New Place and a Process Thread

[donationdesign]

So I recently moved down the block to a new place and finally my girlfriend and I have an office. I have been working from home for about four months now and for three of those months our "office" was in our room. And even though we had a large room things were pretty cramped and messy so its nice to have a separate room to work in. And there was enough room to set up my screen printing table and tools so I don't have to work in a creepy damp basement anymore.

So I thought I would show off the new place and post some process pics. Hope you enjoy.

So first off here's the new office.

My station where some of the magic happens. I have made a conscience effort to get away from the computer for at least part of the process.



My girlfriends station where the web and motion graphics magic happens.



And my print area where the messy magic happens.



Now onto the screen printing.

I am currently having a local studio burn my screens because they have an $8000 exposure unit that shoots perfect screens every time and I had two 500w work lamps that would shoot semi-perfect screens every other time.

So first I mixed the first color and did a test on a scrap of the stock I am using. I always have trouble with mixing a dark red, but I have found a 4 or 5 to 1 ratio of red to brown works pretty well just make sure you let your test dry and see how the color looks.



So here is everything set up and the first pull. A few things of note, I use the three tab system for registration and it seems to work pretty well. I use a "L" bracket as a kickstand of sort until I build a counter weight. And I have found a great tool for scraping out ink the pools on the edges and corners is half of a cassette tape case. Also I have found that for lack of a vac table putting a little rubber cement down and letting it dry helps keep the paper from sticking to the screen.



I hang my prints on bull clips in my foyer (I've never had a foyer and its funny to say now). After you have printed like twenty you can usually scrunch up the first ten if they're dry to the touch to save space.



When I set up for the second color I try to align my registration marks up the best I can through the screen and then make minor adjustments if needed after I pull the first few prints.



When all the prints are done I stamp them and sign and number them. The custom stamp was surprisingly inexpensive (like $30) and then I have my email address and website on each poster.



So that's my process. I learned almost everything I know from the forums here and from Andy's book. So if you are new to poster printing I suggest looking around here and ordering Andy's book.

Let me know if you have any tips. Thanks!

[MrBlonde7]

Awesome setup, yo! Keep up the good work.

[four0onestudio]

very neat little process thread. what do you have under the tape, to register each print with?

[mono_666]

where did you get your custom stamp?

[Streeter]

Love your stamp. Can you show a closeup of it? Poster rules as well.

[donationdesign]

I just have some cardboard (thicker then the stock I am printing on) under the tape. Not the best because you have to make sure your paper doesn't slip underneath the tabs.

The stamp was from - thestampmaker.com

[donationdesign]

Here's a poor close up of the stamp.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/1157356...8468/sizes/o/]
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[adamturman]

Hey Donation, how many prints are you typically doing?

If it's more than 100, I'd suggest building a small print rack. There's pdf instructions in the premium forums I believe. The print rack I'm talking about is made of 2'x2' masonite sheets to make shelves. Your footprint would be 2x2 and about 6 feet tall. Perfect for a small space like mine and possibly yours. I should take pics of it sometime...

Good luck, process/space looks small and mighty!

[Nicholas Wilson]

If anyone needs stamps like that, we have a local shop here that does amazing work that I can set you peeps up with.

Ours is like 3x5 and makes editioning awesome. I think it was like 20-25 bucks.

[donationdesign]

Yeah I know the plans you're talking about and I have thought about building one, but currently I am keeping my runs around 50 which is perfect for my hanging set up, but if I increase my run size in the future I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!