double pull: bad form?

[taliban]

If you have to double pull, don't flood in between pulls. I'm assuming you know this. Even if you raise the screen, flood, and pull again, there is some potential for paper movement, even if it's slight - and it can cause blurring. The problem with double-pulling seems to be adding too much wetness from the ink to the paper at one time. Then, when it dries, that area has the potential to warp more than it may have - depending on the coverage area.
Just curious - why do you double-coat your screens? I have never done that. And I have never had a problem.

[eyepeace]

Just curious - why do you double-coat your screens? I have never done that. And I have never had a problem.

I could be wrong but I think he's just saying he coats each side of the screen once. I do that. I thought most people did that.

[strawberryluna]

i actually double coat both sides of my screens with a hefty scrape on the 2nd pass.

i only double pull when there is a problem with the first pull clearing fully, or i'm printing metallics and the first pass wasn't sparkly/heavy enough. if it's just to get opacity? fuck it. i actually build in pattern and shape behind colors to make a bit of a peek-a-boo part of the design, even if it's not a true overprint (as in yellow & blue make green).

[taliban]

I've never ever double-coated screens or, in other words, coated on each side. I don't know if most people do that. I don't know the reason for doing that because I get beautiful results with one coat and it saves emulsion... Maybe it depends on emulsion type. Don't know. None of our residents at Screwball double-coat, either. hmmmm

[eyepeace]

I think the amount of coating the screen is just dependent on the type of emulsion and personal pref. I just do what Andy Mac's book tells me to do. That's as technical as I get. Hell, if you can get away with one coat then all the more awesome for you.

I tried a double pull to get a better white on a dark paper but I was doing it with a flood in between and wasn't liking the results (my registration was sub-par). I'll keep in mind the non-flood way for the future.

[SkatRadioh]

I've double pulled on up to sextuple pulled where necessary; with floods. No problem as long as you're getting the off contact snap and have a consistent pull. Only if something stuck to the screen would I get a shift or blurring of the layer I'm printing. Though I would have to agree with Erin that I have seen more dramatic warping when double hitting a large white area on black paper. It's not usually bad enough to make it hard to register the next colors after stacking under weight. Andy prolly has a better justification for coating on each side with emulsion, but I have some trust in using a slightly thicker stencil than thin, single coat, one.

[Iron Canvas Studios]

I used to on high detail stuff, now i just thin my ink down a little more and don't have to worry about it. Also I finally bought a triple duro squeegee and that made life a million times better.

[Andymac]

Coat each side to encapsulate the mesh, grips better, lasts longer in production, works good for me. But Erin can do what she wants 'cause she's got the mojo goo. Same with Stevo. Don't fuck with Chicago.

I don't hit wet WB ink twice because I've had it stick on big floods or large areas. I'll just go and hit it again after it dries. Like two coats of paint.

Have a look at your screens/mesh. If you are not getting good coverage with say a 280, dropping to 250 or 230 helps a lot, and if you are using a thin thread as opposed to a thicker thread you will have a way bigger opening for the ink to come through.

[the kraken]

Double pull? What ever it takes to get the image right. It's only paper and ink.

What Andy said about coats. Largemammal yelled at me to start doing this when I had screens go sideways on me. It just makes your image a little tougher from abuse with wash outs and long runs. I usually pull 2 coats on the bottom and one on top. This works best with the emulsion and screens I work with.

[tenspeed]

Everyone who's talking about only coating one side - I'm going to ask a rookie question:

What side do you generally coat?

I'm guessing it's the squeegee side so you're not pushing Ink into the mesh only to get stuck. I might have to give this a go, see if it sorts some of these washout problems.