Tuesday Tutorial: Screen Print

(obviously that needs a trim still)

Today I'm going to talk about my absoloute love.

Screen print.

Now this one probably isn't as easy to do than the other Tuesday Tutorials I've done, but I thought I'd go over the process and if you're interested a lot of colleges and universities run courses on screenprinting.

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First of all you need to make up some artwork.

I did a lot of experamenting with circle patterns for mine.

Next you need to transfer your artwork onto Kodatrace or acetates.

There are several different ways to do this but in these pictures the first one I did with Photo Opaque and the second one is Chinagraph Pencil.

Next place your acetates or Kodatraces on the top of the exposure unit (like a giant very bright light box).

Next place the screens on top (I don't have a photo of that because the coating is photo sensitive and the flash might ruin it)

Close the lid and turn on the vacum and then wait until it is "cooked"

Next remove the lid. Your screens will still look kind of greenish but you should have a faint pattern.

 Next you will need to wash all of the green off your screen, this is quite a long process but if it's not done propperly then the dyes won't go through the screen.

Next use gum strip around the sides of the screen so that the dyes won't leak through at the edges of the screen.

Next you are ready to mix your dyes or inks (mine starts of a weird beige colour because I was using Puff binder, but mixing most inks and dyes for screen print are generally mixed the same)

Now you're ready to print.

Apply firm, even pressure to the squeegee and drag it accross the screen (usually about three- five times)

Lift your screen!

Voila!

Make sure you give your screen a good wash to get rid of any extra dye lurking in the screen.

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Have you ever screen printed before?

How did it go?

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A song that reminds you of your best friend

Obsessive Compulsive on Thursday, Dressed to Kill on Friday

On Thursday I went to see Obsessive Compulsive at Hym in Newcastle (unfortunately I'm made of fail and didn't get any photos of them).

I first saw Obsessive Compulsive a few months back at Trashstock in Nottingham, and loved them

there but they had a really short set :(

I was delighted to hear that they would be playing for longer at Hym.

Seeing them do a full set this time was really awesome, but I'm starting to think they might be, you know, to good because it still didn't feel like long enough.

I'd totally recomend this band to anybody who likes the Distillers because they have a similar sound, but without being a carbon copy.

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Friday was an odd one!

I went out with my mam (something we've been doing quite a bit lately, how lucky am I? My mam is super cool :) ).

We went out to go see Dressed To Kill, a KISS tribute band at Legends(also in Newcastle), followed by the Hellfire club night, but really strange things distracted us on the way!

Like this giant inflatable lobster!

Awww he looks so sad half deflated like that :'(

The statue in Trillians's new wig and glasses (bad photo I'm sorry).

Santa made from Lego!

Aaaaaaaaaaand Santa's workshop!

When we did finally get to Legends I discovered that my shoes disagreed with the floor (it's sticky, my shoes stuck to the floor and my feet kept walking 0_o).

I saw the real KISS at the beginning of the Summer (to be perfectly honest, I'm not all that keen on their music, but it was a seriously good show!), so I went in assuming that a tribute band would be a bit lame.

How wrong I was, they were fantastic, a very close second to the real KISS!

They even had fire...In Legends! YAY FIRE!

My mam is a massive KISS fan (she went to see them when she was pregnant with me, she also went to see The Mission, therefore I am more rock and more Goth than you'll ever be ;) ), and she seemed to enjoy herself, and was incredibly happy when I suddenly dived to the ground and picked up a plectrum for her (they glow in the dark! wooo!).

All in all a fabulous night was had :D

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Disqus seems to have fixed the comment problems, I managed to get some comments yesterday, woo and or hoo!

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Day 16: Your favourite hair accessories

Day 17: Your favourite hairstyle

Day 18: Your hair with falls

Day 19: Your hair with Princess Leia buns

I still haven't done the rag curls, but I will get around to it. I wasn't able to do the Leia buns correctly either because I don't have enough hair yet :(

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Today's question:

What is your opinion on Tribute acts? Do you find them good for almost getting the experience of seeing a band that you can't, or do you find them a bit pointless?

Nazis in my Lolita???

Metamorphose seem to have created somewhat of a fuss with their latest design (although judging by the apology statement, they seem to have withdrawn the line)

Personally I understand how it has upset some people, but I myself don't share in the outrage.

I do see the Nazi influence in the logo on the hat, but other than that and maybe the eye-patch in the black version I see more of a Soviet influence in this. I didn't look at the whole outfit image and think "OMG THEY MADE LOLITA NAZIS REAL!", I thought, "Oh Soviet influence" until I saw the hat.

Even so, I can't really complain as I own this T-Shirt:

Which also features a similar eagle motif on the flags.

People have been using Nazi motifs on not Nazi clothing for years now.

Siouxsie Sioux often wore an unaltered Swastika during the early days of punk.

"..."The culture around then," she explains, "it was Monty Python, Basil Fawlty, Freddie Starr, The Producers- 'Springtime For Hitler'." She kicks out her leg in a mock goosestep. "It was very much Salon Kitty. It was used as a glamour thing. And you know what?" she sighs." I have to be honest but I do like the Nazi uniform. I shouldn't say it but I think it's a very good-looking uniform."..." (click for interview)


I have to say, I agree with her. The actual Nazi uniform was a very good looking uniform, and so it should be, it was designed by Hugo Boss!

I have the opinion that yes the Nazi were one of the most horrific marks on the pages of history and yes Hitler was a maniac, but a cut of clothing is not to blame for that, and it would be a shame to see that dissapear forever because of them.

Another point I'd like to raise:

If it's not ok to wear things inspired by Nazi uniforms, why is it ok to dress as a pirate?

Pirates were not the romanticised "Jack Sparrow's" or "Captain Blood's", they were (and still are in parts of the world), ruthless criminals.

Francois L'Ollonais  had entire towns full of people tortured and murdered for his own amusement.

Why is it ok to wear Tudor style clothing?

Mary Tudor is estimated to have had 300 people executed and 800 people exiled because they were Protestant. (link).

Roman style elements come into fashion every few ears (usually during the summer), The Roman Empire concered much of Europe, Africa and Asia, killing and enslaving anybody who fought back. 

In 64 AD, under their then Emperor Nero, they began an attempt to wipe out the Christians.

Their symbol was an Eagle, and they reputedly served as a great inspiration to Hitler. 

None of these people killed quite as many as the Nazis, but does that  mean that if someone more tyrannical came along and wiped out even more people it would then be ok to wear clothing inspired by the Nazis?

Is it because all of these other people were longer ago, so it becomes ok to romanticise them because nobody remembers them personally?

Personally I quite like the Meta outfit, although I do think it looks a bit costumey to be Lolita, and I don't think it's something I could see myself wearing as an every day thing, although it would be quite cool to wear to a Hanzel Und Gretyl gig.

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What are your opinions on Meta's faux paux?

Do you have a similar opinion to mine or do you disagree completely?

(I know this is quite a controversial topic so I'm going to ask that everybody tries to respect one another, no flaming lease, lets be adults about this).

Duck, duck, duck, VAMPIRE!

The Chandelier in The Res

I have returned!

First thing's first, happy Halloween everybody, and for the Pagans out there, happy new year :)

Secondly, you may remember I said that I was going to go and see Saw 3D on Thursday?

Well, I did, and I liked it, but I didn't like it as much as the others and I don't think they really utilised the 3D very well (although I did duck when the saw is being thrown across the room at the end).

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From Friday until this morning I was in Whitby, for the famous Goth weekend.

I have been once before, I went to the April event, but the one in October is bigger.

This time Kev and I stayed with our friends Meg and Panzer, and their friends Roy (who is a Magician!), Sylvia, Mark and Michelle.

Sylvia, Panzer, Meg, Roy, Michelle, Kev and me before Sexy Sunday

On Friday night Kev and I went to Raw for Wasteland, it was a good night, we both did some dancing. It was a little bit like Charnel House, but in a bigger venue and with better wallpaper.

Mirrored Flock is sexy love <3

Saturday, we looked around the Gothic market stalls in The Leisure Centre and the Spa (didn't get time to have a look at the Steampunk market in the Rifle Club).

Two of my fiends had stalls in the Leisure Centre this time, Queenie from Forever in Black 

And Penny Dreadful from Eccentricitea

(I promised not to caption this one "Penny's cups!" :D )

Unfortunately I didn't have any spending money this time (boo!), but hopefully next time I will have :)

That night we went to the Rifle Club for a night of Steampunk!

I didn't take any photos of the first band, Last July (I had a few camera issues on Saturday night).

I wasn't really all that keen on their sound myself, but you can't like everybody I suppose, and other people seemed to like them.

They were followed by the fabulous Alice Moving Under Skies

Who were amazing as always, despite Penny's sore throat.

They played a lot of the stuff I know and love (Dear Faith, Thirteen Years, Fighting For Strangers etc), but they also played a few new tracks, including "Bloodmyer" (inspired by my best friend of the same name), unfortunately my camera crapped out halfway through it so I only have half a recording of it, however if you're curious there is a recording that someone else took of them playing it here.

Finally the headliners were The Men Who Would Not Be Blamed For Nothing.

I'd heard their name batted around a few times before, but I'd never actually heard them before.

THEY WERE AMAZING!

I was really not expecting that kind of sound!

I suppose they could be described as very Metal Victorian Gents (Gent Metal?).

I was super duper impressed, unfortunately, no photos yet (there might be a couple I took with Kev's camera).

Also on Saturday I saw the most beautiful dress in the world ever:

Is that not the most fantastic outfit you ever saw?

She is Olivia Barnard-Firth, The Wicked Lady, from The Beautiful Deadly Children, who are another band I've heard of but not actually listened to yet (I really must though, it's rude to squee at someone's clothing and not listen to their band!)

On Sunday we all went out for Sunday dinner together, mine was a red pepper stuffed with wild mushroom risotto.

NOM NOM NOM

(I love mushrooms to start with, but wild mushrooms are a rare and delightful treat mmmmmmmm)

Then Kev, Michelle, Mark and I went to the Res and met Beth to watch the football.

I am a Sunderland supporter, Kev is a Newcastle supporter (well nobody is perfect ;) ) and we had joked that this match would cause our first argument (we have been together a year and a half now and never had a single argument), but nope no arguments :)

I was sorely disspointed by how poorly my team played (the final score was 5-1 to Newcastle), but well, we'll get 'em next time!

After that we all headed back to the flat and chilled out for a bit before getting ready for Sexy Sunday.

This time's Sexy Sunday was Vampire themed, so there were a lot of fangs and fake blood about.

The music played was pretty cool (bands such as Killing Miranda, The Sisters of Mercy, Apoptgyma Beserk,  Nine Inch Nails, Morttis and Bahaus to name but a few), and I did quite a lot of dancing (at some point the battery ran out in my left shoe though...I was wearing a pair of Pleaser pole dancing shoes with light up skull shapes in the heels).

This morning seemed to come far to early, it half seemed like we'd only just got there and off we were again packing to go home, oh well.

I had fun and hope to do it again sometime :)

(maybe next time I'll finally make it up to the abbey!)

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Day 12: A weird 90's hairstyle I never did find the name of.

I still don't know the name, but basically you twist sections of your hair and then pin it.

Day 14: A Hime Hairstyle

I totally failed at the plaits and backcomb so I ended up skipping that one. I wasn't able to curl my hair so mine is a straighter version than most. I got quite a few compliments for this one :)

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Today's question:

What did you do for Halloween?

Street Art

Day 18 - A picture of your room

Aaaaaand I'm all caught up again. Starting tomorrow I'll be back down to one post per day.

I enjoy looking at graffiti, it makes boring buildings look far more interesting.

"Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a dream, realise it. Life is a game, play it. Life is love, share it."

A lot of things are known about Ancient civilisations because of the graffiti they left behind. Almost all we know about day to day life in Ancient Egypt comes from things Archaeologists found scrawled on bits of wall in the town of the Pyramid workers.

  I wonder what future people will think of us?

 

Some of my favourite modern artists have a background in Graffiti. Around four years ago The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (clicky ), held an exhibit of street art, and there I saw and fell in love with the work of Shepherd Fairey.

As far as I'm aware to date, it's still the most attended exhibit they're ever had.

As part of it a lot of the featured artists also did artwork around Newcastle and Gateshead.

These above and below pieces are by Fairey and are in Heworth Metro station.

She that mourns

Day 04 - A picture of where you went today

Today I visited Bloodmyer, she made me tea, took some photos and showed me her amazing Decoden prototypes, hopefully I will have something of hers to review at some point because they truly are beautiful.

It was fun to chill out with my bestie for the first time in ages :D

As I said yesterday, she was going to take some photos for me to use in a Halloween themed photo competition.

My original idea was based on the both sweet and morbid Victorian practice of Post Mortem Photography.

In the early days of photography it cost an awful lot to actually have your photograph taken and most people weren't able to justify the cost during their lifetimes and so it became practice to have a photo taken of a loved one when they died.

I do find it very sweet that people wanted to remember their loved ones, but some of these images can be very moving.

The following link has quite a good collection of them for those who are interested (warning, a lot of the subjects are children, so if you are easily upset by that kind of thing please do not click):

http://brightbytes.com/collection/memento.html

For my second image I was inspired by early hoax "Spirit" photography

Almost as soon as photography became popular people found a way to exploit the vulnerable with it.

Not long after World War One ended hoax spirit photography became really popular.

The idea was that the camera could capture images of the mourner's deceased loved one(s) under certain conditions, in reality in most cases the negatives were double exposed.

Eventually a lot of these charletons were found out when mourners realised the "spirits" looked nothing like their loved ones, but often resembled the photographer's assistants.

There are some examples of this here:

http://brightbytes.com/collection/spirit.html

I need to do some editing on the photos to make them look old (and to remove the shine from the baby's head) but I decided to share to preview images with you from today's shoot: