Project: Sketchbooks

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Making Idea Pads / Sketchbooks

 A practical solution for scraps, misprints or good prints!

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Technique - Rubylith

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Rubylith is a little different than what has been discussed to date.  It resembles the hand cut stencil in that it is a hand cut process but unlike the hand cut stencil the final step is to shine high-intensity light through the Rubylith to a photosensitive emulsion.  The Rubylith prevents the emulsion from chemically setting. This is another "positive" process.  Where the Rubylith has masked the emulsion is where the ink will go on the print. Rubylith is not sensitive to light and is made of a two layer plastic film.  The top layer is red and the carrier is clear to light pink.  The objective with Rubylith is to use an x-acto knife to cut the artwork out of the red layer while leaving the carrier layer underneath undamaged.  Small cut-throughs are not a problem but if you've made ribbons out of it, lighten up on the blade or move back to a regular stencil. Cutting takes a bit of practice, my first Rubylith cut almost fell apart!  Rubylith can h...
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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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