Creative DIY with Silk Screen Printing on Koola Singgah by Koola Stuffa
Reaching the eight years’ journey after it was being established in 2009, creative people at Koola Stuffa bring their creative movement on the road with a program called “Koola Singgah”. The brand which is known for its unique design and pattern were founded by Dedy Kurniawan and his wife, Widya Putri Mada. The general concept is to make the pattern or artwork that could only be found on art galleries to be translated into products that could be worn or used daily. Koola Singgah itself is a program that has just popped up this year and Koola Stuffa aim to set up a pop up shop and workshop in several cities in collaboration with local co-working space or coffee shop. The first city that Koola Singgah visited was Malang on 25 – 26 March 2017, collaborating with Gartenhaus Co-Working Space as the venue.
On 26 March 2017, we joined the silk screen printing workshop with Dedy as the coach to teach us how to print pattern using very simple technique and ingredients. Koola Stuffa have prepared some tools and then necessary equipment like wooden frame/screen for the printing, three layers of cloth, brush, paper, pencil, plastic cup, and also a manual filled with a brief explanation about screen printing and painting technique. Dedy elaborates, “Screen printing usually needs a specific equipment to make a product, but this time we will use easily found materials without using that specific equipment.” We went on to make the icons on a piece of paper. The icons were then arranged to form a pattern as desired. He said that we did not have to make a complicated shape for the pattern and use a very simple one instead.
The next step was to make a dough which consists of a substance named Bremol Tex. It is a highly sensitive substance that reacts to UV lights. It was used to cover the area that does not have the pattern. Dedy mixed two elements from the substance that resulted in a pale yellow dough which was distributed to the participants of the workshop. We had to spread it all over the frame and pattern that we have arrange using a brush. But this was not an easy step to do, since the screen’s surface allowed the substance to seep through so the color was not spread smoothly like painting on a canvas. Taking between an hour and an hour and a half, the process that needed to be done next was drying the cloth. Since it was already night time, and there was a little rain happening, the committee used a hair dryer to fasten the step.
The last method was coloring the screen. It was a hard process since we had to be patient to find the right color and be able to fill all the space, but after a while we got a colorful pattern as the result. By holding this silk screen printing workshop, Koola Stuffa want to spread the DIY virus and remind us that it is an easy thing to do at home without using complex methods or difficult equipment. On the previous day, Koola Stuffa also held a workshop class to do embroidery and painting on a clutch. Koola Singgah will later visit other cities like Jakarta from 8 – 9 April 2017 and Semarang from 29 – 30 April 2017. For you who do not want to join the art classes, you can also visit their pop up shop since they also bring several cute items like scarf, clothes, or totebag that is available to purchase. Follow their Instagram @koolastuffa to catch up with their latest creative moves!
Reporter: Niza Fitri/Editor: Novita Widia
