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Keeping your details intact!

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Washing out screens to minimize detail blowout:   Like everything, there is a multitude of ways a thing can be done, but some are better than others.  Washing out screens after exposure is one of those things.  When exposed to light, the exposed emulsion hardens, where it has been shielded from UV light it remains soft and responsive to being washed out of the screen mesh.  That quality is at the heart of modern screen printing.  The emulsion will also harden progressivly through it's profile, with the emulsion nearest the light source being harder than the emulsion deeper in through the film thickness. This progressive hardening can be used to the screen printer's advantage in that washing out an image from the "hard" side, into the mesh can be done much more aggressively than from the "soft" side of the emulsion. The TLDR? Spray out your image from the hard side of the emulsion to retain your detail!  Spraying out from the softe...
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Fixing pinholes in an exposed screen

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There are times where defects show up in the finished screen.  In some recent screens I've noticed some pinholes in critical areas of the screen.  This probably comes from not enough effort degreasing my screens after reclamation.  While that's good to keep in mind for a future screen, I want to get going with today's printing!  Fortunately, the fix for pinholes is easy.  Use some unexposed emulsion and a paintbrush and paint the pinholes over.  Then put the screen back in the exposure unit (without artwork) and re-expose the screen to harden the painted in areas.  Pre-existing emulsion areas can benefit from post-hardening and the filled in areas will be repaired.  The screen will be ready to print in five minutes or so.  Good for minor repair and better than starting over!
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Project: Process color event poster.

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My first CMYK print.  A combination of hand drawing and scanned images prepared for four color process printing.  Of all the printing tricks and techniques CMYK prints are the most fun.
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Project: convert a photo into CMYK process print

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For this project a portion of a photograph was scanned and color separations made in Photoshop.  Screens then created for each "plate" in a process color print.  The leaf dot size was set a 4px while the black background was set at 8px. The Original Photograph An Intermediate Step: Processing in Software. The Final Print
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Project: Screen Printing without creating a positive / master image.

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This was one of my beginning projects and uses a single screen, drawing fluid and screen block for the catfish.  A hand cut stencil was taped to a screen for the background pattern.  No emulsion, exposure equipment or computers were used for this project.
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Project: create a piece in a style different from your own.

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"Season's End" was created to feature a subject using only shapes and minimal use of lines.  It was framed and subsequently sold a auction.
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Project: Design a piece with a randomly assigned subject.

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"The Ace of Pentacles" was created for a show where the tarot card subject was drawn at random.  The artist was tasked with creating a new card for an original deck.  In this case, a new Ace of Pentacles.
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Project: Learn a T-Shirt Press.

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Learning another printing technology. A first attempt at printing on fabric.  Four color water based textile ink.  Tea towels used here, cheaper than t-shirts for first try stuff!
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Project: Sketchbooks

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Making Idea Pads / Sketchbooks A practical solution for scraps, misprints or good prints!
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Project: Printing Coffee Mugs on a Cylinder Printer.

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Learning a new printing process.  Actually several new techniques.  In addition to the cylinder printer setup and tune I had the opportunity to work with a two part epoxy ink requiring heat setting.  The mug on the left has cooled while the right side mug is out-of-the-oven hot.  The ink brightens as it cools and takes five days to completely cross link.  This print should be tough enough to run through the dishwasher.
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Project: Split Fountain

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Project: Split Fountain Prints. This example features a "split fountain" ink technique where two colors of  ink are placed on one screen and allowed to mix when pulling the ink through the mesh.  The dark grey to light grey fade in the water is the result of this technique.  Split fountains work best when pulling the ink in such a way as to minimize mixing.  This print was orientated and printed in portrait to keep the mixing in the center.  The only limit on how many colors can be used in a split fountain print is the width of the media. There has to has room for your chosen colors! There are some beautiful examples using as many as seven colors to generate stunning rainbow fades.  
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Advanced / CMYK Process Halftone Printing

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CMYK Halftone Magic- A majority of screen print work is printed using inks mixed for a specific color.  Qualities such as color and transparency are controlled on a per-batch method. The color in the bucket is what will print on the page. This is "spot color"  Another prevalent color methodology is CMYK process color.  CMYK is printed using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. (Black is noted as "Key" in CMYK.) The combination of these four colors along with the variable dot size of halftone, can replicate a wide color gamut. Interestingly, if only solid color inks are overprinted CMYK only yields seven colors.  It's the halftone that provides the color range. Rather than being mixed in the bucket, the colors are mixed in your eye!  From color laser printer pages to vehicle wraps, CMYK halftone printing is everywhere! Printmakers can lever CMYK technologies to get full color prints with minimum stock of ink colors.  Nothing comes for free thoug...
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Make a Printer's Hat

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Just for Fun.  Not my work, found it taped on a door in the print lab.
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Making the Print

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Screen Prep for Printing- OK.  You have your art, screens and ideas prepared.  It's time to print! When performing a print run, the screen needs to be prepared.  Usually this is simply taping off the screen edges and making sure there aren't any open screen areas that aren't supposed to print.  Something such as a screen label or note that was burned in to the emulsion to organize your screens really isn't needed at the printing stage so tape these items off.  Before mounting the screen into the fixture, use clear packing tape to effectively block out non-printing areas from the final print.  Clear packing tape works better than masking tape for screen masking because it isn't so sticky that it damages the emulsion when it's removed. Emulsion is tough, but not indestructible, stuff. Cleaning the screens between use with water (assuming water based ink) also loosens the adhesive of the packing tape so it comes off when it's supposed to -but not...
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Registration

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Media Location & Registration for Printing- In order to print multiple colors precisely, some method of accurately placing media must be employed.  Two techniques outlined here are taped corner registration and pin registration.  With some work there is no need for super accurate registration.  For example, with the Drawing ink and Filler example the registration used was very loose so taped corners did quite well.  With a process color (CMYK) print registration is imperative. Since colors are "mixed" in the eye, a small bit of misalignment between screens / colors causes large changes in the final look. Taped Corners- Taped corner registration is quick and cheap.  It consists of, you guessed it, tape markers on diagonal corners of the print media. Using this system does take a little extra attention in placing each new sheet of paper but beyond that, it's an effective method.  With the work surface prepare...
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Exposing Screens

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The Exposure Table- At the heart of screen printing is the creation of the screen. One of the earlier techniques, drawing fluid and filler,  featured artwork created directly on the surface of the screen .  When the printing is complete, the artwork is removed from the screen and lost during screen reclamation.  Exposing a master image to a photosensitive emulsion on a screen allows the reclamation of screens without loss of the artwork.  Now the screens are simply tools of the craft rather than artwork originals. Exposure tables are a nice tool to have although screens can certainly be "burned" using halogen shop lights and a watch.  Screens can even be exposed using the sun!  At it's core, an exposure table consists of a bright, non-point light source and a way to hold the artwork master tightly to the emulsion on the screen.  A tight fit reduces light bleed and allows detail to be transferred to the emulsion.  Several types of masters can ...
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Inks

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Ink and Color- Ink, and more specifically color, is a subject where complexity can ramp up exponentially. For our purposes to date, I have been focusing on mixing ink for a pleasing color and applying that color directly to the paper through a screen.  A color that is pre-mixed and applied directly is known as "spot" color.  This is unlike "process" color where dots of four base colors are placed in close proximity to fool the eye into seeing new color.  Magazine print is entirely process color.  Examining a magazine print under magnification will reveal that it is typically comprised of only four colors.  Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, or "Key".  Screen printing is entirely compatible with CMYK printing processes but to take advantage of CMYK printing, the original work should be prepared via computer as hand cutting the correct sizes and sheer numbers of ink dots would be nearly impossible.  I'll touch on CMYK screen printing later, for now it...
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Technique -Laser Printer Masters

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Positives -Film, Laser or Otherwise With the Rubylith technique a master image was cut from material that allowed us to control what parts of the emulsion were exposed and washed out versus what areas were to remain.  Rubylith offers fast exposure times at only ninety seconds in the exposure machine. But it is also labor intensive to create the masters.  Frequently, as part of the creative process, images are first made on a computer that are then used as a tracing guide.  This works well if a handcrafted quality is desired. Often though, the computer image will be exactly what is wanted.  By using layers in a graphic program, a master image can be created for each screen.  To get the best result, three things are required.. First, that the image be printed on a laser printer- ink jet printers don't print opaque enough images for this technique although they work well when printing to transparent film. Second, that the graphics program can make use o...
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Emulsion - Coating the Screen

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If any product does the bulk of the work in printmaking it's photosensitive emulsion.  It's a plasticized coating that is applied in a wet state and allowed to dry on the screen.  When it's exposed an intense light source, the exposed areas will wash out of the mesh of the screen.  Where it has not been exposed to light, will stick tight to the mesh, providing a mask to block ink from flowing through the screen and onto the work.  Of course, like most things in printmaking, it arrives in a bucket.  To use it, the emulsion will need to be applied in a thin, even layer to the screen mesh. After this has been applied and dried you have , essentially, a type of unexposed photographic film.  Like photographic film you'll need to work in a light protected area.  The lamps in this section of the print lab are safe for unexposed emulsion and a nice feature. What if you want to screen print at home and don't have a dedicated light safe room?  Us...
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