I’m trying to teach myself the art of silk screen printing. This is a series blog about the obstacles, the lessons, the knowledge and the skills I hope to possess by the end of my journey. Take what you will out of this and to other accomplished screen printers feel free to share your wealth of knowledge on the subject.
Previous entry: Part One
Since the last entry I’ve accomplished several new things: screen printing two different designs, discovering what mistakes incurred using the screen filler and drawing fluid, and making a better screen. Below are the successful prints I made from the haphazard Andy Warhol character silk screen.
Notice the hair does not print, along with the lips and nose.
As you may have noticed Andy’s hair does not print in full nor does his hair, eyes, lips, nose. The reason for this goes back to the mistake I made when applying the screen filler and drawing fluid. Originally I thought the the trouble started from my actual sketch from pencil to the screen, but I was wrong. (I do encourage you not to press hard when applying your sketch or tracing on the screen.) Let’s review where I went wrong. When painting with the drawing fluid make sure that the fluid fills into the screen. You can check by holding your screen in front of a light source. If you see little pinholes go back and lightly fill those in. I say lightly because when you put the drawing fluid on too thick you may have trouble when applying the screen filler. In my case I painted too lightly on some sections like the lips and too thick in other sections such as the eyes.
Now onto the next part where I went wrong: too much screen filler! Now the screen I’m using comes in a kit made by Speedball which you can find at your local art shop or online shopping. I have the 10 x 14 screen and so far it has been good to me. When preparing the application of your screen filler don’t be afraid to apply a large line of filler horizontally above your design, if you cut yourself short I can tell you what happens. When you take your squeegee and slide it vertically down over your design you are to do one swipe and one swipe only to cover your design! Try not to miss a section, swiping it a second time risks washing out your design. Which is exactly what happened to me my first time.
The ghostly image. The haze!
Reclaiming your one and only screen was a pain and I’m not going to lie. First of all nowhere in my awesome book or slew of bookmarked websites was there an explanation on how to reclaim your silk screen. After some hard core research I found some suggestions. Get a spray bottle and some bleach. Fill the bottle with one part bleach and two parts water. Get your screen wet with water and then spray the screen with your bleach solution. Let it soak for five minutes and then agitate with a nylon scrub brush, do this on both sides. Then blast the screen with your high pressure hose in a downward position. Soak again and repeat. Honestly I did not like doing it this way, so I’ll let you know that I’m looking to buy some sprays that with eat away at the emulsion a little faster next time. I did find this helpful video that gave me the idea… Helpful video.
So after I removed the Andy stencil and all its glory I was annoyed to still see him stuck on my screen. Now this is called haze and there is a product out there that removes the haze from your screen. I’m looking to buy it myself later this year: Enviro Haze Remover. However, it’s just a haze and will not interfere with your next design. As long as you can see through the other side I wouldn’t worry about it.
With my next design I was more prepared and took into consideration all the mistakes I made. I’m very happy to report that this next design washed through perfectly but that doesn’t mean I didn’t discover a whole new set of mistakes. Don’t worry this is an awesome hands on learning process that gets me away from long hours in front a computer screen!
As I said, all things went through fine but just wait until I got clever with where I put the ink. Traditionally just as you put the screen filler horizontally above your design, you also do the same with your ink. Don’t get too creative unless you are looking to make unwanted errors. As I was printing I noticed that I was losing ink down by the words “fashion icon.” I decided to put some ink in between the lips and the words as an extra buffer. Well once the swipe was complete I got a big shadow of lips and letters as pictured below:
Notice the middle print. Very thick, almost shadow like.
Now remember, in between prints, you should run your squeegee over the screen lightly in order to properly flood the screen, otherwise the ink will dry inside the screen.
When I’m printing I feel as though I don’t get enough time before the screen is just done doing its job. I was reading my awesome book, which I highly recommend: Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens by Lena Corwin, and it says to use Ink Retarder. Ink Retarder prolongs the drying process and gives you more work time. Next print I’ll totally be prepared, keep those fingers crossed!
Where To Buy Stencil Remover?
Stencil Remover
