tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20247762511922983462024-03-13T06:48:08.080-07:00Adventures in DIY Screen PrintingInformation and how to's with pictures for anyone interested in doing their own silk screen printing. Based on our adventures in DIY silk screen printing, by Deaths Head Designs.JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-3350336367089190032011-02-21T02:31:00.000-08:002011-02-21T03:03:30.768-08:00Top Ten Worst Screen Printing Mistakes<b>And How to Fix Them</b><br />
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<b>1. Art problems</b> - <br />
<b>A.</b> Start with good artwork, properly prepared. Don’t use a low resolution jpeg and think you will get a good screen print out of it. The art should be a minimum of 300 ppi at print size. <br />
<b>B.</b> Make sure you can print the design correctly and match it with the correct screen mesh for the artwork. <br />
<b>C.</b> If you have a customer, make sure they sign an approval of the final design. You’d hate to reprint a design at your own expense because a word was misspelled!<br />
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Here's a nice design made to look distressed. (a new design we are testing) Because of the small details we burned this art on 156 mesh screens to print on t-shirts.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/smartissexy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="469" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/smartissexy.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>2. Screen Exposure problems -</b> <br />
A detailed list of screen problems here: <a href="http://diysilkscreenprinting.blogspot.com/2011/01/troubleshooting-screen-problems.html">Troubleshooting Screen Problems</a><br />
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<b>3. Bad registration -</b> <br />
<b>A.</b> Screens can become loose in the bracket on the press if not tightened enough.<br />
<b>B.</b> The platen might be moving if the screw is not tightened enough. Turn it as tight as you can being careful not to strip it. <br />
<b>C.</b> The shirt might be moving if you don’t have enough adhesive on the platen. <br />
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<b>4. Screen break down -</b> <br />
<b>A.</b> If the screen was under exposed, the emulsion can loosen and come off. We always “post-expose” the screen. Which means we either place it in the sun after it’s been washed out and dried or we expose it again in the exposure unit to set the emulsion.<br />
<b>B.</b> The squeegee can wear through the emulsion on a long print run or on a screen that has been used a lot. If the worn spots are outside of the design area you can clean the screen, spread a thin coat of emulsion over the worn areas and expose it to repair the bare spots.<br />
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<b>5. Bad ink curing, ink under cured or over cured -</b> <br />
<b>A.</b> Check the curing temperature with a temperature gun. And know what temperature the ink is supposed to cure at, of course. I usually print out a sheet of instructions that go with the ink and stick it to the lid of the ink container.<br />
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My instructions unfolded. They are stuck to the lid with double-sided tape. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/ink-instructions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="669" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/ink-instructions.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>6. Incorrect squeegee angle -</b><br />
<b>A.</b> Try for a consistent 45 degree angle when applying ink to the screen. Ink goes on pretty smooth at this angle. At an angle of 60-degrees or more, the ink may not get through the mesh correctly and evenly. An angle of 30-degrees or less can make the ink print too heavily onto the fabric. <br />
<b>B.</b> You may need to experiment with the squeegee angle and practice to get it right, see what works for you and keep it consistent. You can also experiment with a “push” print stroke as opposed to the usual “pull” print stroke. There are cases when a push stroke can be useful. But always do one or the other, don’t switch between strokes. <br />
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Freddy usually screens a bit closer to a 60 degree angle, but that's what seems to work for him. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/45angle-sg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="426" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/45angle-sg.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>7. Ink spots or smudges on garment or product -</b> <br />
<b>A.</b> Keep the work area and your hands clean. <br />
<b>B.</b> Check the screen carefully for pinholes and fill them with a screen touch-up pen or cover them with a piece of tape.<br />
<b>C.</b> Wash out small spots with a wet shop towel or a spot cleaning gun. If you can’t clean it, keep the shirt and use it for test prints. <br />
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<b>8. Design placed incorrectly -</b> <br />
<b>A.</b> Line up you screen carefully. We usually use a t-square to make sure the design is straight. <br />
<b>B.</b> Not all shirts or other garments are sewn correctly or consistently. So you may not be able to use the collar or center crease to position a shirt. The most reliable way I’ve found to center a shirt is this: <a href="http://diysilkscreenprinting.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-center-shirt-for-silk-screening.html">How to Center a Shirt for Silk Screening</a><br />
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<b>9. Too much ink is getting printed onto the shirt -</b> <br />
<b>A.</b> You may be using too much pressure. Don’t press down too hard on the squeegee and use even pressure all the way across the print. <br />
<b>B.</b> You may have gotten too much ink into the mesh on the back flood. Be careful as you back flood and don’t press down too hard or go over it too many times. If your ink does get too heavy, pull a few prints on test sheets <i>without</i> back flooding to clear out the screen. <br />
<b>C.</b> The ink may be too thinned out <br />
<b>D.</b> You may have an old squeegee with edges that are rounded and need to be sharpened. <br />
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<b>10. Too little ink is getting printed onto the shirt -</b> <br />
<b>A.</b> Use a coarser mesh. <br />
<b>B.</b> Make more than one squeegee pass to print. We sometimes do as many as 3, but that is usually the most we need. <br />
<b>C.</b> The screen may be getting clogged. We will rub the underside of the screen with a wet shop towel and then screen a test print or two to try to clear it out. We print on test print squares or misprinted t-shirts and use blank newsprint when test printing for posters and art prints. (Note: We have been told that spraying water mixed with a little bit of dish soap on the underside of the screen before you put any ink on it helps when you print. We mean to try this next time we print.)<br />
<b>D.</b> Try printing on a soft base. We sometimes use a platen covered in neoprene fabric. Especially when we want to print over collars or seams (more on this topic later). <br />
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Here's Freddy adding more ink to a screen. You can see that there wasn't enough ink to back flood properly and it's spotty behind the cake spreader he uses for the ink. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/yellowink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="395" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/yellowink.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Mistakes will happen, but my best general advice is to work carefully to head off problems before they happen.<br />
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Next: <b>How to prepare a screen for printing.</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-61028953646418063132011-02-11T15:19:00.000-08:002011-02-21T02:41:38.323-08:00How to Center a Shirt for Silk ScreeningSome shirts that you will buy come with a center crease and many people use that center line to line up the shirt. I do too, but being a careful, ok, perhaps paranoid type I don’t trust that crease. I know that the crease can be off center or the shirt can be sewn crooked and it’s best to double check your placement so that you try your best to avoid a misprinted shirt. Also, not all shirts come with that center crease. Most of the recycled and higher quality shirts we buy don’t have one. A lot of the shirts we buy that don't have a center crease have side seams, however. <br />
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So, here’s how I line up a shirt on the platen. <br />
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I draw a carefully measured center line down the center of the platen. This is always good to have as a visual measure.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/platen-line.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="453" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/platen-line.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We will decide where to place the design on the shirt and figure out where the design on the screen will fall on the platen and I put a piece of masking tape on the platen and draw a mark about where the collar should fall to make the design print correctly on the shirt. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/tape-mark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="295" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/tape-mark.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I open up a shirt from the bottom and slide it onto the platen all the way to the shoulder seams, making sure the shoulder seams are even on the platen edge.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/shirt-shoulder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="358" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/shirt-shoulder.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I pull the shirt back carefully, keeping it straight until the collar hits the mark.<br />
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Then I use my thumbs to measure the distance from the edge of the platen to the arm hole seams and check to make sure they are the same distance on each side.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/shirt-sleeves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="357" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/shirt-sleeves.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Then I slide my hands under the platen until my fingers are touching the side seams (if the shirt has side seams) and measure if the distance is even. If my fingers are touching the side seams and the platen is falling at the same place on each hand, the shirt should be pretty centered.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/shirt-sides.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="472" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/shirt-sides.jpg" /></a></div><br />
When the shirt has no side seams and no center crease, it’s a little harder. For the smaller sizes I use the same method as above and just look at the arm hole seams to see that the shirt is centered. For the larger sizes I fold the shirt in half lengthways and create a center line that looks right to me.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/shirt-folded.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="381" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/shirt-folded.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I pick up the shirt by the center line and get Freddy to help me slide it onto the platen and I place the center that I have pinched onto the center line drawn on the platen.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/center-pinch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="414" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/center-pinch.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/centering-onplat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="524" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/centering-onplat.jpg" /></a></div><br />
That’s how I place the shirts. Other people have other methods and you should check out everything you can and decide what works for you. Let me know if you find a better way. I'm always hoping to learn something new!<br />
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Next: <b>Top Ten Worst Screen Printing Mistakes</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-65082563708713446562011-02-08T14:02:00.000-08:002011-02-21T02:42:39.282-08:00Why Screen Print?I’m an artist. I’ve always been an artist or intended to be one. I’ve done many different types of art... album art, magazine illustrations, book covers, comic books, trading cards, paintings, logos, product concepts and designs, packaging, brochures, maps, advertising, web sites... and t-shirts and posters.<br />
<br />
I drew this! I'm an artist!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/not-the-life-I-ordered-flat.gif" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="515" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/not-the-life-I-ordered-flat.gif" /></a></div><br />
One thing about being an artist, unless you are simply exhibiting paintings, you are at the mercy of the people who reproduce your art. I dealt with that problem very early in my career by becoming an expert in printing and separations. That helped a lot. <br />
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But the passion to create has always been there. Along with a desire to communicate thoughts and ideas. After having other people print my work on t-shirts and posters, which was expensive and not always what I wanted I made the decision to try it myself. Control freak? Maybe. But I have a vision and I want it to be right. And affordable. So for me, screen printing was the way to go. But...<br />
<br />
<b>What if You Don’t Want to Screen Print?</b><br />
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Can you still create and sell your ideas on stuff? Yep. I do that, too. It may seem like an odd topic in a blog on screen printing, but it’s just another way to get your creativity out to the public. And maybe even make some money. You know... if you’re into that. <br />
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Let’s talk about on demand merchandise companies. I use <a href="http://www.zazzle.com">Zazzle</a> and <a href="http://www.cafepress.com">Cafe Press</a>, so I’ll cover those two. There are many more like <a href="http://www.printfection.com">Printfection</a>, <a href="http://www.spreadshirt.com">Spreadshirt</a> or <a href="http://www.pikistore.com">Pikistore</a>. <a href="http://www.deviantart.com">DeviantArt</a> and <a href="http://www.imagekind.com/sell/art-photography.aspx">Imagekind</a> also specialize in art prints on demand. There’s even <a href="http://www.thegamecrafter.com">The Game Crafter</a> that lets you create a board game and offer it on demand. Clever stuff!<br />
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The way these sites work is this... you create a design, upload it to the site, choose the products that the design can be printed on, place it into your own “shop” on their web site and it’s offered for sale. When someone orders a product like a t-shirt or coffee mug, the On Demand Company elves at the On Demand Company factory put your design on a blank product and ship it out to the buyer. And you get a tiny bit of the sale. Not a lot, but it’s not much work on your part and the sales add up. The main advantage it that it’s easy and open to anyone with an idea. <br />
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I’ve called Cafe Press and Zazzle my product testing sites. Some of the designs I come up with are too hard for us to print right now or I’m just not really sure if they are any good or maybe they don’t quite fit with what we do or maybe I’ve gone crazy and the design might be no good at all. Actually, I think I may be crazy quite a bit. But you can throw some ideas up on Cafe Press for little or no cost and see if if has potential. It’s also very fast for when you are impatient and caught up in the fire of inspiration and must have an idea out right away. This happens to me a lot. <br />
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I don’t know how to silk screen this one yet, but Cafe Press does it just fine:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/druids-white.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="420" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/druids-white.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Create your design and upload a computer file of the image to the site. It doesn’t need to be color separated, it will print onto the products just like an inkjet printer would. Cafe Press has good beginner instructions. The way I’ve chosen to do the images is I do a 300 dpi image at the largest size it would print on a product and save it as a PNG file. I’ve found that quality is very good and reproduces well. <br />
<a href="http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/index.aspx?page=images.aspx">Beginners Image Workshop</a><br />
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Cafe press also has resources for folks who want to sell on their site. <br />
<a href="http://members.cafepress.com/toolbox">Resources for Shopkeepers</a><br />
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Cafe Press offers selling tools like this widget that can go on a web site. Or blog! It can be made in different sizes and colors to match your page’s scheme.<br />
<div id="cpi-s1-1001" class="cpi cpi-s1" affiliate="" tracking="seriousdesign" color="brightred" source="shop:seriousdesign" width="300" height="300">Make <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/make/" title="Make Custom Gifts at CafePress">Custom Gifts</a> at CafePress</div><script type="text/javascript" src="http://content4.cpcache.com/marketplace/widgets/javascripts/widget.js"></script><br />
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Zazzle offers a similar panel to imbed in your web site or blog:<br />
<embed wmode="transparent" src="http://www.zazzle.com/utl/getpanel?zp=117757130444960348" FlashVars="feedId=117757130444960348" width="450" height="300" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed><br />
Look for a <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/">personalized gift</a> at Zazzle.<br />
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You can use the same designs to upload on any of these on demand sites, so you can have multiple stores if you want to. I’ve tried these three:<br />
My Cafe Press shop:<br />
<a href="http://www.cafepress.com/seriousdesign">http://www.cafepress.com/seriousdesign</a><br />
<br />
My Zazzle Store:<br />
<a href="http://www.zazzle.com/JayJayJackson">http://www.zazzle.com/JayJayJackson</a><br />
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My Printfection store<br />
<a href="http://www.printfection.com/seriousdesign">http://www.printfection.com/seriousdesign</a><br />
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All three are good, Cafe Press is a little more user friendly, Zazzle is more specific and you can make your products customizable by the person buying. Both Cafe Press and Zazzle seem to get good amounts of traffic, I sell a bit more on Cafe Press, but promoting your shop is up to you.<br />
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Some of my new designs!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/bands-venn-diagram.gif" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="412" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/bands-venn-diagram.gif" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/nerd-paradigm.gif" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="559" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/nerd-paradigm.gif" /></a></div><br />
Even an iPhone 4 case!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/iphone4-cthulhucase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="387" width="383" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/iphone4-cthulhucase.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Next: <b>How to Center a Shirt for Silk Screening</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-72169194704243745652011-02-04T00:22:00.000-08:002011-02-21T02:43:39.956-08:00Drying and Curing Inks DIY StyleWe started our operation on a small budget. A <i>really</i> small budget. We bought our no frills 4 color press for around $500 (new, off of ebay), bought some shirts and basic supplies and that was pretty much it. We scrounged and made do with everything else for a while. And we used a heat gun to cure the discharge and water-based inks. We also used the heat gun the couple of times we tried using plastisol inks. It worked, but with a few failures. Here’s what we used to do:<br />
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You can only cure a small area at a time with a heat gun, 5 or 6 inches around maybe. The discharge ink needs to be cured 30 - 45 seconds, until it changes color. Before it dries. So it was a problem because the t-shirts get screened faster than you can cure the shirts. We dealt with that problem by doing small runs of shirts. A normal run for us was 20-30 shirts. It was less of a problem on smaller designs, a big problem on large ones.<br />
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No Problem<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/smalldesign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="499" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/smalldesign.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Problem<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/bigdesign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="712" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/bigdesign.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Our heat gun curing station was pretty funny. We used a foil steamtable warming tray turned upside down on its wire frame. Hey, it worked and it was free. We never caught one single thing on fire. Singed a shirt once, but everyone does that. <br />
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We tried doing plastisol on some shirts and tried all the tricks the videos said to tell if the ink was cured. The plastisol ink is supposed to cure for 45 seconds at 320-350 degrees. I would measure the temperature to get my distance right, controlling the heat on the shirt by the distance of the gun from the shirt (about 4 or 5 inches away to get 340-ish degrees) and count to 45 while curing a little area. Crazy, huh? Most of the shirts were ok, but we had a couple of them where the design was damaged when washed. I supposed it hadn’t been cured enough. And some we overcooked and the design got weird looking and too shiny in spots. So the heat gun is tricky with plastisol ink, in our experience. Larger designs are really hard. With the discharge ink, at least you can tell when it’s cured... it turns a lighter color as it discharges the color from the shirt.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/jjheats2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="450" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/jjheats2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We really needed to get a forced-air flash dryer to take our business to the next level, but that was a distant dream since they are quite expensive. I wrote about it on the <a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.blogspot.com/2009/10/necessity-mother-of-invention.html">Deaths Head blog back in 2009</a>.<br />
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We kept saving up, even as we went through some tough economic times, and I kept searching for any reasonable solution. I called manufacturers and spoke to sales reps about flash dryers to learn as much as I could about the equipment out there. You can read a lot, but sometimes you have questions that only an expert can answer. <br />
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So I finally found a less expensive forced air flash unit, the <a href="http://www.ranar.com/Flash_dryers/da_1616_air_flash.html">Ranar DA-1616</a> that seemed like it would work for us. It had what we needed for discharge inks:<br />
- Forced air<br />
- 16 x 16 inch coverage (we do larger prints, but we can move them around)<br />
- Infrared heat source (a better option than heat coils)<br />
- A 110 volt plug! (the only one I could find at the time that had this)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ranar.com/Flash_dryers/images/DA-1616.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="260" width="257" src="http://www.ranar.com/Flash_dryers/images/DA-1616.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The thing that worried me was that no matter how hard I searched on the web, I couldn’t find any first hand information about the unit. I asked on forums like gigposters.com and t-shirtforums.com but no one knew anything about the Ranar dryer. Which worried me a little. One of our suppliers, Pocono Screen Supply sold these dryers, so I called them for information. They really didn’t tell me much more than what it said on the web sites I had found, but I decided that because of the price difference this was the unit we would get. <a href="http://www.poconoscreen.com/products/ranar.html#conveyorDryerHeader">Sold here.</a><br />
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The day finally came when we had enough money to order the unit! Waiting for it to come was agony! We ordered it right before Christmas 2009 and the company was closed for the holidays and didn’t ship it until almost the middle of January. So when it came, we were jumping around for joy! We hauled it to the studio and unpacked it and gazed in wonder at the mysterious looking plug. What was this?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/110-20ampplug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="539" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/110-20ampplug.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We had never seen this kind of plug. My first thought was that they had sent us the wrong unit and it was a 220 volt instead. I called the company and they checked with Ranar and, no, it was the right unit, a 110 volt. But it was a 20 AMP unit. Most circuit breakers are 15 AMP. The circuit breakers in our studio were 15 AMP as it happened. Heck, we replaced the wall socket with the correct socket for that plug and tried it anyway. We wanted that flash dryer baaad. It blew the fuse. Again and again. There was no way. We looked into changing the fuse to a 20 AMP. There was no master cut off switch on that fuse box. We couldn’t find out where to shut off the main power to the studio. So the power couldn’t be cut off to the fuses and I wasn’t going to let Freddy try to hot swap a fuse in a live box. Damn. So what were we to do? <br />
<br />
What else could we do? We looked for a new studio. <br />
<br />
For a long time we had talked about finding a live/work space. We had started out in the shared basement of Freddy’s apartment building, but the landlord told us he didn’t want us screen printing down there. We did it secretly for a while, anyway. But hiding everything all the time was a huge pain. We tried screen printing inside Freddy’s tiny apartment. We even tried my apartment in Brooklyn. None of these were solutions. One day our wonderful friends from the band The Saints of Pain generously offered to share their rehearsal space with us and we set up our beautiful new studio in the rooms in the back of the space they rented. But there were water and power problems with the building. So, I gave up my apartment of 26 years in the beautiful, historic Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn (sigh) and moved in with Freddy to save money. We needed to find a new place to work. And live. We really needed that to be the same place. It took about 5 months of hard looking last year to find a place that we could afford that had enough space. I blurted out “We’ll take it!” once we examined the fuse box in the basement. It had some 20 AMP fuses in the basement! Oh yeah! <br />
<br />
And the first time we used that flash dryer to cure shirts was sweet! Very, very sweet. It smelled like victory. Stinky, stinky victory. We’ve been using it for a few months here in our new place. <br />
<br />
So, here’s the low down on that <b>Ranar DA-1616 flash dryer</b> for anyone who finds this on the internet, like I couldn’t. <br />
- It’s a 110 volt unit and runs on regular household current, but it takes 20 AMP fuses and wiring and a special wall socket. We were unable to find an extension cord or adapter. <br />
- It takes about 8 to 10 minutes to warm up fully. <br />
- We were told by the manufacturer that it should be run on the highest setting at all times and to adjust the temperature by adjusting the distance of the unit from the shirt. That has worked fine for us, by the way. You can adjust the top up or down and it swings freely around. It has a handle on top that stays cool.<br />
- We were advised that the unit works best if the surface under it is metal. We placed an old <i>empty</i> filing cabinet under it and lay the shirts, etc. on that. That has worked fine, too. <br />
- I monitor the temperature closely with a laser sighted temperature gun until I feel the results I'm getting are consistent and then I only check occasionally through the run. <br />
- It has worked well and even cured some plastisol shirts we had to do to replace some of the damaged ones. <br />
<br />
Some of the fruits of our labors are here:<br />
<a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/shirts.html">Deaths Head Designs Shirts</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/stickers/dh-nyc-sticker.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="367" width="366" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/stickers/dh-nyc-sticker.gif" /></a></div><br />
Next: <b>Why Screen Print?</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-88599594668419777932011-02-03T01:33:00.000-08:002011-02-21T02:44:23.555-08:00Finally, a good opaque water-based white ink!We had tried a few water-based white inks and they weren’t as opaque as we would want for most things, ok really for anything, so for a while now we have used white discharge ink whenever we wanted a good white on a black or dark shirt. Which works great and we love it. It does have a couple of drawbacks... we found a couple of brands of shirts and a few colors that don’t discharge well. And when you screen on a cotton/poly blend only the cotton discharges. it’s mostly not a problem, but we were very happy to find a truly opaque white ink for those cases when white discharge won’t do. And it has been very easy to use.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/MTOP301WHITEQ">Ryonet’s new OP White EnviroLine Water Based Ink (By Matsui)</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/RC301whiteink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="619" width="573" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/RC301whiteink.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We’ve used it for a few projects now, so I feel pretty good recommending it. Here is Freddy screening a shirt with it. We used it right out of the container without adding anything at all to it. You can tell from the photo that it’s pretty sticky, but it doesn’t dry up too fast so you can screen at a comfortable pace.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/newwhiteink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="833" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/newwhiteink.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We used this ink on cotton canvas tote bags and messenger bags that don’t discharge well. We also screened some cotton t-shirts that we wanted to look like construction company shirts. Here are some closeups of the results.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/muerte-front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="583" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/muerte-front.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/muerte-back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="443" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/muerte-back.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Here are the instructions for the ink:<br />
PRINTING: For best performance heat the pallets to 140 degrees F. before printing. Heating your pallets will help retain the ink on the garment and allow for wet on wet printing without flashing in between. For light color fabric use Matsui ECO-Series RC through a high mesh screen. For dark colored fabric the use of 301 Transparent White as an under-base. For a softer hand use Matsui’s DSPS Discharge (see under basing below). Screens should be flooded if printing is stopped for any period of time. When loading water base ink into your screens, use a good amount of ink in order to insure the ink doesn't dry in your screen. Print with a pull stroke for best results. Back flood screen with a lot of ink gently so ink is not pressed through the design. You shouldn't be able to see your screen or image through your back flood.<br />
DRYING/CURING: The 301 Enviro-Series ink must be cured for 2.5 to 3 minutes at 300 to 320 degrees F under typical infrared heat.<br />
Curing Options: Water based inks cure differently from standard plastisol inks. While plastisol inks cure with infrared once reaching 320 degrees, water based inks cure best with air movement and heat. Air movement is preferred to drive water out of the ink and blow away steam so heat can cure water base pigment properly. Without hot air movement across the ink, water based inks will take much longer to cure. In good air flow, water based inks can cure in under 1 minute while it may take 2.5 to 3 minutes in a standard infrared dryer. (Paper can be allowed to air dry)<br />
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Here's what we did: We didn't heat the pallet before printing since right now the flash dryer is in the other room. We just screened the stuff the way we do everything else, following the guidelines as far as using a good bit of ink and putting down a good thick back flood, and laid the things out to dry. We found that the ink air-dries somewhat slowly. We let the ink dry about an hour (it was still tacky in a few spots) and then we cured it under our forced air flash dryer. I let the screened item get up to around 340 degrees and measured the temperature with a thermometer gun (Raytek MT4 Mini Temp) and let it cure at that temperature for 40 seconds or so. The total time under the flash dryer was probably a minute and a half to two minutes. You could cure this with a heat gun, too. We are very pleased with the results overall.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/accessories/muerte-bag-lg-bluefront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="446" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/accessories/muerte-bag-lg-bluefront.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/accessories/muerte-tote-front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="603" width="425" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/accessories/muerte-tote-front.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/shirts/zombieproof-blk1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="412" width="425" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/shirts/zombieproof-blk1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The bags and t-shirts are for sale on our web site! <br />
<a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/muertetote.html">Cabeza de Muerte tote bags</a><br />
<a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/muertemessenger.html">Cabeza de Muerte messenger bags</a><br />
<a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/Shirtspages/zombieproof.html">Zombie Proof shirts</a><br />
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Next: <b>Drying and Curing Inks DIY Style</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-68976041047084988262011-01-29T01:07:00.000-08:002011-02-21T02:46:59.929-08:00Birth of an Award-Winning Poster<b>A bit of my creative process.</b><br />
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Got the job one day to do a new poster for Leviathan, the number one band I did posters for. They were opening for Six Feet Under, death metal band extraordinaire. I had been doing some sexy pin up girls on the posters for that band, so I thought I would do another one. The name of the band, Six Feet Under, does suggest a death-oriented theme so a sexy, deadly pin up girl was one idea I had. I love horror movies and every once in a while the girl ISN’T the victim. lol. So I settled on the idea for a girl with a bloody axe who may have just gotten some guy ready to be put six feet under. It turned out to be one of my most successful posters.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/sixfeetunder-900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="900" width="338" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/sixfeetunder-900.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I had pitched the idea to the band and gotten a go ahead on it. I played around with some loose sketches and looked at my girl photo reference files to see if I could find a good pose. I like to collect old photos from the 40’s and 50’s. Mostly I like the coy, flirtatious body language and the weight of the women more than the modern look. I find that the women in most modern photos are too thin to look sexy to me, I'm repulsed by breast augmentation surgery and the body language is totally different. A sort of forced, self conscious sexuality that lacks that sense of fun many of the older pin ups have. I also like the quality of the light in the older photos. So I found a photo that had a nice pose and attitude to base my drawing on. I generally don’t stick too close to the photo reference, but use it as a guide to help me make the pose and proportion believable.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/axegirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="700" width="265" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/axegirl.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I got my boyfriend to take photos of my own hands holding a hammer behind my back to help get the hands right. Hands are difficult for me so I really have to work at them. But I can’t show that photo because I’m not uploading a photo of MY bare butt. lol. The drawing worked out pretty well and I inked it. I actually did the blood on the ground separately on another sheet of paper because I didn’t plan ahead and ran out of space on the first sheet. Since getting used to working with the computer, I sometimes work kind of rushed and sloppy and just fix things later. I figure the end product is what matters. I don’t like to sell my original artwork so I don’t go into a job with the idea of producing the art for a secondary sales market. Many people do, and that’s just fine. I guess I just can't wait to see the final result so I'm always in a rush to get to that point. Besides, technique isn't what matters on posters like this as much as it would on a painting. So, I scanned everything and put it all together in Photoshop and cleaned up the line work.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/sixfeet-bw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="900" width="338" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/sixfeet-bw.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I knew I wanted two of the colors to be black and red, but it took a little experimentation to decide on the aqua blue. Once I tried that I liked it immediately. The icy coolness seemed good for a beautiful axe murderer. And the aqua has a nice vibration against the red, since it's close to the compliment on the color wheel.<br />
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One thing I try to infuse into all of the pin up girls I draw is a sense of the woman being in control, and having fun. My girls are not victims, even when they are chained. They are avid participants in, what I hope is, sex-positive imagery. I find the popular fad for sad, sexualized child-women in gothic and outsider art very unpleasant and I consciously avoid any hint of that in my own work.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/slavegirl-rgb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="500" width="500" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/slavegirl-rgb.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Once the poster was done and I got final approval from the band I arranged to have it screen printed. Luckily the band was willing to come up with the money to have <a href="https://www.dieselfuelprints.com/store/index.php">Diesel Fuel</a> do the job. They are very good. I did the separations and supplied some pantone colors for them to shoot for when mixing the inks and sent the artwork off over the internet. No more Fed Exing or mailing artwork... I love it. Things are so much easier now. An artist who remembers how things used to be can’t help but marvel at it. <br />
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I am a member of the <a href="http://www.gigposters.com">gigposters.com</a> web site for poster artists and fans and I upload all of my posters to the site. And the Six Feet Under poster won the Poster of the Week award! Which is very exciting. It also helped with sales and got loads of attention which led to doing more posters. So that was very nice! If you are interested in owning one of the Six Feet Under posters, we still have a few left, <a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/prints.html">here on the Deaths Head Designs page</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.seriousdesign.com/seriousillustration/Ink/images/hotline-color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="450" width="300" src="http://www.seriousdesign.com/seriousillustration/Ink/images/hotline-color.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Next: <b>Finally, a good opaque water-based white ink!</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-1345757991083923162011-01-27T10:52:00.000-08:002011-02-21T02:45:20.052-08:0010 Things Never to do While Screen Printing Water-based inks and Discharge inks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/ns-freddydh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="554" width="596" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/ns-freddydh.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Don’t stop, slow down or take a phone call or Twitter break. Keep printing. If the ink dries in the screen it’s trouble. If you do have to stop you can try wrapping the screen with plastic wrap. We've tried that with mixed results. And by mixed, I mean not really successful, but others have reported better results.<br />
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Don’t put too much ink on the screen. It will start to dry up and become gloppy, to use the technical term. If you put too much ink on the screen at once it may become thick and uneven and be hard to get through the screen mesh. <br />
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Don’t put too little ink on the screen. Be sure there’s enough for a good back flood stroke to protect the ink from drying in the image you’re printing. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/love-loyaltyblu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="526" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/love-loyaltyblu.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Don’t leave your ink container open. Keep it covered as much as you can so the ink doesn’t get gloppy or dry up on the edges. <br />
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Don’t print too many different colors unless you are pretty experienced at it. The more colors you are printing, the more time the ink has to dry up in the screens. But it depends on the ink. Some inks dry more slowly. We do 3 colors pretty well with Aerotex inks. 4 not as well. We’re getting better. <br />
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Don’t zone out. Go carefully, keep checking your work and making sure no problems are cropping up and you can avoid expensive mistakes. In screen printing, mistakes generally cost.<br />
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Don’t guess at curing temperatures. Buy an infrared thermometer gun. We try for around 325 or 350 degrees for discharge inks and also for water based.<br />
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Don’t rely on your memory. Make notes. Write down exposure times, inks used, mesh counts, what worked right, ideas, inventory, everything. <br />
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Don’t wait to wash out your screen after you finished printing. Get some water onto that thing right away. And if you start having drying problems during a run, mist the screen (on the ink side) with a light mist of water. <br />
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Don’t think you can get away without test printing. Always test print if you are doing something for the first time, or haven’t tried something in a while.<br />
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But, <b>DO</b> have a good time making cool stuff and especially enjoy wearing your beautiful and very comfortable eco-friendly creations!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/liberal-tony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="567" width="500" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/liberal-tony.jpg" /></a></div>Model Tony Robinson, actor and artist, enjoying the shirt we made especially for him. Check out his work <a href="http://www.descendantsproductions.com">here</a>.<br />
<a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/Shirtspages/liberal-menshirt.html">The Liberal, Born to Raise Issues shirt is available here</a>.<br />
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Next: <b>Birth of an Award-Winning Poster</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-59640246055460563142011-01-22T20:17:00.000-08:002011-02-21T02:46:05.480-08:00Why Screen Green?Trying to get people to stop using toxic chemicals is like trying to convince someone to quit smoking. Until they encounter a problem with it, the problem just isn’t real to them. And just like smoking, it can take a long time for toxic chemicals to affect a person’s health to a noticeable degree. Unfortunately once it has affected your health, it’s usually too late. At that point you have to do damage control.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/Biohazard_sign_by_yalik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="400" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/Biohazard_sign_by_yalik.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Pollutants and chemicals in the home and in our immediate environment are turning out to be more dangerous to our health than was ever realized. And what has that got to do with screen printing?<br />
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To quote Ronald Fuchs and Michael McCann, Ph.D., C.I.H.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>“Silk screen printing is one of the most hazardous processes in the arts and crafts. Dermatitis, narcosis (dizziness, light-headedness, fatigue, nausea, lack of coordination and headaches), eye irritation, adverse reproductive hazards including increased risk of miscarriage, and serious neurological problems can all result from the processes of screen printing. Traditionally, silk screen printing has been performed using organic solvent-based materials. Water-based inks containing less hazardous ingredients provide a safer and increasingly popular alternative.”</blockquote><br />
Read the full article here:<br />
<a href="http://www.uic.edu/sph/glakes/harts1/HARTS_library/silkscrn.txt">http://www.uic.edu/sph/glakes/harts1/HARTS_library/silkscrn.txt</a><br />
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We didn't want to use plastisol inks because I just didn’t like them. I find the heavy plastic on a shirt uncomfortable and unappealing. But it turns out there’s more to be concerned about. A major health concern about plastisol inks is not only that they are PVC-based but that they contain phthalates. There’s been a lot in the news in recent years about phthalates and quite a bit of research into possible problems. Medical research has linked high doses of phthalates to damage to the liver, kidneys, lungs and testes in rats. Another medical study suggest that phthalates contributes to allergies in children. Many people, like me, choose not to wear plastisol screened clothing which comes into close, extended contact with your porous skin.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/ink_pots_closeup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="263" width="350" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/ink_pots_closeup.jpg" /></a></div><br />
What many screen printers don’t realize is that there are better alternatives to doing things the old-fashioned toxic way. <br />
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<b>Ways to do Greener screen printing</b><br />
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- Use an inkjet printer for your transparencies. Inkjet printers are greener than film output and are cheaper. <br />
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- Use water-based or discharge inks. Check into what is in them. You could even look into the new phthalate-free plastisol inks if plasitisol is what you want to use. <br />
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- Know what you are buying. Do the research. Have Material Safety Data Sheets for all of the products you buy and read them. Then use good judgement about what products you use.<br />
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- Use water-based screen printing adhesives, like Pro Bond or Tex Tac instead of solvent-based aerosols like Mist. These cost less, a LOT less as it turns out, and work better also. I switched while doing research into how to make our business greener.<br />
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- Use eco-friendly cleaners. The ones we use work better than their toxic counterparts.<br />
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- Buy shirts with recycled content or at least organic cotton. We are loving Anvil's new recycled cotton blend shirts we've been testing out.<br />
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- Put a simple filter, even one just made with a pieces of screen or cloth on the drain of your washout booth or slop sink. This will help stuff like emulsion from clogging your drains as well as protecting the water system. <br />
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- Think about ways to recycle and also ways to reuse old stuff. I wrote up a bit of what we have done <a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.blogspot.com/2009/10/recycling.html">here on the Deaths Head blog</a>. <br />
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- Be careful, plan ahead and make fewer mistakes. Fewer mistakes reduces waste and saves you money. It can be done.<br />
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<b>Extra Reading:</b><br />
Here’s a very good article on the subject by the author of one of the best books out there on the subject, Water-Based Screen Printing Today<br />
<a href="http://www.nontoxicprint.com/screenprintingbasics.htm">http://www.nontoxicprint.com/screenprintingbasics.htm</a><br />
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Next: <b>10 Things Never to do While Screen Printing Water-based inks and Discharge inks</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-80222233086471351102011-01-17T15:24:00.000-08:002013-05-09T01:14:29.704-07:00Troubleshooting Screen ProblemsThis is a run down of common problems with coating, burning, washing out and reclaiming silk screens for printing. <br />
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<a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/freddy-prints2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/freddy-prints2.jpg" width="600" /></a></div>
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<b>Problem 1. The emulsion does not go onto the screen smoothly and evenly.</b> <br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> The mesh may have loosened up and have uneven tension. This is especially a problem with wood frame screens once they start to get old. <br />
<b>B.</b> Your emulsion may be old or have dried bits that have fallen into it. Keep the emulsion container clean and try to refrigerate it if you are not going to use it up pretty quickly. Check the shelf life of the emulsion you are using. <br />
<b>C.</b> Have you remembered to remove the rubber edge protector on your scoop coater? Don't laugh! You’d be surprised how many people make this mistake. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Problem 2. Emulsion is washing out all over the screen.</b><br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> The screen was not exposed for a long enough time. You may have to experiment to get the right exposure time for your equipment and screen. <br />
<b>B.</b> The emulsion was applied too thickly on the screen and not exposed long enough to overcome the thickness. <br />
<b>C.</b> The emulsion may have been applied unevenly. The thicker patches may wash out and the thinner areas may be ok. If the emulsion is applied unevenly the thicker areas take longer to expose than the thinner areas, so you won’t get a good exposure on the screen. <br />
<b>D.</b> The lights in your exposure unit may be getting old and losing their potency. <br />
<b>E.</b> The emulsion was not cured. Make sure you allow enough time for the emulsion to dry completely and cure in the screen. <br />
<b>F.</b> Too much water pressure can cause the emulsion to wash out and you should only use cold or lukewarm water. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Problem 3. It’s hard to wash out the image on a screen you just burned.</b> <br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> The emulsion on the screen could be old. When a screen has been coated and sits around too long, the emulsion gets harder to wash out.<br />
<b>B.</b> The screen may have been exposed to some UV light. If there’s been too much light exposure to the screen the image area could be partially exposed and hard to wash out or may wash out unevenly. <br />
<b>C.</b> Your image on the transparency may not be solid black. If the transparency lets light through the image area can become slightly exposed. It’s possible to double your transparencies, just be sure to line both copies up carefully. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Problem 4. Losing fine detail when you burn screens.</b><br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> The transparency may not be making good contact with the screen. Make sure you place the transparency with the print side next to the screen and weight it well enough to make good contact. A vacuum exposure unit is best, but if you don’t have one of these you have to be more careful. <br />
<b>B.</b> The screen is over-exposed. If the exposure is too long, the fine detail will not wash out and will be lost. <br />
<b>C.</b> The light you are using to expose the screen is not angled correctly. The light source needs to be as straight on as possible, in other words, 90 degrees to the screen. <br />
<b>D.</b> The light source may be too weak. If you are using a weak light source and a long exposure there is more risk of ambient light or light scattering contaminating the exposure. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Problem 5. Pinholes in the screen.</b><br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> The glass over the lights may be dirty or have dust on it. Same with the transparency. Be sure to clean the glass before you burn a screen and the transparency before you tape it onto the screen.<br />
<b>B.</b> Dust or dirt could have blown onto the screen while the emulsion was wet. <br />
<b>C.</b> The emulsion may not have been completely cured. <br />
<b>D.</b> If you do get pinholes and they aren’t too big, you can either cover them with tape or you can use a screen touchup pen or fill them in with a little more emulsion and let it dry and expose it to UV light to harden it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Problem 6. The emulsion breaks down while you are screen printing.</b> <br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> The emulsion may not have been exposed long enough. We expose the finished screens to UV light after they are burned and washed out and have dried. Either with sun light or placing the screen back onto the light unit. <br />
<b>B.</b> The emulsion is applied too thinly on the screen. The emulsion should be thin and even, but coated at least once on each side with a good scoop coater. <br />
<b>C.</b> The emulsion may not have been properly cured. We usually allow a minimum of 24 hours for a screen to dry.<br />
<b>D.</b> Wrong type of ink for the emulsion you are using. We use dual cure emulsion that works with both water-based and plastisol inks, but choose your emulsion carefully and check to make sure it works with the ink you intend to use. <br />
<b>E.</b> Too much squeegee pressure or screening too many prints can cause the squeegee to wear down the emulsion. Be sure to use the correct emulsion for the type of ink you are working with and coat the screen an extra time on the inside of the screen where the squeegee will make contact if you will be screening a large number of impressions. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Problem 7. The screen is hard to reclaim.</b><br />
<br />
<b>A.</b> The emulsion on the screen may be old. The longer the emulsion sits on your screen, the harder it is to reclaim. <br />
<b>B.</b> The reclaiming solution dried in the screen. Once the reclaiming solution dries on the screen, it becomes permanent and ruins the screen. Always be careful to wet the screen before you apply the reclaimer, keep it wet and work the reclaimer around on the screen with a brush or scrubbie. <br />
<b>C.</b> The emulsion may be uneven. If the emulsion is thick in spots, like around the edges, it may be hard to get all of the emulsion out. Though if it’s only on the edges, it may not matter. <br />
<b>D.</b> You may not be using enough water pressure. Try using a pressure washer, a special hose like <a href="http://www.victoryfactory.com/specials.htm">the one Victory Factory sells</a> or even try a coin-op DIY car wash. <br />
<b>E.</b> Ink may have dried in the screen. If the ink was not washed out thoroughly it may have dried in and blocked parts of the mesh. You can try a haze remover like Enviro Haze. But if the ink has really dried in there, the screen may be ruined.<br />
<br />
<br />
Here is a handy chart from Speedball that I found. It may help with estimating exposure times if you are using light bulbs.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pguJl2BclEw/UYtZ99zPRMI/AAAAAAAAAU8/-8QA57ZipQk/s1600/speedball-exp-chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pguJl2BclEw/UYtZ99zPRMI/AAAAAAAAAU8/-8QA57ZipQk/s320/speedball-exp-chart.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Next: <b>Why Screen Green?</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-44960638379251685252011-01-15T13:08:00.000-08:002011-01-17T15:01:42.556-08:00Rocking the Basics Part 2 - Water Based and Discharge Inks<b>Just Watch the Videos! How Easy is that?</b><br />
<br />
There are many videos and tutorials out there about the basics of silk screen printing. You can check youtube.com, vimeo.com. Instructables.com, wikihow.com and ehow.com are all places you can find some information on the basics or on different techniques for screen printing or decorating clothing.<br />
<br />
Here are a few water based and Discharge inks videos excerpted from the Ryonet DVD. I recommend the DVD. It has helped us learn.<br />
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M8-kO4dn2iQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/M8-kO4dn2iQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
Mixing Discharge ink (Note: They say the ink is good for 8 hours but we notice a drop off in print quality after 4 or 5 hours)<br />
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<br />
Discharging the Discharge ink on shirts.<br />
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<br />
Clearing dried water based ink (We use the RC water-based inks, they are very good, but the ink will dry in the screen sometimes)<br />
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MBVsSseBd2k?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MBVsSseBd2k?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
Enviro Wash Screen Cleaner (We use this and it’s great)<br />
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QIbkih5MgL4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QIbkih5MgL4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
I really couldn’t find anything good on using Discharge Paste, which we use quite a lot. I think we will have to make one. If you would like to look over my blog post on <a href="http://diysilkscreenprinting.blogspot.com/2010/12/dharmas-discharge-paste-color-remover.html">Discharge Past here it is.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Extra stuff:<br />
<br />
Recession advice for screen printers (Don’t have a job? Make your own!)<br />
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3DOH5bxqQ24?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3DOH5bxqQ24?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
Got a Yudu? Here’s a nice tip:<br />
Coat Your Yudu Screens With Liquid Emulsion<br />
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/5962592" width="400" height="270" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/5962592">diyteeshirts.com YUDU Hacks: Coat a Yudu Screen</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1287732">DIY Teeshirts</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br />
Next: <b>Troubleshooting Screen Problems</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-51639143468774312252011-01-12T17:49:00.000-08:002013-05-09T01:11:21.142-07:00Rocking the Basics Part 1 - Coating and Exposing the screens<b>Just Watch the Videos! How Easy is that?</b><br />
<br />
I haven’t covered the basics of screen printing because so many other people already have. There’s a ton of information out there that has helped us so I’m just going to link a bunch of it here! Sit down with some popcorn and watch!<br />
<br />
Ryonet has many good videos on youtube and they sell excellent DVDs. Catspit Productions has some great videos. The only drawback (for us) is that Catspit only prints with toxic Plastisol ink. We don’t use that ink very much, only on one type of shirt, our UV reactive shirt, prefering to stick to more evironmentally friendly products. But they are a great source of DIY information. Basically, you can find most any type of beginner information on youtube.com. You can find a <a href="http://diysilkscreenprinting.blogspot.com/2010/12/stuff-we-use-master-list.html">master list of the stuff we use here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Prepping And Coating Screens</b><br />
We don’t degrease or abraid the mesh. I know you’re supposed to, and we did at first, but then we found we didn’t need to after all. You have to find what works for you.<br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1XThWihlibY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param>
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<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1XThWihlibY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<b>Putting emulsion on your screen</b> <br />
We mostly use one coat on each side. We also work in normal room light, fluorescent or 60 watt incandescent, but we are using dual cure emulsion. We just put our screens in a big cardboard box with a black cloth draped over it to dry and we separate them with votive candles or small jars in between the screens. But the storage closet is nice!<br />
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<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1HwrEwl2d8E?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<b><br />
Another - How to Put Emulsion on Your Screen</b> (Nice one!)<br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zBn4cPkw1MY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param>
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<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zBn4cPkw1MY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<b>Placing Your Film On The Screen</b><br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TBdNVbjszmI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TBdNVbjszmI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<b><br />
Image Placement on the Screen and Screen Exposure</b><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrHgicnjvV8">Click to Watch</a><br />
<br />
<b>How to Burn a Screen</b> <br />
Good information and a cute girl! We basically do things much this way but we use dual cure emulsion, expose the screen for 5 minutes and do all of this in low normal room light, but no sun light.<br />
<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hiRKnaD0hvc?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param>
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<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hiRKnaD0hvc?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<b>A couple of different ways to expose your screens</b><br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QryZWAAfJ6A?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QryZWAAfJ6A?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<b><br />
Screen Exposure Problems PART 1</b><br />
<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/h9K_7XvqZ-Q?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h9K_7XvqZ-Q?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<b>Getting Your Art To Screen</b><br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JEvWd6D7qCQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JEvWd6D7qCQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<b>Washing Out The Stencil & Reclaiming</b> <br />
We dab our screens dry with a paper towel and sometimes dry it further with a hair dryer, NOT held too close because nylon mesh can melt. We also use a <a href="http://www.victoryfactory.com/specials.htm">special hose from Victory Factory</a> instead of a pressure washer. A pressure washer is better, but you can get along with less.<br />
<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KM9uxI2bkPQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KM9uxI2bkPQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
Here is a Speedball exposure chart that may help when exposing screens using light bulbs. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pguJl2BclEw/UYtZ99zPRMI/AAAAAAAAAU4/6iQ5BsDutTo/s1600/speedball-exp-chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pguJl2BclEw/UYtZ99zPRMI/AAAAAAAAAU4/6iQ5BsDutTo/s320/speedball-exp-chart.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Next: <b>Rocking the Basics Part 2 - Water Based and Discharge Inks</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-8748593215098908492011-01-11T00:10:00.000-08:002011-01-28T00:31:35.715-08:00The World’s Most Painful PosterI know I keep mentioning this poster. Our first. Oh, the horror. The first time we tried to screen print a poster it was a whirlwind of trouble. One weekend of pure hell. If this project didn’t make us give up, nothing will. But I will explain all of the problems that we had and maybe that will help if you run into problems. <br />
<br />
Before Freddy and I started screen printing, I had designed some posters and had them printed by several different screen printers, all of whom did a wonderful job. But it was time to do our own. We started small. Our first poster was 12” x 18” and 2 colors. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/posters/misfits4-600.gif" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="600" width="400" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/images/posters/misfits4-600.gif" /></a></div><br />
It started out just fine. I took some photos of Freddy posing with a skull I had laying around the house and did the sketch, inked it and did the separations, planning on a simple 2 color poster in classic red and black. Freddy got the poster press built and ready in time for the weekend printing session. We had the screens made for us at Standard Screen in Manhattan since we weren’t experienced at burning screens yet. <br />
<br />
The posters I had drawn before were silk screened by other people and I had always done the separations myself. I was very sure to make the posters pretty easy to screen and give the screen printers <a href="http://diysilkscreenprinting.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-do-color-separations-for-screen.html">good separations</a>. But on this one, I got lost in the creative process and created a bit of a difficult registration issue. I did something that is generally not a good idea and had 2 colors need to line up precisely to look right. Below is an example of what I mean. The top picture is the black screen out of register and the bottom picture shows it correctly in register.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/registration-problem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="942" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/registration-problem.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The press Freddy built is capable of very accurate registration... when it is working right. Anyway, I had done all of the research on printing posters so we began, thinking we knew what we were doing. We hung the paper up in the basement overnight to let it acclimate so that it wouldn’t change shape on us as it absorbed the humidity or changed temperature.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/paperhang1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="435" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/paperhang1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We started on our adventure. We ran into trouble almost right away. We could not get a good print out of the red screen. Below are some examples of the problems we had.<br />
<br />
Here the ink squeezed out under the screen. And perhaps you can see that the texture of the ink is blotchy, not smooth like it should be. The ink we were using was too thick and needed to be thinned, but we did not know. We used the Speedball acrylic ink right out of the jar. Freddy had to press so hard to get it through the screen that it bled under the masked areas. And it was so sticky that it stuck the screen down to the paper and didn’t pop back up like it should even though we increased the off-contact (or space between the screen and the paper). Now we know that it may have been possible that the ink was spreading out under the stencil like that BECAUSE we increased the off-contact. Sigh.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/badposter-high.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="481" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/badposter-high.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/bandposter-low.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="398" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/bandposter-low.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We also had problems with the ink not going on evenly and skipping some areas. Usually the same areas. We would later discover that we had a bad squeegee.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/missingthecorner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="885" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/missingthecorner.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here’s an action shot at our low point with the bad squeegee, bad ink and bad hinge clamps.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/actionshot-badness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="337" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/actionshot-badness.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We tried to clean the screen out on the press after it would squeeze out like that, but it didn’t work. We would have to take the screen off and go wash it up and wait for it to dry. During one of these breaks, we re-watched a Speedball DVD we had and realized that perhaps the ink was too thick. So we thinned the ink to the consistency we had seen on the DVD and tried again. It was still hard and we ruined a lot of paper, but we finally got 60 good prints. It seemed like it took forever.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/paperhang2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="420" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/paperhang2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Once the red prints dried, we started trying to print the black screen. It was going worse than ever and now we were ruining some of the red prints we had screened. About that time, while we were cleaning up the screen for another try, Freddy noticed that the squeegee wasn’t straight. It had a slight curve on one end. That was one problem. He also felt like the black ink was too thinned out. So we found another squeegee and I mixed another batch of ink, thicker this time and we started again.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/offendingsqueegee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="420" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/offendingsqueegee.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/newsqueegee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="540" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/newsqueegee.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Everything was going wonderfully... until we noticed the black was going out of register. It wasn’t lining up and it was different on every print! We found the problem – the hinge clamps weren’t holding the screen tightly and it was slipping around. No matter how we tightened them with pliers and even vice grips, they would still loosen up. <br />
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So we took the Staten Island train to the Staten Island Ferry to (oh god why did I move to Staten island? Oh yeah, a house & basement.) Manhattan and then took the subway to the art supply store to buy the good hinge clamps that we should have bought in the first place. Sigh. But we hadn’t known. Buy Jiffy Clamps. Trust me on this. Here’s a picture. The Jiffy clamps and a discarded old, bad clamp. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/jiffyclamps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="369" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/jiffyclamps.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We mounted the new Jiffy Clamps and screened the rest of the black. At that point we were amazed at how easy it was. We finished screening the posters and they came out beautifully. We even managed to print my tricky registration with very little trouble at that point.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/smilingthrough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="543" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/smilingthrough.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We finished up and hung the prints to dry. We celebrated our victory by watching a silly horror movie... somehow fitting. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/paperhang3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="451" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/paperhang3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Rawk!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/freddypumpsiron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="418" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/freddypumpsiron.jpg" /></a></div>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-33543184948668796872011-01-08T11:32:00.000-08:002011-01-09T20:26:23.725-08:00How to Do Color Separations for Screen Printing in Photoshop<b>Also Scanning Line Art</b><br />
<i>Note: The information here is for people with some familiarity with screen printing and computer graphics, specifically Adobe Photoshop.</i><br />
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Here are a few examples of how I do color separations for silk screened posters in Photoshop. Of course, you can do color separations by hand and cut the film, but I did that for way too many years before we had computers. So screw that. I’ll give up my Adobe Photoshop when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers. Still have a bunch of Rubylith in a box somewhere. You can have it. <br />
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To start with I draw my art by hand. In case you are wondering, I sketch the drawing and transfer my sketch to Graphics 360 Marker paper with a mechanical pencil, tightening the sketch as I transfer it, and then ink it with markers, mostly Pigma Micron. Both the regular markers and the brush markers. I don’t use white out. If I make a mistake, I usually draw the correction right through the mistake and fix the line art in Photoshop. I'm not trying to produce an original masterpiece, just a good final product and fast is better. <br />
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Once the art is finished and the pencil lines erased, I scan it at a pretty high resolution in Black & White Grayscale mode. The resolution depends on what size I drew the art. I have a pretty tight drawing style so I sometimes draw the art smaller than the finished print size and scan it at 600 pixels/inch. If the art is closer to the final size I might use 400 pixels/inch. <br />
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I scan it in Grayscale, import it into Photoshop and use Image > Adjustments > Threshold to change the image to a bitmap and eliminate the anti-aliasing that makes the lines fuzzy, playing with the setting to get the line weight I want. If the line art is too light I will use the Brightness/Contrast adjustment to darken the lines before I use the Threshold adjustment. Once the art is totally black and white with no grays I touch up the art with the pencil tool to keep the hard edge on the art. Keeping the edge non-anti aliased makes selecting the lines easy and doing the separations easy and accurate. I do the separations in either RGB or CMYK mode. If you are printing the seps out on an inkjet printer like we do, it doesn't matter much. <br />
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Here’s a scan of some line art before it was touched up. Scanned at 600 pixels/inch. You can see some of the mistakes I made in the inking.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/tunascan2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="524" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/tunascan2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here’s a closeup of the line art after it’s been touched up. The final resolution ended up being 372 ppi at print size, 18” x 22”.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/bigline.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="710" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/bigline.gif" /></a></div><br />
Here’s the final color art that was separated for screen printing.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/hotunaposter-fin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="923" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/hotunaposter-fin.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here’s an animation of the 4 color separations.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/hottunaseps.gif" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="650" width="493" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/hottunaseps.gif" /></a></div><br />
For the Misfits poster described in my last blog post, I drew the line art and later decided how to color separate the colors. I had a pretty good idea of how to color it, but it wasn’t totally planned. Here are some possibilities I tried out. The last one is the one I decided on:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitscolortests.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="1082" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitscolortests.jpg" /></a></div><br />
That last combination of colors made parts of the separations slightly complicated. Here’s the line art I started with.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitslineart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="946" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitslineart.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here are the separations for that poster with the black line art grayed out a bit so you can see the overlap of the other colors, the red and the gray. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsseps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="1082" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsseps.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here are some detail shots of part of the poster. This is all three colors with the black lines grayed out some.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsdetail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="580" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsdetail.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This is just the gray and the red without the black lines. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsdetail-redgray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="580" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsdetail-redgray.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This is just the black and the red with the black lines grayed out. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsdetail-redblk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="580" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsdetail-redblk.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This is all three colors as it would print. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsdetail-print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="580" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/misfitsdetail-print.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Sometimes doing color separations is easy. Below is a detail of a poster I did for a Viking Kings show. I drew the black line art and mostly just had to fill in the colors. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/Vikingskull-print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="1085" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/Vikingskull-print.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here’s the same detail with the black lines grayed out. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/Vikingskull-seps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="1085" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/Vikingskull-seps.jpg" /></a></div><br />
To do the seps for this Viking Kings poster, I just selected the open areas with the Magic Wand Tool in Photoshop, with anti aliasing turned off (unchecked). Once I had the areas selected I went to the Select menu and used the Modify > Expand to make the selection larger and then filled the area with color on a new layer (Edit > Fill). I do the color separations in color at first and then fill them with black to print the layers on transparencies, since you need good solid black art to burn the screen. You can see on the detail above that there were a few areas that I had to draw the color in by hand, using the pencil tool, but most of it I was able to just Expand and Fill. <br />
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On the Misfits poster, there’s a good bit of outlining done by hand, but I take any shortcut I can whenever I can. I knew I would print the colors in the order red - gray - black and I did the separations for that order. Hopefully all of that is clear. If you get the concept, then the best way to explain it is to just show you what I did, hence all of the big pictures. The information is not for beginners, but if you would like more information or explanation, you can email me and I will try to answer your questions. <br />
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There are many other ways to do separations and I would urge anyone reading this to seek out more information and choose the way the suits you best. The best way to figure out the best way is to know all the ways. <br />
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Next: <b>The World’s Most Painful Poster</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-78966925684049909712011-01-06T11:08:00.000-08:002011-01-09T14:05:12.562-08:00DIY Secrets to Printing Flatstock<b>How We Printed Our Three Color Misfits Poster</b><br />
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Though our first poster for <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&tag=advindiyscrpr-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=The Misfits">The Misfits</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=advindiyscrpr-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" /> was a weekend carnival of horror and pain that scarred our delicate psyches for eternity, we got some beautiful posters out of it and we learned a lot. The next few posters we tried came out better. We kept learning. So the next Misfits poster was a three color poster for the Halloween weekend show in Hartford, CT. At the show the posters were our biggest hit ever and sold out quickly. Jerry Only, who is always very supportive of our work, even came and signed them all. I will take you through the printing of that poster step by step. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/3color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="376" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/3color.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I draw the art for all of our projects by hand and scan it at a high resolution, usually 400 or 600. That’s often higher than I need but it can come in handy for a variety of reasons. I bring the art into Photoshop, touch up the line work (because I’m picky) and do the color separations on separate layers. I print out each layer on a large format inkjet printer (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Epson-WorkForce-Inkjet-Printer-C11CA58201/dp/B002HREI0C?ie=UTF8&tag=advindiyscrpr-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Epson Workforce 1100</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=advindiyscrpr-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002HREI0C" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" />) on transparency film and use the film to burn the screens making sure to place the image in the same position on each screen. That makes it possible to line up the screens on the press. We used 200 mesh screens for this project. The equipment and chemicals we use are covered in <a href="http://diysilkscreenprinting.blogspot.com/2010/12/stuff-we-use-master-list.html">the master list</a>.<br />
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All of these steps could have their own explanation, and I will possibly go into detail about some of that in the future, but things like art, scanning, burning screens, etc. are pretty basic and covered in many other places. I’ve been concentrating on the things we do that are less unusual.<br />
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So at the point this tale of edification begins, I have the <a href="http://diysilkscreenprinting.blogspot.com/2010/12/building-your-own-vacuum-table-poster.html">poster press we built</a>, 3 prepared screens and the paper we will print on. One thing – if you are doing more than one color on your poster, you will need to start the project the night before you will screen print and hang or lay out the approximate amount of paper you will need. Paper can change shape with humidity and temperature so you want it to equalize over night or at least for a few hours so that it doesn’t change shape during your print run and affect the registration of your colors. I generally have about 1/16” overlap of the colors on the separations. That’s usually enough. I will do a more detailed write up on color separations next time.<br />
The paper was hung up overnight:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/hangpaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="518" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/hangpaper.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This Misfits poster was printed in 3 colors of acrylic screen printing ink for paper – red, grey and black. In most cases you would want to print the colors in order with the lightest first to the darkest, last. In the case of this poster we didn’t exactly do that, but close. We printed the red first and then the grey even though the grey is a tiny bit lighter. The colors are semi-opaque and my theory was that the grey would over print the red in some spots and we would have areas of light grey where it overprinted the white paper and darker grey where it overprinted the red. But the ink we used was actually more opaque than I figured so the effect is very subtle. We had gone all over New York City to art supply stores to find just the right red acrylic ink we wanted and then I had to mix the grey from white and black.<br />
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To start with I laid a sheet of the poster paper (Cougar opaque white 100# cover, that we had cut to the finished poster size for us at <a href="http://www.limitedpapers.com">Limited Papers</a>) in the middle of the vacuum table of the press and turned on the vacuum to hold it in place. I had cut some rectangular pieces of paper out of one of the sheets of poster paper to make guides and I taped these around the sheet of poster paper to mark where I would place the paper each time. I placed the guides right up to the edge of the paper sheet so that every time you placed a sheet of paper on the press it would fit right into the guides and be in the exact same spot. The sheet of paper fits into the guides kind of like putting a piece of a jigsaw puzzle in place. I used guides on three sides of the paper. Not everyone does. Some people use only three guides on two sides. Which is called three point registration. But since our paper gets a bit wavy when we print on it I wanted the extra points of registration. <br />
The guides:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/paperguides.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="445" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/paperguides.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I use the same paper as the posters will be printed on for the guides so that there is no unevenness under the squeegee as it is pulled across the screen. I tape the guides down with a low tack masking tape that doesn’t leave a residue. I use the tape and some more paper to cover all of the holes that won’t be used to hold down the paper sheets we will print on. That way the vacuum won't suck your screen down onto the table, ruining your off contact and is concentrated on the paper sheets we want to hold in place.<br />
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Next I centered the design we will be printing on the paper using the transparency film I burned the screen with. I used the black film in this case since it has all of the line art and I can register all of the other colors to it. If a design is hard to register I will use registration marks, but in this case the colors were easy to register to each other (and I did the art myself and was familiar with it, which helps), so I didn’t bother. I taped down the transparency in position on top of a sheet of blank paper and used that to position the screen. I carefully lined up the screen over the design, pressing down to make sure it was exactly in place over the line art and then tightened the clamps, making sure the screen didn’t pull out of register as we screwed the clamps tight.<br />
Here is the tranparency film taped on the sheet of paper laid into the guides:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/firstcolor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="591" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/firstcolor.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Lining up the screen for the first color, red:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liningup-firstcolor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="449" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liningup-firstcolor.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Then we screened the first color, red. We used the ink right out of the jar. We didn’t need to dilute the ink and I didn’t mix it with a retarder to slow the drying time. We haven’t found that necessary with the acrylic poster inks. We hung the posters on string with clothespins, putting 2 back to back to save space. You can also use a rack to dry the posters flat or just lay them around. Whatever works.<br />
Screening the first color:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printfirstcolor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="404" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printfirstcolor.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The first run of posters hung up to dry:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/hangfirstcolor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="510" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/hangfirstcolor.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We let the posters dry about an hour or so to be safe. Drying times will vary so you just have to feel the ink and see if it’s dry. I mixed up the grey ink for the second printing, lined up the screen for the grey print on the same transparency taped to the same sheet of paper and we printed the second color. And let that dry the same way.<br />
Ready to print the second color:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printcolor2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="792" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printcolor2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Printing the second color:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printingcolor2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="440" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printingcolor2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
You can see we keep the vacuum in easy reach to switch it off and on:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printed2nd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="589" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printed2nd.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The second run hung up to dry:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/hangsecondcolor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="587" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/hangsecondcolor.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Same process for the last color, black. This time the screen was even easier to line up the screen since I was matching it to to the same art. The paper had gotten somewhat wavy by this time, but not so much that it caused a problem. The vacuum still held it down well enough to keep it from shifting and the print went on fine. Once the prints were dry we stacked them and put them in a case, and they all flattened out.<br />
Printing the final color, black:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printingfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="483" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printingfinal.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The finished poster:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printedfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="527" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/printedfinal.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Hung up to dry:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/hangfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="424" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/hangfinal.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Next: <b>How to Do Color Separations for Screen Printing in Photoshop.</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-19263088193298428952010-12-22T06:30:00.000-08:002011-02-04T00:41:52.691-08:00Building Your Own Vacuum Table Poster Press<b>Silk screen your own art prints for fun and profit!</b><br />
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I had been doing posters for a while and having them printed by other people (very beautifully, I might add, but it was pricey) but I knew that I wanted us to try and print our own posters. I did exhaustive research (it’s what I <i>do</i>), looking on the internet and in books. I searched out different methods on building a poster or flatstock press and asked some experienced poster screen printers’ opinions. And I came up with the idea of how to build our press. We scrounged up most of the materials in Freddy’s basement. It’s pretty easy to build with some very basic woodworking skills and tools. <br />
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1. You need something to make the top out of that is smooth and flat. We used an old desktop. You can use a nice piece of birch plywood. You could use a piece of countertop. I’ve seen someone use a thick piece of plexiglass that had been an old sign. As long as it’s smooth, flat and thick enough that it won’t flex under pressure, it’s ok. <br />
2. You need some 5/8” plywood to cut into 3/4" strips to make the spacers for the middle part. <br />
3. You need something to serve as the bottom. We used a piece of scrap plywood that was hanging around the basement. Any flat board that’s big enough would be fine. Even a table top. We found a table someone threw out that we plan to use to build our next, larger, press onto. Recycle, reuse, etc. <br />
4. You need a vacuum cleaner. I had an old canister one that works great for the press and isn’t too large and cumbersome. <br />
5. You need some hinge clamps. We bought the wrong ones at first and they didn’t hold the screen securely. So then we got some Jiffy Hinge Clamps. They are very common. Should sell for around $20-25.<br />
6. And you’ll need a t-square to draw the grid, one or two 3/32” drill bits, some screws, wood glue or contact cement and clamps for holding the thing together once it’s glued until it dries. The main thing is to use enough glue and put the press together tightly enough so that it doesn’t leak air. Ours leaked air at first. We found the holes and filled them with glue. No big deal. <br />
<br />
Here are some plans I’ve drawn up. There are no dimensions, but you just make your own press the size you need and adjust the dimensions to fit. You could use these drawings to make your own plans with measurements. It’s a very basic press. You can get very fancy with building a poster press. We didn’t. Ours works. ‘Nuff said.<br />
<br />
Plan 1 - The top<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/posterpress-plan1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="722" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/posterpress-plan1.gif" /></a></div><br />
Plan 2 - The inside and side view<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/posterpress-plan2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="917" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/posterpress-plan2.gif" /></a></div><br />
<b>Assembly Instructions</b><br />
<br />
First you cut all the pieces to size. Most places that will sell you plywood, will cut it for you for free or for a small fee. The inside spacers are the most critical. You want the outer pieces to be at least an inch or so away from the holes you will drill and you want the thinner spacer strips to be 4 or 5 inches shorter than the interior space. See the diagram. Cut the spacer strips to about 3/4” wide by however long you need them, so they will be 5/8” x 3/4” x <i>n</i>. <br />
<br />
Next use a t-square to draw a grid with all of the lines spaced 1 inch apart as shown in the first drawing. Drill a hole with a 3/32” bit at each intersection. You might need more than one bit in case it breaks. Once the top is done turn it upside down and glue and screw the spacer boards in place. The spacer boards are indicated in red on the 2nd drawing. Stagger the spacer strips as shown in relation to the vacuum hole. Make sure that the spacer strips are all turned the right way, with the 5/8” sides top and bottom and the 3/4” side to side fitting between the holes you drilled. You can use more spacers inside if you want, but I wouldn’t recommend using fewer. Leave a large enough space on one side to fit your vacuum hose or nozzle. One of those flat attachments works pretty well. <br />
<br />
You leave an opening in the side (whichever side works for you) just big enough to insert the vacuum nozzle. We used a flat attachment, shoved it tightly into the space and affixed it with duct tape. I was NOT kidding about the lack of fancy building. But hey, it works. <br />
<br />
The vacuum holds the paper in place while you screen print onto it and you just turn it off and on as needed. You can buy a foot switch or a hand switch to make it easier.<br />
<br />
Then glue and screw the bottom piece on. Clamp it up with a few clamps and let it dry overnight. Attach the vacuum and try it out. If you have air leaks, plug em. We just squeezed some glue into the leaky spots and let it dry overnight. You can turn the vacuum to blow to check for leaks more easily. Or if yours doesn’t have a reverse, cover the vacuum holes on top and just use a strip of tissue paper to see if it gets sucked to any spots where it shouldn’t. <br />
<br />
You mount the hinges in position and you are ready to go. <br />
<br />
Here’s a photo of our press. The tape and paper on top are set up to print our first poster. Next time I will explain how that all works. Freddy built the press and then the top part where the hinge clamps go separately and mounted them to another piece of plywood. This was both because of the sizes of the wood we had and also so it could be moved easily and frequently. If you read about <a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.blogspot.com/2008/10/our-new-studio.html">Our Clandestine Beginnings</a>, you know why.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/posterpress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="330" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/posterpress.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here’s a picture of the insides of someone else's project since I didn’t get pictures of Freddy building ours.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/pressinsides.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="480" width="700" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/pressinsides.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here’s a desktop like the one Freddy used to build the press. Freddy’s best friend and neighbor, Rose, donated this to our cause. Thank you, Rose!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/olddesktop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="880" width="400" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/olddesktop.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here’s Freddy installing the new, improved hinge clamps.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/installingclamps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="550" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/installingclamps.jpg" /></a></div><br />
A closeup of the Jiffy Clamps and an old, discarded, unsuitable clamp.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/jiffyclamps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="369" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/jiffyclamps.jpg" /></a></div><br />
To hold up the screen while changing out the paper underneath it we just screw a piece of scrap wood onto the side of the silk screen frame that acts as a leg and pivots. For aluminum frames they make a little gadget called a sidekick. Or you could get creative with it. I’ve seen a press where a guy had a string attached to the bottom of the screen, looped over a frame above and slightly behind the press and attached to a counter weight, a can of coins, that would hold the screen up in place. And he could adjust the weight by adding or removing coins. Heck, you could even just get someone to hold it up for you.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/posterleg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="594" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/posterleg.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This is the <a href="http://www.dickblick.com/products/awt-sidekick">AWT Sidekick</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.dickblick.com/items/430/27/43027-group3ww-l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="319" width="600" src="http://cdn.dickblick.com/items/430/27/43027-group3ww-l.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here's a picture of the press in action.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/freddy-prints1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="450" width="600" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/freddy-prints1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Next time I will describe the process of printing on paper (flatstock), with and without a vacuum press, and how to print multiple colors. <br />
<br />
Our posters are on sale at <a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/prints.html">Deaths Head Designs!</a><br />
<br />
Next: <b>DIY Secrets to Printing Flatstock</b>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-56960466076546311832010-12-20T06:38:00.000-08:002011-01-19T01:13:25.811-08:00The stuff we use, a master list.<span style="font-weight:bold;">More links than you can shake a mouse at.<br />
<br />
Our best sources for silk screen supplies. We buy almost everything online.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.dharmatrading.com">Dharma Trading.com</a><br />
DIY Heaven for Textile Artists (with very helpful staff).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.victoryfactory.com">Victory Factory</a><br />
Great source for silk screens and basic supplies.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com">Silk Screening Supplies.com</a><br />
Great source for all kinds of silk screen supplies.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.poconoscreen.com">Pocono Screen Supply</a><br />
Another great source for silk screen supplies.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Our best sources for materials to screen print on <br />
<br />
Shirts</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.jiffyshirts.com">Jiffyshirts.com</a><br />
Good prices, volume discounts, no minimum quantity and they sell to anyone.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blankapparel.com">Blank Apparel</a><br />
Good prices and no minimum quantity as well.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.alphashirt.com">Alpha Shirt Company</a><br />
Great for larger quantities and very nice to work with.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Paper</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.frenchpaper.com">French Paper</a><br />
Very high quality cards and poster printing stock.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.limitedpapers.com">Limited Papers</a><br />
This place sells in smaller quantities than a printer or paper supplier. They will cut stock to size for a minimal fee. We print our posters on Cougar Opaque White 100# cover stock.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Our best source for outsourcing</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.dieselfuelprints.com">Diesel Fuel</a><br />
The king of screen printing, IMHO (they have done posters and stickers for me).<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Inks we use</span><br />
<a href="http://www.unionink.com"><br />
Union Ink Aerotex Water Based Textile Inks</a><br />
Non-opaque water based inks that look great and stand the test of time on lighter color fabrics.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/MTDSPSQT">Matsui Discharge Inks</a> (Ryonet’s brand is Matsui)<br />
These inks need to be mixed with color pigments to make colors. More about that later.<br />
<a href="http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1574-AA.shtml"><br />
Discharge Paste Color Remover</a><br />
So great and easy to use! <a href="http://diysilkscreenprinting.blogspot.com/2010/12/dharmas-discharge-paste-color-remover.html">See my previous blog post</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/MTOP301WHITEQ">Enviroline Opaque White Water Based Ink</a><br />
Prints opaque white on black or dark colors.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />
Equipment we can recommend</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.victoryfactory.com/aluminum.htm">Aluminum frame silk screens</a><br />
Do yourself a favor and get aluminum instead of wood.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.victoryfactory.com/specials.htm">Victory Factory Spray Hose</a><br />
This has worked for us instead of a pressure washer<br />
<br />
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Epson-WorkForce-Inkjet-Printer-C11CA58201/dp/B002HREI0C?ie=UTF8&tag=advindiyscrpr-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Epson WorkForce 1100 Color Inkjet Wide Format Printer</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=advindiyscrpr-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002HREI0C" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" /><br />
A large format, low price inkjet printer we currently use to print transparency film.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.victoryfactory.com/film.html#accuart">Victory Factory Inkjet film</a><br />
Works great with the dual cure emulsion we use.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.victoryfactory.com/chemicals.htm">Ulano LX-660 Dual Cure Emulsion</a><br />
Dual Cure Emulsion, Many are good, but this is what we use.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.poconoscreen.com/products/shopaccessories.html">AWT "Pro Angle" Scoop Coater</a><br />
MUCH better than Magi-cote, SPS, Atlas, all the ones with plastic ends.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/RXP2024">Aluminum UV Screen Exposure Unit</a><br />
A good basic UV light unit.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.teeshirtprinters.com/four-color-two-station-press.html">4 Color, 2 Station Press</a><br />
For the very low price, we have been satisfied, though if you can afford a better one, buy a better one. We bought the one without micro registration, but micro registration is a big plus. Ours doesn't have that but it's the lowest cost 4 color press I've seen. We ordered extra brackets and have made several custom platens for it. <br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/ErgoSq"><br />
The “Flying Wing” Ergonomic Squeegee</a><br />
A very nice squeegee, though regular wood squeegees are fine too.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.victoryfactory.com/film.html#test_squares">Test Print Squares</a><br />
We go through a lot of these. Better to test on these than ruin a shirt or bag. <br />
<br />
<a href=" http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/CCTBMIST">Mist</a><br />
Sticky spray to make the t-shirt stay in place on the platen. Not to be confused with the old computer game I used to be obsessed with. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.poconoscreen.com/products/ranar.html#flashDryerHeader">Ranar Forced Air Flash Dryer DA-1616/110</a><br />
Took us a while to save up for it, but we are so glad we have this instead of the heat guns we were using. So far it is working great!<br />
<br />
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Raytek-MT4-Non-Contact-Thermometer-Sighting/dp/B0002198GY?ie=UTF8&tag=advindiyscrpr-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Raytec "MiniTemp" Thermometer</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=advindiyscrpr-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0002198GY" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" /><br />
Very helpful to know if you have cured a print enough. I check almost every print with it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/CCESQT">Envirostrip Screen Reclaimer/Emulsion Remover</a><br />
Works better than the toxic stuff.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Education<br />
<br />
DVD's</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/WBDVD">Water Based & Discharge Screen Printing DVD</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/SpecDVD">Specialty Printing DVD (Distressed, Retro, All over, Blends, Artwork & Tags)</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">A great book to get</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.squeegeeville.com/products-and-services/screenprinting-today">Screen Printing Today</a><br />
or <a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/SCPRNTTDYBOOK">Screen Printing Today</a><br />
Sold all over the place.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />
Test Marketing - My test marketing web sites for my designs</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cafepress.com/seriousdesign">Café Press</a><br />
<a href="http://www.zazzle.com/jayjayjackson">Zazzle</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />
Sell the stuff you make in an online store.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.etsy.com">Etsy.com</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Our best web sources of information</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.gigposters.com">Gigposters.com</a><br />
A site for poster artists and screen printers. Very good information in the forums.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.t-shirtforums.com/">T-Shirtforums.com</a><br />
A message board where you can ask questions and get help or read lots of info. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.screenweb.com">Screen Web</a><br />
A screen printing magazine.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://t-shirtmagazineonline.com">T-Shirt Magazine</a><br />
A screen printing magazine.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/apparel-accessory-stores/4445000-1.html">Discharge Inks Ignite Hot Sales</a> (an article)<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Our wish list (wistful sigh)</span><br />
Santa, please take note and remember... you have no proof!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/KDL">A washout booth</a><br />
Now that we finally have a place to install one!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/WIN44">Riley Hopkins 4 color 4 station Manual Press</a><br />
With the aforementioned micro registration.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">A thing that sounds pretty good.</span> <br />
I might have tried this if we didn’t have a starter exposure unit. Check it out.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2010/10/silkscreen_power_how_to_build.html">SILKSCREEN POWER: How To Build a Portable Silkscreen Exposure Unit</a><br />
<br />
<br />
That's all folks! If I think of anything I missed, I'll add it.<br />
<br />
Next: <span style="font-weight:bold;">Building Your Own Vacuum Table Poster Press</span>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-22890913834096045842010-12-18T04:17:00.000-08:002010-12-20T14:55:35.749-08:00Top Tips. Some basic things we have learned.<span style="font-weight:bold;">A random list. (may be added to)</span><br /><br />Use aluminum frame silk screens instead of wood. Wood can warp and the mesh gets loose quicker. Another tip, loose mesh is more difficult to print with. <br /><br />You can have a dual cure emulsion coated silk screen (we use Ulano LX-660) out in fluorescent light or low incandescent room light for a little while, 5 to 10 minutes (or even a bit longer) with no ill effect. Avoid sunlight or UV light, however. <br /><br />Make your artwork a higher resolution than you think you will need. I have often been glad that I scanned a drawing at 400 or 600, even if I thought I would only need it at 300.<br /><br />You can make perfectly good custom platens out of sink cut outs from a counter or cabinet shop. They throw them away. Just order the brackets that go with your press and screw them to your home made platens. Reuse, recycle, reduce. <br /><br />All of the “green” products like the <a href="http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/enviro-screen-printing-products">Enviro line</a> that we have tried work better than their toxic counterparts. Especially the reclaimer, Envirostrip.<br /><br />Buy the best spray bottles you can find for your cleaners. The damn things will leak for no reason. Victory Factory.com sells some.<br /><br />Write the screen size and mesh count on every screen as soon as you get them with a Sharpie, otherwise you may need this: <a href="http://www.victoryfactory.com/tools.htm#mesh_counter">Mesh Counter</a>. Unless every screen you get is the same. Then ignore this one. We match the screen to the artwork so ours are all different. <br /><br />Check a new squeegee before you use it to make sure it is straight. Warped squeegee=horror, pain and agony. Believe me on this. More details on the agony later. <br /><br />A small rip in a non-image area of a screen can be fixed by placing an oval-shaped cut out piece of screen tape or blockout tape on each side of the rip and rubbing it down well. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/screenpatch.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 444px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/screenpatch.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Sometimes you can “fix” a small blockage on the exposed screen in your design by very gently poking out the hardened emulsion with a very fine needle while looking at it under a high powered magnifying glass like a linen tester. Being careful not to poke too hard and break the threads of the screen. I highly recommend a linen tester for closely examining the screens in any case.<br /><br />Next: <span style="font-weight:bold;">The stuff we use, a master list.</span>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-43376823821514758472010-12-16T04:26:00.000-08:002010-12-16T10:18:07.482-08:00Dharma’s Discharge Paste Color Remover or Our Chemical RomanceThe Holden’s Discharge ink we had used on the Saints of Pain t-shirts (covered in my last installment) was great, we loved it (for the moment, that is) and yet the ink wasn’t exactly like the shirts that had inspired me. The Saints shirts were much, much better than shirts printed with Plastisol ink, which I dislike, but I needed to learn more.<br /><br />I had also found this stuff, “<a href="http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1574-AA.shtml">Discharge Paste</a>” and the description said “Discharge Paste does not always remove all of the color, it depends on the dye and the color to which it is applied.” That intrigued me. Sounded like potential trouble, but intriguing trouble. It doesn’t work like the discharge ink which removes the color from the shirt and replaces it with another color. The discharge paste just removes the color the shirt fabric was dyed with, taking the design back to something like the raw color of the fabric before dyeing. Though it doesn’t work on all dyes or all colors. <br /><br />Decent quality shirts like Hanes, Anvil, Jerzees, Bella, etc. work the best. Most of the colors will discharge well, but we’ve had trouble with a few colors like Royal Blue, not all the blues, just Royal. Shirts that are the “Pigment Dyed” type don’t seem to discharge very well, though sometimes you can use that as an effect. Another cool effect is to use discharge on a 50/50 cotton/poly blend. Only the cotton fibers discharge, giving the design a kind of distressed or slightly speckled look. At the end I’ve put some pictures of shirts we’ve done with discharge paste.<br /><br />Using the paste is easy. Here’s what the Dharma web site says “It is fairly safe to use, the main byproduct being ammonia. It is for natural fibers and unlike bleach, it doesn't damage them.” It doesn’t have to be mixed, you use it right out of the container. Doesn’t even need to be thinned with water. It has an odd consistency, sort of gloopy, to use the technical term. Freddy says it’s like snot. It’s water based, so you do need to back flood while you are screening to keep the paste from drying in the screen. Back flooding is when you lightly pull (or push) the squeegee across the screen to lay down a layer of ink that sits on top of the design to both lay ink down on the design for the next print stroke and also to keep a water based ink from drying in the screen. <br /><br />The gloopy paste:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/gloopypaste.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 403px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/gloopypaste.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Here’s a picture of a back flood stroke.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/backflood.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 412px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/backflood.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />You screen the paste onto a shirt, let it dry and then iron it with a steam iron. An iron that puts out a lot of steam is best. I’ve tried 3 or 4 different irons, but the one we always use is an old iron my dad gave me when I left home. It’s beat up, but still works the best, as long as we clean it regularly. We fill it with water, put it on the cotton setting and iron the design and it appears like magic. It is a bit smelly and it does leave an odor on the shirt until it’s washed. We usually air the shirts out before we deliver them or ship them. <br /><br />Here's what the shirt looks like when screened. You can barely see the design.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/invisiblepaste.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 428px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/invisiblepaste.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Here is what it looks like as you iron it. Magic!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/ironing.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 629px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/ironing.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Here's a closeup of the print. Three years later it still looks great:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/dischargecloseup.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 417px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/dischargecloseup.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Here are some different shirts we’ve screened with the Discharge Paste. Each one comes out a little different, depending on how you screen it and the color of the shirt. To get the varying degrees of distressing we vary the squeegee pressure slightly. The same screen was used for all of these. We love the unpredictable results and the naturally distressed effect. By far the most popular ones are the more distressed shirts. More examples of what we do can be found on the <a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com">Deaths Head Designs</a> web site.<br /><br />Two red 100% cotton shirts, but different brands: <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberal-red.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 441px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberal-red.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Bella Women's 50/50 Heather Jersey shirts:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberalsbluegreen.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 439px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberalsbluegreen.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A navy blue and a black shirt, both 100% cotton:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberalsblugray.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 439px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberalsblugray.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A grey Gildan Ultra and an Anvil black spaghetti strap, both 100% cotton:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberalsgrayblack.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 439px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberalsgrayblack.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A cardinal red Gildan Ultra and a burnt orange Hanes Beefy T:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberalsredorange.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 439px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/liberalsredorange.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Also, here is a very informative video by Catspit Productions that explains different methods of pull or push strokes and flood strokes. This video is demonstrating with Plastisol ink, however, which is a bit different than the water based inks we use.<br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/U03j0R-jEvs?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/U03j0R-jEvs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />More of these videos are on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/CatspitProductions">Catspit on youtube</a>:<br /><br />Next: <span style="font-weight:bold;">Top Tips</span>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-79205601856852573572010-12-14T20:14:00.000-08:002010-12-18T05:37:27.863-08:00Inspiration in the form of a shirtSo I had this tee shirt. It was made by a company called Lip Service. I was very familiar with the company and had been enjoying their clothes for many years. They tended to be stylish, but not the most comfortable. But this one was different. It was my favorite t-shirt... ever. It was everything no other t-shirt in my experience was. It was soft and light weight and seemed to have no ink on it at all, but it had a cool picture. I used to wear it and wonder...<br /><br />This is a close up of the print on the Lip Service shirt:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/lipserv-closeup.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 381px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/lipserv-closeup.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Then I bought this hoodie. Hmm. More mystery! A closeup of the print on the back of the hoodie:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/faith-closeup.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 430px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/faith-closeup.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />You can see from these photos that the print is very different than the plastic ink that coats a t-shirt and sits on top of the fabric. I've never liked the feel of that plastic ink (plastisol). What the heck was this miracle of style and comfort? Of course, it was all just aimless curiosity until Freddy and I began discussing a silk screen business. At that point I had to KNOW. Because that’s what I wanted to do. Make people’s favorite shirts. <br /><br />Well, you know, everything can be found on the internet (you found this blog didn’t you?) but it isn’t always easy. It was a long, circuitous route to the information I sought. And even then, I didn’t know for sure until I tried screen printing with the inks I had found. I found these two first:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.standardscreen.com">Holden’s Discharge Inks from Standard Screen in NYC</a><br /><a href="http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1574-AA.shtml">Dharma’s Discharge Paste Color Remover</a><br /><br />We tried the Holdens Discharge Ink from Standard Screen (in Red) first, on some black shirts for a band we are friends with. We had the screen made for us at Standard from a computer file I sent them. Working in Freddy’s basement. we screened up a batch of shirts and discharged them with a heat gun.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The way discharge ink works is this</span>: You pour out as much ink as you think you will need into a mixing container, we use a plastic cup. You weigh it with a digital scale and mix in 10% (by weight) of the activator powder. Once you mix the discharge ink, it's only good for a few hours. They say up to 8 hours, but we notice a drop off in quality after 4. You silk screen the ink onto the shirts and <span style="font-weight:bold;">before it dries</span>, you heat it to about 300-350 degrees with a heat source that blows hot air (we used a heat gun to begin with though now we have a forced air flash dryer). You can see the print change color as the ink discharges the dye in the shirt. It gets brighter. Once you have discharged the print, the shirt is done and the ink is dry, though it has an unpleasant smell until you wash it or air it out. <br /><br />The ink is water based so you can thin it with water if it gets too thick, you can use propylene glycol to slow down the drying time and you have to be careful not to let the ink dry in the screen, which means working quickly and being sure to back flood your screen with a good coating of ink. (More about back flooding in my next post.)<br /><br />Here's Freddy preparing to print the red discharge ink we got. I had carefully mixed it with the activator:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/freddyprints-saints1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 430px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/freddyprints-saints1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />JayJay discharging the shirts with a heat gun:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/jjheatguns.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 458px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/jjheatguns.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />And we wore them to the show that night! And delivered our first screen printing job! Even if the shirts were a little smelly from the ink.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/jjrocks2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 476px; height: 400px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/jjrocks2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Off to a great start!<br /><br />And here's a closeup I just took of one of those shirts after 3 years of wearing and washing:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/redsaintscloseup.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 588px; height: 444px;" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/redsaintscloseup.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Next: <span style="font-weight:bold;">Dharma’s Discharge Paste Color Remover or Our Chemical Romance</span>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2024776251192298346.post-81568810661013769092010-12-13T01:08:00.000-08:002011-02-04T10:12:27.376-08:00Context, an IntroductionWe are a do-it-yourself screen printing company, <a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Deaths Head Designs</span></a>. There are two of us, JayJay and Freddy. JayJay does the writing and draws the designs and Freddy does the screen printing and poses for the photos. Division of labor. But they overlap. Freddy kibitzes on the creative and JayJay helps with the production. And takes the photos. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/stuff/new-dh-logo-400.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="205" width="400" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/stuff/new-dh-logo-400.gif" /></a></div><br />
We started doing this in 2007 in Freddy's basement, but that story is told elsewhere. You can read about it on the <a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.blogspot.com/">Deaths Head Designs blog</a>. I would even encourage you to, here:<br />
<a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.blogspot.com/2010/09/hard-way.html">The Hard Way</a><br />
And here:<br />
<a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.blogspot.com/2008/10/our-new-studio.html">Our New Studio</a><br />
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We've had so much trouble. Good lord, this has been ridiculously hard in so many ways. The combination of our low budget, work space problems, time constraints and nightmares with the most basic materials has been almost crushing. I remember back in 2007 when I was posting on my favorite informative artists' and screen printers' forum, gigposters.com, about our decision to start up a screen printing business, one of the oldest members and most expert screen printers said "Welcome to Hell." Yep. Man knew whereof he spoke. But I wouldn't give it up for the world! Even after all we've been through I'm still glad we do this. Maybe you will be too if you try it. <br />
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I'll try to explain the stuff we've learned in the hope that it might make things easier for you, if you are crazy enough to want to try screen printing. We do things our own way and that might not be the way most screen printers do things, but I like to think we do a few things right.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/photobooth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="502" width="248" src="http://deathsheaddesigns.com/photos/adventures/photobooth.jpg" /></a></div>JayJayJacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05717544256523645579noreply@blogger.com0