Getting artsy: screen printing cards at Spudnik Press
Have you ever wanted to take a class but didn’t know where to start? Enter Vimbly, a new website which makes finding the right class, at the right time, as easy as cake. I was recently given the opportunity to take a free class of my choosing through Vimbly. There were so many categories to choose from; everything from Jiu Jitsu to Wine Tasting to Comedy Improv. I’ve always been into art, and as a busy working adult, I don’t often have the opportunity to engage my creative side, so I selected a screen printing class offered at Spudnick Press.
For this particular class, we were asked to bring a design of our choice, which we would then screen print onto cards. The design could be hand-drawn or digital, and would be printed using one color. Now, the last time I screen printed anything was at a summer art class I took during middle school. In that session, we created screen templates by hand, cutting our designs carefully using Exacto knives. With that in mind, I tried to select something with fairly large spaces. However, it turns out there are much easier methods of screen printing these days, such as the technique we used at Spudnick, which involves the use of chemicals to create the template onto a screen. Pretty cool!
My design (courtesy of the interwebs):
Printed onto transparency:
Chemically transferred onto screens:
It was really interesting to see everyone’s designs. There were some talented artists in the class, including my printing partner, who does poster design for a living.
Our teacher, Vanessa, was terrific and did a great job of making it a fun experience. She showed us the process while giving us detailed instruction, but then let us work on our own. I really liked the independent nature of the class.
Next we added a thin layer of paint to our screens and used a squeegee to press the paint through the screen and onto the card stock below. Here’s my partner in action:
Vanessa also showed us some advanced techniques such as using two colors at once:
Then the hardest part of all… waiting patiently for all of our cards to dry!
And then we each had 20 cards of our own design! I was really pleased with my design, and loved that it was something unique and versatile. I’ve already sent out several as thank you notes!
Spudnik was awesome; I would love to go back and take more art classes. I also enjoyed the ease and convenience of using Vimbly to book my class, and would certainly recommend that site to other people looking for things to do in their city. In fact, I’ve already perused Vimbly to see what fun and exciting classes I can take next!
*A free class was provided to me by Vimbly. All opinions and images are my own.*
Kavi360 
Very cool, Kavi!!! Cher xo
Thanks Cher! You should definitely check it out… so much to do in Chicago!