Testify and a Noob process

[eyepeace]

I'm not sure where this post fits, but since it has alot of screenprinting process stuff I figured I'd put it here.

I first want to start off by saying I'm in awe at how great this site is and all of its contributers.
The information shared here by members is a testament to how the overall design community should be.

I've been following gigposters for several years and have been wanting to get into screenprinting for even longer.
Mainly just to get off the computer and get my hands dirty and explore a different process.
Once I went on my own as a designer in 2006 I figured I could finally have a go... um, ya, not so much. Starting up kept me pretty busy.
Three years later I posed a new years resolution to myself... do a gigposter and hand screenprint it myself!
(looking back I now realize that was a pretty crazy idea).
5 months later I realized it would never happen unless I truly dove in.
So I dove in where IMO some of the best designers / illustrators / screenprinters were... here.

Within the first week I had learned more than I could have ever imagined just from searching the forums.
Much of it was entertaining to read as well... I caught myself laughing out loud a couple of times.

So I started getting the bare bones equipment and setting it up in the garage...


Partial parts list:
Two 23x31 230mesh aluminum frames.
Speedball acrylic inks. I'm just using CMYK and mixing to get my colors
Speedball Diazo emulsion
Ulano Degreaser Stencil Remover liquid No.4
Ulano Screen Degreaser Liquid No.3
Cheapo $100 PowerWasher from Home Depot

So I started printing my first test strips and playing around printing some personal stuff. Just some simple one color stuff.

Here's my test strips exposing in the basement bathroom (that sounds really dirty).
Pillow with black pillowcase, screen, film postive, heavy glass plate, 150 watt bulb 18" above:


I'm so thankful I took the advice of many here and invested in a power washer:


After printing I settled on 60 minute exposure:



In the meantime I was scouring the 'Art for Hire' forums and found a local promoter.
I sent him a couple of messages. Unexpectadly he was kind enough to give me a shot...
Oh shit! What have I done!?
uuuuuhhhhhh...
Better start those concepts....
I picked one and went with it, here's the nasty thumbnail concept:


The digital file:

The promoter dug it. Shwew!... wait...
Double oh shit! Now I have to print them!

I started on the screens:

Oh and as you can see I'm still working on getting a nice even coat from that emulsion.
On this one I didn't wait for the emulsion to fully make contact with the screen before I started moving but luckily it only affected a portion of the screen.
It threw me off because this time the emulsion was still cold and sluggish from being in the fridge.
I think I'm getting better at it though.

I moved operation down to the basement.

I realized it was a dumb move to setup in the garage if I wanted to work in the winter here in New England.
No vac table yet either. I hope to do that eventually as well (and build it higher with a slant cuz right now it was rough on my back).
For now it's the spray mount method. It's pretty messy and it screwed up more prints than I'd have liked just because you don't know when the spray mount is gonna lose it's tackiness.

Oh and for my surface I'm using is MDF. I thought it would work well because it's smooth.
However I can see that it's not going to last long as it's soft and gets torn up by the spray mount and my registration stickers (stacked vinyl address stickers).

A drying rack would eventually be nice, too:


Got through the red, now for the black:


This time I left some holes where I laid them to dry so I could make it to the bathroom if need be:


Here's the final:






I have to say the part I worried about most was registration between color runs.
I originally designed the poster to be somewhat forgiving of this knowing this was my first time.
But I have to admit it was further off than I thought it would be. I did give it some trap but not nearly enough.
Plus, had I known the black prints so opaque I would probably have just overprinted it all.
Ultimately I kind of like how it looks slightly off register which is what I was kind of hoping for. But going forward I gotta get better at it.
Any tips on registration and trapping would be greatly appreciated.
I'm seriously thinking of going the registration tabs route, though I don't look forward to having to do all that prep and after trimming work.
It's nice just printing and you're done.

I'm even wondering if the screen stretched slightly. I created the red and black on 2 different screens simultaneously.
I had waited several days after the screens were burned and washed out before I started printing.
When I was lining up the black it seemed like the stuff on top would register while the stuff on the bottom would be off and vice versa.
Am I crazy but is it possible that they stretched during drying?
They are new screens. One had been reclaimed twice while the other was new and had only gone through a degreasing stage.

Ultimately the promoter is happy and the best news is I'm working on another show poster for him.

So my sincerest thanks to gigposters.com and it's many contributers.

I hope this first post isn't too massive.

Oh and my favorite cheese is Gorgonzola.

[jayryan]

i can't see any of your photos.

[scrojo]

please re-post in braille for jay.

[andydiesel]

i agree with Jay.

[eyepeace]

Sorry guys - my mistake - should be fixed now.

[Get a Clue Design]

all fixed. nice work, just make sure mark pays you SOMEthing for your creative, my 2 cents.

[Kotah]

Great Job!

[zombieparty]

Oh and for my surface I'm using is MDF. I thought it would work well because it's smooth.
However I can see that it's not going to last long as it's soft and gets torn up by the spray mount and my registration stickers (stacked vinyl address stickers).

next to the mdf at the hardware store, there should be some mdf with a melamine coating (the plastic looking white stuff) give that a shot. i use it for my platen on my fabric/tshirt setup. i have a ton of spray tack on it, and it can be cleaned off fairly easily with mineral spirits (especially if you dont let it build up like mine)

[ryan_1969]

looks good, nice concept too.

[strawberryluna]

Originally Posted by zombieparty

next to the mdf at the hardware store, there should be some mdf with a melamine coating (the plastic looking white stuff) give that a shot. i use it for my platen on my fabric/tshirt setup. i have a ton of spray tack on it, and it can be cleaned off fairly easily with mineral spirits (especially if you dont let it build up like mine)

yup. that's what we print on at AIR.

you can get that tack crap & tape bits off super easily if you need to with a good spraying of 409 or windex and then scrape it all down with a razor, repeat until clean, no damage to the print surface.