Esparto, CA

I started Odd Petals DIY Creative Resources because of my experience as a touring musician. What began as a way to design, print, and distribute merch for my own band quickly grew into a full-time project. Now it’s the home of my original artwork, graphic design, portable handmade poster presses, and of course, screen printing services. While I provide tons of in-house support and services to clients, the DIY ethos is extremely important to everything I do. I love teaching musicians and artists how to take more command of their merchandise, and showing them that anyone can make and enjoy art.

While most of my day-to-day involves printing art and designs for other people, creating original art and music is still a huge part of my life. I take inspiration from all over the place, particularly the natural world, woodcuts, and old sci-fi covers. I sometimes use found objects from hikes, like leaves and wildflowers, to create temporary screens and limited, one-of-a-kind prints. In fact, the name of my business derives from the old flower petal tradition: the odd petals mean they love you. For me, Odd Petals is about creating a community of tons of different types of artists, makers, and creatives, by bringing them together through the art of screen printing.

WHY ALDEN JOINED THE SPEEDBALL DEMO ARTIST PROGRAM

Screen printing is such a multi-dimensional art form, and is so accessible to different kinds of artists that learning it is almost like learning a universal language. When I saw that Speedball was putting together a program to teach others that language, I had to be involved. I am excited to join the Speedball Demo Artist team because it allows me to combine my passions of printing and teaching this fun and versatile art form to others who can use it to explore their own creativity. I look forward to answering questions from other DIY printers as well as seeing how thrilled people are when they get to pull their first screen print.

AVAILABLE DEMONSTRATION FORMATS

Tabletop / Open to Public Events
Lecture Demonstrations
Workshops

Images of Work

Techniques

Screen Printing

Favorite Products

My favorite Speedball products are their inks. Speedball offers a wide variety of bold, vivid colors that stand out on any substrate. The heavy pigmentation of their acrylic inks not only allows for a striking print straight out of the bottle, but when coupled with their transparent and extender bases, these inks can be fine tuned to any level of opacity for those who enjoy a softer color pallet. Their water based inks for shirts create a print that is as soft to the touch as it is crisp to the eye.