Screen printing studio in Zaježová

At the end of summer 2023, the young screen printing lecturer Tomáš Brichta, with the help of the youth leader, organized two full-day screen printing workshops for young people in the Zaježovská workshop.

The aim of the workshop was to highlight fast fashion and learn how to creatively recycle worn clothes.

A group of young people had the opportunity to learn a new graphic technique - practically in the form of printing their own designs on recycled clothing.

At the screen printing workshop, participants had the opportunity to print unique pieces of recycled clothing with their own design, screen printing technology and see the entire process of preparing screen printing screens. The participants had the opportunity to be creative, as everyone created their own original design, which they implemented during the all-day workshop. Some participants drew directly on the foil, and the lecturer helped some the previous day with the preparation of digital designs in the form of a photo or photo collage processed into a grid.

In practice, they gave a new design to clothes that would otherwise end up in the trash, in the form of printing. When all the designs were ready, the participants lit them on the sieves that the lecturer had coated with a light-sensitive emulsion the day before. After the participants washed and dried the sieves, they gradually printed their creative subjects on the T-shirts.

"Despite the fact that most of the participants were printing for the first time, they did very well and created very interesting pieces of clothing, and we all had fun and learned new things the whole time. Everyone managed to print everything they wanted by the evening." said Tomáš Brichta, lecturer.

During the workshop, participants also discussed the impact of the textile industry on the environment and the possibilities of reusing and recycling worn clothing. New contacts were also made within the group of young people who had the opportunity to work together throughout the day. The participants were satisfied with the workshop and would like to participate in a similar event in the future.

The program:

• introduction - presentation of the screen printing technique and its possibilities

• selection of recycled clothing suitable for printing

• discussion on the benefits of reusing and redesigning worn clothing

• participants who did not have pre-prepared designs - the possibility of creation - using the foil drawing technique

• lighting screen printing screens and their subsequent washing

• lunch/snack

• printing on recycled clothing

• evaluation of the activity, final circle

  We implemented the event through the Zaježovňa project, which was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic in the field of youth work, which is administered by NIVAM - the National Institute of Education and Youth