Peach Berserk is a Toronto institution. Even if you haven't ventured into the colour and print madness that is the Queen Street store, it manages to catch your eye. Kingi Carpenter is the Queen of the Silkscreen. She has workshops, a ready-to-wear clothing line, and provides custom designs (you can choose from numerous different patterns in the Peach Berserk pattern bible).

Kingi, with the help of Annalisa Danowski, has taken her vast knowledge on the subject of silkscreening and has channeled it into book called Silkscreen Now. Kingi, being an enterprising person, decided to go the self-publishing route for the book, and it can be purchased directly from the Peach Berserk website.

I attended the launch party for the book, and checked out some silkscreening demos. Anyone wearing a plain shirt (provided they didn't mind stripping it off) was able to get a free silkscreen print. Unfortunately, I missed out on the fashion that was put on.

I love the final product in the process of silkscreening, but I have no desire to get messy - and that kept me from buying a copy of the book for myself. I did look through it, though. It's easy to read and has a lot of visuals (which is something I always look for in how-to books). Kingi gives you all the basic steps to set up your own silkscreen shop. Silkscreen Now also includes an instructional DVD.