Meteor Heart Printing is a small manual press shop in Portland, OR run by one woman, Katie Krussel. I offer water-based ink prints on fabric and paper items that are responsibly sourced. My goal is to help you grow your project culturally and financially (to sell ALL of your items, if selling is what you're doing) and to feel good about the materials and process used. Read more about my environmentally-conscious practices here.
Metor Heart offers up to four colors in any one design, multiple print locations on the same item, and some of the softest, brightest ink in the biz. The advantage of water-based inks is that they contain fewer chemicals and end up with a softer, more breathable hand on fabric. They look and feel more natural, yet can come out just as bright and clean as their rougher alternative, plastisol (more ink info here).
My mindful practices and small operation ensure that I'm efficient and balanced and, in turn, actually offering you competitive prices and sensitive, one-on-one attention to details.
Metor Heart offers up to four colors in any one design, multiple print locations on the same item, and some of the softest, brightest ink in the biz. The advantage of water-based inks is that they contain fewer chemicals and end up with a softer, more breathable hand on fabric. They look and feel more natural, yet can come out just as bright and clean as their rougher alternative, plastisol (more ink info here).
My mindful practices and small operation ensure that I'm efficient and balanced and, in turn, actually offering you competitive prices and sensitive, one-on-one attention to details.
About Me + Why I Screen Print
Hi! I'm Katie! Like many, my first exposure to screen printing was through musical things like band posters, t-shirts, and album art.
After my first experiences screen printing for other bands and selling screen printed items, I realized that I could take it seriously, as the process is right on track with my goals and the goals of people I talk to, such as:
After my first experiences screen printing for other bands and selling screen printed items, I realized that I could take it seriously, as the process is right on track with my goals and the goals of people I talk to, such as:
- Connecting with your community
- Offering others something colorful, bold, and beautiful
- Showing up to your community and the greater world with visibility
- Receiving encouragement and affirmation by seeing a tangible interest in your work.
- Getting plenty of funding so you can keep doing what you love.
SCREEN PRINTING: WHAT IT IS!
Here's some technical background about screen printing. Screen printing is great for reaching large numbers of people because it's consistent, the images are easily reproducible on many surfaces; and yet, it's personal, artistic, and handmade. The ink is often hand-pulled and comes out brighter and more varied than a digital printer. Plus, you can achieve clean lines, an astounding amount of detail, AND it gets cheaper the more you produce.
When creating your design, keep in mind that it will need to be translated to solid black and white in some way or another. Every part of the image must be totally black in order to create the screen, but then you can choose any color of the rainbow for your ink to make your image pop in whatever style you like.
The name screen printing, AKA silk screening, has been given for the use of mesh screens as stencils in this process. Screen mesh used to be made from silk fibers, while nowadays the popular material is synthetic. Printers cover the screen with thin coat of light-sensitive emulsion that hardens when exposed to UV light. Placing a totally black image printed on transparency paper flat on the screen while exposing prevents the black parts of the image from being hardened. The rest of the screen does harden, and then the printer washes away the un-hardened parts with pressurized water. What remains is the image as blank space in the screen, through which printers push the ink of any desired color using squeegees, onto items made of cotton, paper, plastic, and other material.
This is a very basic explanation of the screen printing process. If you have more specific questions, please e-mail me at [email protected].
This is a very basic explanation of the screen printing process. If you have more specific questions, please e-mail me at [email protected].