Growing older and dying young

This past week was a pretty busy week, even though it was fairly unproductive. My birthday was on tuesday, so the Friday before hand, me and my friend Kate threw a party, and spend the better part of the weekend with various friends. Monday was a holiday (although isn't everyday when you're unemployed), and then tuesday was my birthday, but more importantly inauguration day.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed watching Obama get sworn into office, even if Justice Roberts did totally mess it up the first time. I'm in the middle of reading "The Audacity of Hope", and it only added to the excitement of the day, knowing we finally have a man of integrity running our country. It was a great way to spend my birthday.

But by the afternoon, the news coverage was a little less than exciting so I decided to start work on a project I had been putting off--my t-shirt blanket. I have a ton of t-shirts that I am very attached to, but couldn't bare to part with so I decided to make them into a blanket. I haven't totally figured out my plan of attack, but at least I have a start--my beautiful old t-shirts are now 15"x15" squares waiting to get sewn together. Now if only I could afford to get my sewing machine back!



My week would have been a total wash if it hadn't been for my friend Tom wanting to get together and figure out how to screen print. It's something that I've been wanting to learn for a LONG time and this was just the motivation I needed. A friend of his had loaned him the screen, and he had an idea in mind for a design, so we basically just followed directions, and managed to figure it out.

Here is a very general list of what you need: a room without light, a screen and printing supplies (paint, squeegee, photo emulsion stuff), Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, a pie plate, a 150 watt clear bulb, masking tape, a fan, old newspapers and something to print on. It is helpful to have these things ready before hand, or else you'll probably have to run out 6 times during the day like we did, which I don't recommend.

The hardest part was washing off his friends design from the screen. Even after we got all the paint off you could still see her design dyed onto the screen which was actually a pretty neat effect. The next part was putting our design onto a transparency, and painting the screen with photo emulsion solution. You then have to let it dry. Once it is fully dry you put your transparency on it and set it under the incredibly bright bulb for about 45 min, although in retrospect I would have done it longer. Once it is done you wash it under cold water--the part that wasn't exposed to the light should wash right off. Then it has to dry again. (I'll warn you now that there is a lot of drying time involved in screen printing).





Once it is done drying you can start painting. I had done this part before, and wasn't quite as exciting to me as developing the screen. It is amazing to see how easy it was to make a design on the computer and then develop it so quickly on the screen, with such precision. I was basically hooked after this.





We didn't really print all that many things in the end, but I think both of us were more interested in the process. Plus I did get a couple of posters, some new t-shirts, and a sweatshirt out of it.

We are planning to do another screening once I pick something that I want to print. Now I just have to come up with an idea.
As if this wasn't exciting enough of a day (I am having a hard time conveying how much I LOVE this new process, and how it has totally changed my life), I also found out that I think the Providence Morris Chair is mine, assuming that I like it--and for only $150. Not bad bargaining on my part. Hopefully you can see pics soon.