things like that. But since there are more and more people trying to go to SMC I know that's a lie. Regardless it meant that this semester, since we start a bit later than some of the other schools, we got flooded.

I've only got two official classes this semester due to scheduling conflicts. Many of the art classes are one day a week classes or at the same time as all the other art classes. So in result, this semester I'm taking Theatrical Costuming and Screen printing. I'll be putting up the syllabus for Theatrical Costuming in my next post along with any other notes the teacher gives me permission to post. Although it's not an official class I'm also doing sculpting and a few other things this semester so that should pop up too.

Unfortunately my handwriting is atrocious. I also take excessively thorough notes on occasion, which I wouldn't feel right posting since they're almost transcriptions of the lecture word for word. I will however post up all my drawings from during class and notes about why they are the way they are. Also, if the teacher allows me to draft my own pattern for the final vest project I'll post all of that, including a copy of the pattern.

So far we've gone over about 2600 BC - 500AD through Egypt, Rome, and Greece. So there'll be some neat stuff in there. One of the things I most enjoy doing  in this class is drawing up stylized flats and croquis during class based on design elements from whatever we happen to be going over at the moment.

In other news Screen printing has been a blast. I got all my paper stencils cut out last week and my sheets printed for my photo stencils.

The Screen printing class is cut up into three major projects. Each one has to have an acceptable print run of 5, meaning we print at least 10 of each and pick the best 5. Project number one needs to use all three stencil techniques shown in class. Those three types are: Photo (where you coat the screen in photo emulsion then after it's dry set a clear sheet with your image on it over it and expose it to light in a sealed chamber), Paper (where you just cut out what you want printed from a piece of freezer paper and tape it to the screen), and drawing fluid (which is directly painted onto the screen over which ever area you want the ink to fill, it's then coated with a filler fluid so that once it's all dry you wash out the drawing fluid). Project one also has to be of an illustration. Project two has to involve a photograph and can use any combination of the three techniques and project 3 is a free project. We can not only pick what we're printing (photo/illustration/whatever) but it's a free choice as to what we print on. The previous two need to be done on paper, project 3 can be on practically anything flat.

Apparently most people choose to do T-Shirts for their last project. I think I'm going to make up some doll kimono and print on those, assuming I can figure out a way to register them. Registration for paper is pretty simple, you attach tabs and then attach metal tabs to the table and make sure the tabs are in the same place on every sheet using the metal ones as a guide. This means that your different layers will line up when you start actually printing. I'm not sure how you do that for fabric. Though obviously if people have done T-shirts it can be done. Maybe you stretch it over a hard object? I'll find out on Monday in class and report back with my findings.

The first meeting of The Society for the Study of Modern Japanese Visual Culture for the semester went well. We got a lot of people on the first day this time. I think it's partially due to getting a room so fast. Last semester it took us forever to get assigned a room by the school because they thought we needed lots of equipment built into the room. This Friday we're holding a contest to come up with ideas for our club row booth. I hope we get a lot of submissions.

Tags: screenprinting | overview | introduction