Hand silk screened cards | Botanical photo cards | Christmas designs | Web design | Gardens
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Card Designs
I've had fun creating card designs for many years. My work falls into three groups and a sample of each is shown below - there are many more designs on each gallery page
Silk screening is a stencil-based process.
- For each separate color, I create a positive (black on clear acetate).
- The positive is placed on photosensitive stencil film (on an inert backing) and exposed to light
- The stencil is developed and washed under a stream of water
- Areas that were exposed to light harden and resist washing
- Areas that were blocked from light wash out
- The stencil is then embedded in fabric (originally silk, hence the name, now polyester), stretched over a wooden frame.
- When the stencil is dry, the backing is peeled off and the fabric holds all the areas of the stencil together.
- Thick ink is placed on top of the screen
- A squeegee is run over the screen and ink passes through all the open areas of the stencil ( sometimes other places too!)
- This process is repeated for each separate color in the design.
Computer graphics
A number of years ago I began using computer graphics for designing and I have created a number of different designs.
The WI wildflowers, Madison Mosaic and Madison Campus Landmarks designs were all created from photos that I took.
For the Christmas designs some elements come from things I've photographed and some are complete products of my imagination (with the capacity for creating, changing . . . allowed by computer graphics it allows me lots of chances to keep trying until I get it right).
All of my original computer graphics designs are then commercially printed for me, here in Madison.
I love photography and gardens - what better way to mix the two than photos of flowers!
Over the years my parents and I took many wildflower walks in the area. After I got my own camera I began capturing a lot of the flowers I saw in photographs.
Someof the subjects of these photos are in natural areas such as the UW Arboretum, some were taken during the years I lived in NY State and some are in my own yard.
Photos of the Madison area and our beautiful Capitol building are also among my favorites.