March 14 | Family Workshop: Screenpainting (2 Hours)

Explore screenprinting with your family through one of its most improvisational and expressive techniques: screenpainting. Using dry pigments or watercolor paints applied directly to the screen, participants will collaborate to create bold, unexpected marks and textures not typically associated with traditional screenprinting.

All materials and instruction are provided, making it easy to jump in and experiment. Families will produce a series of monoprints and ghost prints that can stand alone or serve as a base for further refinement. No computers required—just hands-on making and creative play.

Each registration includes up to four participants of all ages. You’re welcome to attend with the people you consider family. So bring the people closest to you and enjoy creating together.  

March 15| Screenprinting: T-shirts & Totebags (1 day)

Convert your own drawing or design to a collection of hand-printed wearable items in this energetic and informative one-day workshop. Printing an assortment of t-shirts or tote bags is practical, fun and incredibly gratifying.

Students should come to the workshops with a bold black and white drawing, a high-contrast photo, or a digital design. While Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop files are great, students can also bring a Microsoft Word file or a high-contrast photocopy. After students refine the artwork (as needed) to be “print-ready”, students will expose their image onto a pre-coated photographic screen and mix their own custom ink color.

Everyone should bring five items of their choosing to print. As long as they are fabric and flat, we can help you print on it! Shirts, tote bags, tea towels, bandanas, and thrift store jean jackets will all work great. Leave with a surprise gift for a friend, or an eco-friendly alternative to plastic bags!

March 23 | Screenprinting Refresher & Authorization (4 Hours)

Note: Experience is required to take this refresher class.

This refresher & authorization workshop welcomes students with previous screenprinting experience who are feeling out-of-practice or fuzzy regarding the finer points of the process, or who have never printed at Spudnik before, and want familiarity with our facilities and offerings. Students should have already completed a one-day workshop or full class, although it need not have been at Spudnik. We also welcome printers that would like support working through a particularly complex project or reoccurring printing issue.

The class will review an assortment of skills such as selecting the best mesh count, applying the perfect coat of photo emulsion, troubleshooting and diagnosing exposure and printing issues, ink mixing, registration, and screen reclamation. Equally as importantly, we will address how to consider these technical factors and limitations when designing a project for printing.

During the workshops, each student will expose a screen, and work with peers to print a two-color image designed to hone nuanced printing skills. Students are welcome to bring specific questions about their next project.

To help build printing confidence at Open Studio sessions, students are invited to return within the week to put their freshly acquired knowledge to use. Through this workshop, students will not only brush up on old skills and become authorized to print at Spudnik, but are sure to walk away with new morsels of useful information regarding the art of screenprinting.

April 5 | Screenprinting on Fabric (4 Weeks)

This course introduces the full process of printing on fabric and garments, from coating and exposing screens to printing, reclaiming, and editioning. Students will print on flat fabric and apparel using both print tables and a T-shirt press, learning how images behave on different materials.

The class emphasizes hands-on practice, repeat printing, and registration, with time set aside for experimentation. Students will leave with a finished garment or small edition and the confidence to work independently in the screenprinting studio. Throughout the class, students are encouraged to bring their own fabric and garments to print on as well.

April 6 | Intro to Screenprinting (4 Weeks)

Screenprinting is an art form known for its bold graphics and versatility. It is an approachable art form, yet has many facets to explore and master. This foundational screenprinting class introduces all the basic skills to get someone new to the process up and running, creating art on both paper and fabric. 

A selection of projects will offer students the opportunity to produce prints from drawings, digital designs, and found or photographic imagery. Students will become familiar with the full process from selecting the right screen for the job, to dark room exposure, to mixing inks, to printing, to reclaiming the screens. With support from an experienced printer, students will practice printing and (equally important) troubleshooting.

By the end of this class, students will know their way around the print shop and be authorized to continue printing independently at Spudnik Press  through our Open Studio program.