Silk screening

Siwa is an amazing artist.  I probably drive her nuts sometimes because I have all these ideas about projects that I want her to do for me.  I ask her to draw or photograph something and she does it in a wow way.  One day I asked her to draw a fish or shell with tapa designs on it.  I was thinking of using it for the seat part of  the kitchen chairs that I blogged about earlier, or for a shower curtain that is taking shape in my head.  She brought me a drawing of an ulua (trevally fish) with the tapa designs on it, and I loved it.  I asked my cousin, who is a professional silk screener, to make it into a screen for us.  On Saturday we went over to his workshop so he could show the girls how to print with it. We needed a gift for a birthday present so we made a few t-shirts to break it in. 

Jesse getting the hang of the squeegee

Siwa's turn

voila!

You may see this ulua again.  That's the fun of having a silk screen, you can reproduce your work without having to recreate it all over again.  It's so fulfilling to see an idea become a tangible reality.  Thanks Eli for taking time out to show us how it's done.  

Great job Siwa!