Making “Hand” Bags
A while back I scored a Gocco from a friend. A Gocco is a novel screen printing kit from Japan that’s no longer in production. I stowed it away in our office, waiting for a good project to bring it out. Today was that project.
I wanted to do something cool for Fray’s first subscribers. Since this issue’s theme is “Busted” and contains a story from Joe Loya about his last bank robbery, I decided to make custom money bags.
So I got a bunch of cotton bags that look like the canvas bags you see in cartoons. Then I took Kevin Cornell’s amazing hand illustration that’s on the cover, separated it into red and black layers, and printed each of them on the inkjet.
I made Xerox copies of each (you need a toner print for the next step). From those, I made the Gocco screens. It’s an adorable process - you just put the design in the device and clamp it down to blow two old fashioned flashbulbs. The flash creates the screen.
Then you just put in some ink and you’re printing. It’s easy and fun, and each print has a unique handmade feel.
We’re planning to make all kinds of fun things to send to Friends of Fray to express our thanks for their support. Plus, it’s a great excuse to do crafty projects like this.
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