Continuing Screen Printing Development

Using the images that I had edited, I chose to use the blue rice packaging called Tilda and the flour packaging called Elephant as these are the brands that we have at home and consume on a regular basis, and I feel that this way, I have a personal connection with the work, as it has not been intentional but I feel I am exploring my culture and heritage through food, even if it is the packaging. 

When I experimented with the manu text as a background, and printed the floral and architectural design on top, there seemed to be too much going on and the focus and attention of the viewer was diverted from what I wanted the attention to be focused on which is the design, not the background. So, I thought instead of manu text, using the edited line drawings of the packaging as the background. I got the line drawings put onto acetate and then onto screens ready for printing.
I had been thinking about what I wanted to do for my final piece, and the materials that I want to use. I don't want to just create a sari because that has been done numerous amounts of times and is still being done now as I had a vague idea in the back of my mind that it could be a possible outcome. However, whilst I've been experimenting with these different techniques and methods, I have considered other ideas such as over sized scarves that can be draped as saris, but hung and worn as scarves as well. After looking at and considering the different material to use, muslin is an obvious choice for one of them, as it is a lightweight material, and can be screen printed onto as I have used it to print on with manu text. As it is a very thin material, whilst screen printing, I need a backing material as the print will also be on this.
I also had to think about the colours that I was going to use. I didn't want to use bright colours as that didn't seem to work, and I wanted to create a subtle sophisticated look. The colours that I decided on eventually after experimenting with the pigments and putting too much in. I took to the packaging for inspiration for the colours.

It took a lot of experimenting playing around with the composition for me to understand how this would work. I would be doing a random print, and this is where you do not measure out exactly where you are going to print what, you do it as you go along. This was a challenge for me as I like to know where I am going to print something before I do it, as the risk with this method is that there is a chance that the composition doesn't work, and you have already printed, so there isn't anything you can do about it. I sampled this technique on muslin, and decided I would go ahead with it. I decided then that I wanted to make over sized scarves for my final piece, which could be draped as a garment or worn/hung as a scarf, and one of the materials I would use is muslin and screen print onto it. I also decided I wanted to have perhaps 4 or 5 of these scarves. The would be 3 meters long and about half a meter wide. This way I would be able to experiment with the screen printing process, and I thought it was an effective technique to use. 

The last few photos above are of the muslin length I printed onto as one of my final pieces. It was a random print so took a while to do as every time I printed once, I had to stop and think about where the next print was going to go. Overall, I was pleased with the result, and I think this method/technique is worth the time it takes to think about each print. However, the edges are all rough where the material has been cut so I will need to take it in on the sewing machine as I don't like the rough edges, I feel it takes away from the piece itself.
Also, when I was doing my test prints, my designs were all on the same screen, it was really big and I had to keep masking off the areas I didn't want to use. This became really time consuming, and I had to have all my designs on separate screens, so I wouldn't have to mask   off as much and would be able to get on with the printing, so when it came to doing the large 3 meter piece, I made sure they were on different screens. 

I hadn't realised that the print would be exactly the same as it was on the muslin, on the backing piece, and when I realised this, I kept the backing piece as I thought there was more I could do with that, work back into it - sew and embroider some of the floral motifs back in.