touristiko

This is a basic screen printing tutorial. For a more comprehensive, but way more wordy version check out no media kings. Except for the postmodern talk, which you will not find here, it can be completely trusted….

The hardest part of all this should be making your design – or thinking of something you really like, for that matter. You want to make it really high contrast – only black and white for a one layer screen print.

I inherited some frames from my Grandma, so i have them premade.

They are very simple frames, just make sure that on one side, all the edges are completely flush, so that it lays completely flat on whatever you are going to print.

i’m using 160 screen from Colours in Edmonton because they deliver anywhere along QEII (that number differs, lower numbers have bigger holes in the screen, higher numbers are more tightly woven cloth.  for tshirts and cloth, 160 works pretty well) and simply attaching it by hand with staples. start at the middle of one edge and work to one side, then the other.  then do the parallel side the same. and then the other two sides. you can see that my Grandma’s screen above had a wire in a groove to tighten the screen, but that isn’t really necessary. if you are a bit careful you can do it very easily by hand.

it would probably be better to (like stretching canvas and changing tires) work in a star shape when putting in these staples, but there isn’t the need. it works well enough this way.

your screen should look something like this.

Follow the instructions on your screen printing liquid kit until you get something greenish.

using a squeegee apply the photo emulsion to the side that will print down (so the side you have ensured is completely flat and the edges all flush).  also run the squeegee over the other side lightly, but you shouldn’t need to apply more emulsion once you have already done it well on the print side.  be conservative in a small c way with the amount – too much emulsion is a pain in the ass, and its expensive.

should look something like this at the end of this step.

dry the screen in a completely dark room, if you have a fan, put it in that room and run it, the stuff will dry twice as fast. make sure the print side is once again down – elevated. if you don’t do this, it can cause problems later, as it runs or is to thick on the side that you run the squeegee over, causing it to mess up and not be a clean stencil (which is what they (the Rimbey Fire Department) calls the print on the screen – coming up soon).  so let that dry for a few hours – best is overnight. it’s not extremely sensitive – not like film negatives, but don’t expose it to too much light when you check on it, or it will wreck the photosensitivity needed for later.  clean up emulsion on toilet because it looks like green poo.

in the meantime, print your design on acetate or an overhead.  remember: everything that is black will print ink after this whole process is done. also have a plate of glass or plexiglass to lay over the overhead like this:

it is best if you do this in the dark.  the dark cloth on the back helps to stop light from reflecting off the bottom. so from bottom to top, a board to work on, dark cloth, the screenframe (stencil side down), the overhead, the glass plate.  this can now be exposed to light.

place it directly under a light. you can also use the sun, but it is really powerful and hard to control the light: i always burnt mine like that, it only takes like 5 minutes. notice the colour of green the screen is in this picture. when the screen is getting done, it turns a darker shade like this:

it’s hard to tell, but you’ll know it when you see it. the diazo bottle up above in the post has the right colour.

i use this light

for 25 minutes to half an hour.  then i sit down and drink a beer.

when you are done your beer and the time is up, wash the stencil out with water pressure. i use warmish water, i don’t know if it makes a difference, although it sometimes comes off with really hot water. you will be able to see where your print will be because it is a lighter shade of green. wash it off using your hands and the water pressure until it is clean and the image is crisp.

the image will look like this, but it will probably actually be green, not red from the flassssshythingyonthecamera.

tape off any areas you think you might print by accident, or any little light holes that may have appeared. there is also screen filler you can buy to fill holes using a painbrush, but if you get lots of holes, something is wrong.

before you print, it should look something like this.

center your image on whatever you want to print. in this case, i’m serious about getting rid of PEI, so i am putting this on a hoodie.

rather use too much paint that not enough, in my opinion. but i’m not a large c conservative so maybe some of you albertans want to use less – get less with more, like harper, you know?

using the squeegee you bought before you started this whole process, draw the paint evenly across the print. holding the frame down, turn the squeegee around and go back over the way you just came. careful not to move the frame or it will look like you were drunk from that beer when you made this.

before you remove the frame and screen, it should look something like this.

remove the screen and there it is!  clean the screen immediately after you are done whatever number of consecutive prints you want to make. you can also use emulsion remover to remove the green stuff from the screen and then you can start the whole process from the beginning again. before you use it though, use a degreaser to make sure you get rid of all the ink, for example use a little dishwashing soap on the screen and then follow the instructions on the emulsion remover canister.

good luck and let me know if this helped.

to see some of my results, click here.

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