Printception – A Print within a print

My masters Degree project from Swedish School of Textiles, where the aim was to explore the possibility of having multiple patterns on a single textile surface by layering patterns in contrasting scale an printing techniques. The work sets out to explore a new way to approach historically common patterns to create a new and contemporary expression through the use of the three chosen pattern categories; floral, medallion and geometric. By exploring different scales within the textile, motifs can hide in plain sight depending on the observers distance towards the textile.

This concept is most clearly seen when you look at the textiles from a distance and then move closer towards it. From afar a floral motif is depicted but as you move closer, it dissolves into pieces of a geometric pattern with no flower to be seen.

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Jacquard knitted textiles with transfer print. 320×130 cm

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Transfer Print and
Screen Print

These two textiles are made as a set. The big pink peonies and the dark blue damask where digitally printed using Sublimation Transfer Print.
Then I screen printed on top of the digital print with my own recipe of puff paste and neon yellow florescent pigment.
It results in a print that is dark yellow and appears to be an underlying layer to the transfer print before it’s heated. After the puff paste is activated by steam the colour changes to a light pale yellow with a small dimensional texture. It does not rise too much due to the recipe blend.
In this way I can create an optical effect where the screen print appears to be laying underneath or above the transfer print by not heating the print everywhere, but only at parts of it with a steamer as the picture to the left demonstrates.