Friday, October 17, 2008

Printing takes pedantic perfection and profound patience

Hehe, Teegs can take full credit (or blame, if you so have it) for that title. But it rings true - each test print run we do brings new challenges and considerations to the table. But each run gets better and better as a result. Here are some of our latest print runs, which Lara will be selling in her shop soon once the fabrics have been cured:


Acacia in plum


Birch test run on some old white demin courtesy of Mattt


Printing birch in gold - reach!


Temporary drying solution (lucky we can offset our carbon emissions from this baby)


Acacia on natural, work in progress.

6 comments:

Manda said...

that looks like SO much fun!

Melissa G said...

These prints are wonderful. You guys must be in seventh heaven seeing your ideas come to life like this.

Juicy Roo said...

Oh my...how challenging to try and get the registration accurate (ie birch in gold)...prints look amazing, thank you for sharing.

Richard Freeman said...

I just looooove all that fabric and space, it does look great. It reminds me of visiting a rope factory in Chatham in the UK which had loads of room.

Do you print on new canvas all the time or can you get recycled or second hand material?

I would love you to do a custom design for my tipi fabric - do you guys do that kind of stuff?

Yours, Richard

Sil Frebrian said...

wow, u guys did some awesome job. I can't believe everything is done manually...by hands!
I wan't those fabrics.....so cute....

Teegs said...

Thanks everyone! Some great comments and questions!!
Manda, it really is heaps of fun, tho we're all a bit achy as it's quite a physical task!
Emjie, yep, we're definately in 7th heaven seeing our dream studio develop!
Juicy Roo, our registration is a bit of an issue at times, but overall we have a pretty accurate system set up.
Richard, we print on whichever fabric is required for each job, eg, canvas for bags, lightweight cotton for summer shirts, heavier linens for homewares, etc. In line with our ethical/enviro aim, we use secondhand, fairtrade and organic fabrics where possible. Unfortunately the textile industry worldwide is very slow on the take up of less harmful (to humans and environment) production techniques as it inevitably costs money, which eats into profits.
The nature of the capitalist beast, sadly. We purchase new fabrics, inevitably from non ethical manfacturers, only as a last resort.
And we will be taking orders very shortly. At the moment we're still perfecting our process, but stay tuned...
Sils, we feel there is a beauty in handmade, handprinted products, each unique and with it's own quirks, so our sewing machines are the only type of machinary you'll find at our studio! :)