Much ado about nothing
Being faithful to my plans from last weekend, yesterday I used my day off to hand print some fabric in my kitchen. I only got four prints, which is a little disappointing considering all the time it took to prepare for the printing session, set up the work area, and then clean up everything. But I won’t dwell on that… This was my first time silk screening on a larger format (larger than a baby onesie), and using the same screen to make more than one print in the same session. So I learned a lot, and hopefully things will be better next time I try it.
I loved it, I have to say. Even though it got a little stressing because by the time I finally had everything set up, and the screen was warm after some test prints, and I was ready to finally start printing the real pre-cut pieces of fabric, that’s when Joaquin got up from his nap, and although Joey was able to entertain him for a long time upstairs — away from my very vulnerable project — at some point the boys had to come downstairs for a snack.
The kitchen was invaded by all my stuff and some fresh prints drying on a line I hung from two kitchen cabinet doors. I thought I had avoided the cabinets that could be needed when Joaquin was around, but among all the possible snack options that could have been chosen, I couldn’t foresee that Joey would want to give Joaquin cheerios; the only thing that was behind one of the doors I used to hang my prints. I told Joey to give him cheetos… Those, and at least four other types of snacks were easily accessible in the pantry. But the boys were not happy, and I’m still laughing at the image of myself escorting Joaquin out of the kitchen while he was still sipping some milk from his cup. He was very insulted by the rudeness of me kicking him out of his domain. I mean, “couldn’t she wait for me to at least finish my milk?”…
… Sadly, the answer was no. I was afraid that my screen had started to dry, and if I didn’t finish it up and started cleaning up quickly, I could risk losing the screen. And considering the circumstances in which I had to build that screen… that is, during a morning when Joaquin was attending Mother’s Morning Out, I would say NO, I do not want to risk losing it.
Here’s one of the prints from yesterday’s session. I’m still debating whether they need a second print, and what to make with them…
