I've enjoyed this project so far, I know it will be along time before I feel I have got everything I can from it. I feel such a great affection for these mills and how they link us to the rich history of textiles here in Lancashire. These are my very first outcomes from the project, screen prints onto heavy cotton. Watch this space there will be more to come. I am especially focused on them as (fingers crossed re house sale) I may soon be leaving Lancashire, going home to Mid Wales, to another area reknowed for its historic textile production.
The process I used to create this printed cloth is as follows;
After looking at the photographs from my orignal research (shown in my blog post of Oct 25) over a period of several days, certain elements of my images start to make an imprint on me. For me it is the oft quoted 'dark satanic mills' essence of the buildings, their tall chimneys, with huge areas of bricks, all surrounded, whether still in use or not, by quite evil looking wire, chain link and barbed, rusted and twisted out of shape more often than not.
After first sketching the mills with indian ink, I ran the drawings through my thermofax machine with specialist plastic mesh over them. The carbon in the indian ink (any carbon media would work) then heats up on its way through and melts where it touches the mesh. I then frame the mesh 'negative' with duck tape creating my own mini screens which will stand up to many uses if treated kindly. I screen print with textile dyes which are then heat fixed.
