The Printing Process

Printed by hand in Chillicothe, Missouri

Every Salty Hippo Studio panel begins with marks made by hand and is screen printed in small batches in our downtown studio.

The process is hands-on from beginning to end. We cut the fabric, prepare the screens, mix the ink, pull each print, heat-set the finished fabric, and get every panel ready to send out into the world.

It starts with a mark

A design might begin with ink and a brush, a cut piece of paper, a photograph, or an interesting texture I notice somewhere along the way.

I’m drawn to irregular lines, unexpected shapes, and the kinds of marks that show how something was made. Some designs come together quickly. Others are cut apart, rearranged, printed again, and pushed in a completely different direction before they feel right.

The finished artwork is then separated into layers—one for each color—and prepared for the screens.

From artwork to screen

Screen printing works a little like a stencil. The artwork is exposed onto a fine mesh screen, leaving open areas where the ink will pass through.

Each ink color requires its own screen. For a two-color design, the screens must be carefully aligned so the second layer lands in the right place over the first. A tiny shift can change the way the marks overlap, which is part of what gives a hand-printed fabric its character.

Mixing the color

Before printing begins, the ink is mixed and tested against the fabric.

A color can look completely different in the container than it does printed over White, Shadow, Chalkboard, Doeskin, or one of our other Kona® Cotton base colors. It often takes several adjustments—and a growing pile of test prints—to get the combination just right.

Pulling the print

The fabric is placed beneath the screen, ink is added, and a squeegee is pulled firmly across the surface. The ink moves through the open areas of the screen and onto the fabric below.

Then the screen is lifted and the process begins again for the next panel. Multicolor designs are printed one layer at a time, with every piece aligned by hand.

Because each panel is individually printed, you may see small shifts in placement, changes in ink coverage, or other slight variations. Those differences aren’t flaws; they’re part of the process and part of what makes each piece distinct.

Setting the ink

Once printed, the panels are heat-set to cure the ink into the fabric. This makes the finished print washable and ready to be cut, pieced, quilted, worn, and used.

After one last inspection, each panel is cut and prepared for its next destination—which is where your part of the process begins.

Made by our hands. Finished by yours.

I think of Salty Hippo fabric as the beginning of a collaboration. We create the print, but you decide what it becomes.

You might cut it into small pieces, use a design nearly whole, quilt through every line, or add a personal message with Quilt Tattoo®. However you use it, the final work will carry the marks of both of us.