MATTAPOISETT — The Mattapoisett Free Public Library held a screen printing workshop for all ages on Wednesday, July 7.

Michelle Skaar, the librarian who planned and led the event, said that screen printing is the kind of arts and crafts project she would want to do at home, so she thought it would make a great library event.

“It was a lot to put together,” she said, explaining that the screens had to be homemade using empty picture frames with pieces of window screens sewed in because purpose-built screens were too expensive. “But luckily we had some materials left over from when we did it in 2019.”

Robin Abdallah-Doukkara and her daughter Maitea had fun decorating clothing with their chosen designs: cherry blossoms for Robin and a spray paint can for Maitea.

“It looked really cool and I thought I could use a lot of colors on it,” said Maitea of her choice of stencil.

Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a mesh screen partially covered by a stencil to transfer an image, usually onto paper or cloth.

“You scrape paint down over the stencil and then when you have the design, you lift it up and you’ve got your image,” said Skaar.