This is a preview of the home page for my online workshop ‘Breakdown Your Palette’.
Have a look at the sample lesson ….. it forms part of Unit 2 in which I explain the breakdown printing process in lots and lots of detail.
You’ll need to sign up to gain access to the rest of the content. You can sign up at any time and work at your own pace!
Learn how to breakdown print with textile artist Leah Higgins in this comprehensive online workshop. Once you have signed up you will have 12 months access to over 24 hours of videos, notes that you can download and support from Leah via a private Facebook group and email. And you can join Leah once a month for live Q & A sessions via zoom.
Welcome to Breakdown Your Palette!
What is breakdown printing and why do so many of us love it? Put simply it is a wonderful screen printing technique that uses water based Procion MX dyes to create stunning, organic texture and marks on fabric that cannot be created by any other process. We make our screens, we dry our screens and then we print with our screens. The breakdown process relies on the unpredictable wetting out and breaking down of dried dyes as we print, making each print completely unique.
And it is accessible - you don’t need specialist or expensive equipment, nor do you need access to a studio. You can breakdown print at home, safely and affordably.
This workshop is split into eight units, each containing videos that you can watch over and over and notes that you can download. You can work at your own pace. And you have access for twelve months so don’t panic when life gets in the way!
During that period you’ll also have support from me via a private Facebook group and email. And I’ll be running live Q&A sessions each month via Zoom.
Unit 1: Getting Started
In this unit we look at how to make a print surface; at the screens, squeegees and other equipment you might need; at the dyes and other chemicals we will use; and at suitable fabrics and how to prepare them.
Unit 3: A Little Aside About Colour
There are no right or wrong colours. However a basic understanding of colour and how dyes work with our fabrics can help you achieve the colours you want and make it more likely that you will love your breakdown printed fabrics!
Unit 5: Embedding Objects and Mark Making
In this unit we are going to look at how everyday objects that you may already have, or can easily collect, can be used to make breakdown screens. Who knew that a trip to a DIY store could be so much fun?
Unit 7: Going Further
Sometimes our printed fabric is not quite perfect. In this unit we look at combining breakdown printing with discharge, at using breakdown as a design source for thermofax and at adding another layer of colour.
Unit 2: The Basic Process
Using a simple, single colour screen we will look in detail at the four stages of breakdown printing: making a screen, drying a screen, printing a screen and, finally, processing our fabric.
Unit 4: Drawing, Dripping and Squirting with Squeezy Bottles
Explore lots and lots of different ways to use squeezy bottles. We will look at screens made with print paste and printed using colour, screens made with one colour and printed with another and at multicolour screens.
Unit 6: Using Resists
We look at three different types of resist that can be added to our screens before we make our breakdown screen - masking tape resists, sticky back plastic resists and thickened dye resists - giving us even more design options!
Unit 8: Dyeing a Colour Family
In this final unit I show you how to dye fabric that coordinates with your printed fabric. We explore two methods, one using thickened dyes to scrape colour onto fabric and one using high immersion bucket dyeing.