Hello...

[Adam]

Been reading this forum for about a year and a half now, slowly learning all i can about the process. Figured it was about time i contributed somehow.

I started out printing with a pretty basic (terrible) setup - a pair of hinge clamps screwed to an old piece of MDF. I was exposing with a crappy photographers light i found and some glass from a discarded picture frame.





I did manage to get at least one half decent run out of it...



But generally it was a total pain in my ass. Nothing went right or turned out like i wanted it. So this summer i spent some time building some decent equipment.

Exposure unit:



Pretty typical deal... plywood construction, 6 x 20 watt blacklights, 1/4" glass, measures about 26 x 34". My exposure time is around two minutes and i post expose for another couple of minutes after washout.

Vac table:





Kept this fairly simple. Plywood construction with an acrylic sheet surface. It's hooked up to a normal household vacuum cleaner as you can see (which i scored for free). Gives me all the suction i need. So far printing with this has been a dream compared to my previous "set up". Registration hasn't been an issue at all (except when i forgot to tighten one of my clamps properly... woops). Only downside is it's pretty noisy. Wondering what to do about that... I should say thanks to slazareth for this thread: My Process Thread - From purchase to first prints (Ongoing), and to andymac for some old table plans that i found floating around. Those things helped me out a whole lot.

For my first print with the new setup i decided to collaborate with my girlfriend. She did the art, i printed it. I meant to take some process photos but i got too caught up in the printing and forgot. But here's some pics of the outcome instead...







2 colours on 38x38cm 300gsm cartridge. We were both pretty excited about how well they turned out. We only did a small edition of 15, but it was still a whole lot of fun. Aside from one major screw-up (the aforementioned clamp incident), it all went pretty smoothly. If anyone is wondering you can buy the prints from her website: camellie :: portfolio.

Unfortunately that's all i had time to print before i go back to university in a couple of days. Had to pack everything up until December. Which kinda sucks.

Anyway, thanks to all the guys here who share their knowledge of screen printing. I wouldn't have got half this shit done without this forum. Next time i'll take some proper process pics, i promise.

[thejuice]

awesome! good work man

[Iron Canvas Studios]

damn that's some nice print work there - really nice crisp and clean lines, great work!

[standard]

except for the pinkie ring, I'd say you're doing fantastically well.

[evanmarnoch]

Nice setup too!

[Camellie]

hahah @your pinkie ring!
xx

[Adam]

except for the pinkie ring, I'd say you're doing fantastically well.

lol, thanks. You'll be comforted to know that i have since gotten rid of said pinkie ring.

[evanmarnoch]

Good call

[Plaidman]

Damn, that is a nice looking print. Nice work!

[Pheck]

that yoink! print is awesome! welcome!