Art Gallery Fabrics starts HERE.
December 02, 2010
Raise your hand if you don't like getting fresh new fabric delivered to your door...
No hands? I thought so.
We all love it when we hear a knock (or a ring!) on the doors and it's the UPS man with a pack filled with gorgeous, beautiful new fabric. But sometimes we get so carried away with the glamorous aspect of the fabric that we forget about the immense process that takes place before we get our crafty hands on it...
And where does this process take place? In our case, all the way in Asia. And off they went again the two loves of my life: my hubby Walter and my son Alex (for him was his first trip) to get up close and personal with Art Gallery Fabrics in the making.
The process is super interesting! I could describe it step by step but seeing it in pictures is a little better, right?
This is where it all begins: the big fat blank roll of fabric.
Behind each inspiring color there's someone who spends all day mixing paint by hand looking for the exact tone... impressive, huh? This process is made for each of the colors involved in one print!
Isn't this machine amazing??
After they find the exact colors, the screen-printing process begins...
Many screens! One for each color.
Only one small section of the fabric is printed each time the squeegee covers the screen... so imagine printing thousands of yards!
Once all colors are applied, the printing is done! Recognize this one? This is the before...
And after! "Soft tiny buds" from the "Paradise" collection ready to roll!
And voila! Fresh new fabric ready to ship.
More fabric!, but this time is "Dreaming in French"
Isn't it awesome to see how it's done? There are many other steps in this process that would take me hours to explain, but everything together involves a lot of hard working people from both sides of the isle... My son Alex was fascinated; he took zillions of pictures of our fabrics in progress... For me, it's the closest thing to actually being there (I don't know how I feel about the 24 hour flight haha!)
It's really cool that they got to see everything in action, but I must confess something: I'M SO GLAD THEY'RE BACK!!
Talk to you soon!
Love,
Pat.
