Since taking part in a screen-printing evening class some years ago, I became hooked on T-shirt design and printing methods. Printing a fresh design onto a blank shirt is a satisfying process with near limitless possibilities. With due care it is possible to reproduce an image designed on Photoshop (or even manually drawn) on fabric to exact detail. What you have at the end is a piece of artwork that you can wear- proudly knowing that you're wearing something totally original, a one-off production inaccessible to the rest of the world. And the best part is it cost next to nothing.

 

Naturally, getting to grips with silkscreen printing wasn't where I wanted this journey to end. I am fascinated by process, and the way in which raw materials can be transformed into something new by following simple steps. Limited by a tight student budget, very few resources and a 'studio' (bathroom) the size of a matchbox, I was determined to continue producing original shirt designs. What I lacked in resources I made up for with creativity, determination and stupidity.

 

So my inventory consisted of scraps of card, rubber bands, masking tape and err... toilet bleach.

 

It's disconcerting to think how many t-shirts I have ruined through accidental chemical splashes. Discoloured patches and even a few holes burnt from careless acid use in art school (nobody got hurt) were the fate of many a beloved shirt. But this got me thinking, is it possible to use chemicals like this in a more controlled way, so that designs can be created not by adding colour, but removing from what is already there? Unfortunately the really exciting chemicals are generally not available to the world at large. I can't think why. In any case, cheap household bleach seemed to be the appropriate weapon of choice.

 

I was now working in a way that completely contradicted all the things I had been taught in screen-printing class. My process was organic, uncontrolled, unplanned and the final outcome totally unforeseeable. No test runs, no sample pieces, nothing. Just a few crisp new T-shirts at the mercy of whatever was about to get thrown at them.

 

Many brave t-shirts were 'lost' in the madness. But a few survived to tell the tale.