1. I needed to go out and find a chair to use to screenprint on, the two qualifications that were required: needs to be cheap and needs to be able to have fabric top and bottom that can easily be removed/replaced. I went to goodwill and instantly found what I was looking for. The chair was only five dollars and the cushions on the bottom and back could easily be removed with a screwdriver.
2. After I got the chair, I needed to get my supplies for the actual screenprinting, so I managed to pick up a yard of red canvas fabric from Walmart and the screenprinting materials from The Duck Store, which included the 8x10 screen, black screenprinting ink and the rubber squeegee.
3. Next, I needed to prepare my image for the vinyl cutter to be used as my "stencil" for screenprinting. I decided that the pattern on my unique sneakers would make for an interesting print on my chair. I took a few pictures of my shoe such as this:
I took the few pictures and them into photoshop and took pieces from them to make one custom pattern. I made selections of them so that the final product technically had no background. Then I took the file into Illustrator and used one of the things I learned from watching Illustrator tutorials on Lynda.com during the first week, called Live Trace. With this, I was able to create the outlines in anchor points necessary for the vinyl cutter while trying to make the objects I had within in smoother so the shape is simpler. I then took the file to the vinyl cutter, which I had a little more trouble with than usual, but managed to make everything come out okay. To be safe, I made two sets of the cut-outs, which later proved to be a very smart idea. :)
4. Next, I was advised by the woman at Walmart to wash my fabric before printing it, and because its a bright red color I figured that was a good idea especially if I plan on sitting on the chair without it bleeding onto my clothes.
5. Next, I prepped the screen. I unpeeled all of the spots that I wanted to the ink to go through like such:
Then I trimmed down around the piece of vinyl so that it was the right size for the screen.
However, much to my dismay, after adhering the vinyl to the screen and spending a half hour or so smoothing out any bumps with my squeegee, because the directions for vinyl screenprinting on Instructables are not the clearest, I soon realized that I had put the vinyl on the wrong side of the screen and had to remove and repeat the process over again. Unfortunately, I think that this definitely didn't help with the adhesion, because it was less sticky after completely removing it, therefore I feel like i had more bumps and more trouble trying to smooth out.
6. Then I took my cushions and placed them on the fabric and measured out the space I need to be able to wrap them around to the bottom, as well as the area I need to focus my screenprinting in.
7. Now I was ready to try to screenprint. I laid some paper underneath the canvas and placed the screen over it. I poured in some ink and because spreading it around with the squeegee. The Instructable said to go back and forth a few times so that's what I did.
However, after doing that I lifted the screen carefully and realized that not very much of the ink had gone through. So i tried to replace the screen in the same spot and go over it again. I pressed a lot harder the second time and kind of traced over where the screen was visible. This produced more visible results, however it may have been too hard because not only did the ink go through the shapes, but it also managed to push its way underneath some of the shapes creating huge smudges. I tried to do it again and the same thing happened.
8. So then I decided to clean the screen and remove the vinyl and put on the second piece.
I hoped that with putting the vinyl on the second time I could be more careful and precise about avoiding bumps, and therefore hopefully avoid smudges this time around. Funny enough however, I actually had even more trouble with the vinyl getting stuck on itself!
9. Either way, the second time around went a lot better. I tried to combine my techniques from the previous times, making sure to add pressure without pushing too hard and also lightly tracing with the tip of the squeegee over the exposed screen outlines. I wasn't able to avoid smudges, but I did manage to minimize them somewhat and allow more of the objects to be visible.
10. After letting them sit and dry for a couple hours, I took a blow dryer to them just to kind of make sure they were set in and then began attaching the canvas over the cushions. In order to really hold it down, I nailed in a nail a little ways to make a hole through the wood and then nailed a thumbtack into it. The nails were too long so that's what I opted for the shorter thumbtacks.
11. After the fabric was nailed back and fitted, I began screwing the cushions back onto the metal frame of the chair.
And then it was done! yay!
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