Won't Wash

my friend becky is the coolest

2010-11-23T10:07:00.003-06:00

You'll see why if you check out these daily doodles that she's been so diligent about posting lately:
Here are some samples, but you'll see the rest here: http://pishposhandsuch.blogspot.com/

Visitor

2010-11-01T19:20:00.003-05:00

I look like my mom in a lot of these... weird.

fail

2010-07-14T17:40:00.005-05:00

I got a request from an uncle for a graduation announcement. Until then, I hadn't planned on sending any out since my family is small, so I wouldn't be sending many out. But, after the request, I decided I might as well have a little fun with it and try to do something with screen printing like I played with last summer.

So, I busied my exacto blade and started cutting letters out of newsprint (I didn't realize until after I started how annoying creating a paper stencil to block the ink that was all text was going to be until after I started).

After cutting and fussing, I finally tried to pull a couple little prints. BUT, my stencil totally failed. The newsprint was just too weak. Last year, I thought my black ink might just be too runny, which is why it didn't work well, but I think that it was the newsprint. I had thought it would work the same as newspaper, but such was not the case. I guess now I know I have to use a much sturdier paper... and that maybe type isn't the most fun thing to do using this method of makeshift screenprinting.

test print.. not great, but I thought I'd keep going anyway

total disaster!

DOUBLE FAIL: I put MFA instead of BFA. probably good this didn't work out, then, huh...

Advice from Stefan Bucher

2010-06-23T17:57:00.006-05:00

Lately, I've taken to watching lectures from the Walker Channel's archives, and have really been enjoying them. So far, I've only watched graphic design ones, but there are some architecture ones and others that I'd like to go back to.

One of the most recent ones I've watched is a lecture by Stefan Bucher, which was at the Walker Art Center at the end of this past March.What is most fascinating to me about these designers' lectures is each person's attitude towards their work. In particular, I like hearing about what these designers do to get the work they love to do, and what they do to get around or get out of doing the work they cannot stand.

I particularly liked Bucher's lecture because he had some great advice for students in the Q&A after the lecture. Here are a couple quotes I liked hearing, perhaps mostly because it helps me feel justified in what I have done over the last month or so (or lack thereof). If you watch the lecture, or part of it, this question is around 1:31:30 in the video.

"I really strongly urge you to just sit down for a month and say, 'ok, no decisions until the end of the month.'"

"Don't just take a job to take a job. If it takes you a few extra months to find the right first job, that's really worth it because your first job determines a lot about your portfolio."

Nathaniel Rateliff

2010-05-12T12:03:00.005-05:00

Two weeks ago, I made the trek out to Maquoketa, Iowa with a few good friends for Daytrotter's Barnstormer III tour. Daytrotter is phenomenal at picking great bands, and I was totally enthused by the fact that Ra Ra Riot and Delta Spirit were the main bands for this tour.

Overall, I think it may be one of the best shows I've ever been to. It was filled with great people, and there must have been something about going to hang out in barns in the middle of nowhere that added a little extra charm and magic to the whole evening. (Someone posted these great pictures from the evening, that are definitely worth a peek, wish I took 'em).

The best surprise for the evening, though, was Nathaniel Rateliff. His performance of "Shroud" completely blew me out of the water. Luckily, someone caught it on video. I'd also highly recommend downloading his Daytrotter session.

Thursday, July 2 2009

2010-05-10T18:54:00.004-05:00

Thursday, July 2 2009

Collage (magazine/expired drivers' license/pen)

I am currently working on building a website so you can explore these handmade books I created for my honors project (and for myself). It probably won't be up for at least another month or so, so make sure to check back in the future!

July 3, 2009

2010-05-04T23:02:00.001-05:00

June 3, 2009
pen and watercolor pencil

Open Ending 2010: Senior Portfolio Night

2010-04-15T00:07:00.000-05:00



Please join us for the annual Iowa State University Graphic Design Senior Portfolio Night. After four years of hard work, the seniors will be showing their portfolios and work samples before they part ways in an Open Ending. Both professionals and the public are encouraged to attend.

WHEN Thursday, April 22, 2010 6:00-7:30 Professionals 7:30-9:00 Public WHERE Sun Room, Memorial Union Iowa State University, Ames, IA Click HERE for directions Parking available in the Memorial Union Parking Ramp CONTACT www.open-ending-2010.com open.ending2010@gmail.com

All to All

2010-04-14T23:51:00.000-05:00

I can't get enough right now!

June 27, 2009

2010-04-10T16:02:00.002-05:00

June 27, 2009
sharpie and colored pencil

May 15, 2009

2010-04-08T00:00:00.003-05:00

I've been working hard photographic everything I've done for my honors project so far, so I thought I'd maybe start posting a few peeks of it here.

For the first part of my honors project, I have been filling a spread of a handmade book each day with doodles, thoughts, scribbles, collage, etc. Each month gets its own different handmade book. This page is from last May, which was the when I started this project. The goal was (and is) to be doing more work with my hands. I felt that doing a little bit of drawing or writing or something each day would keep my mind sharper. It's nice to look back on the pages because they are not only a sort of visual library for myself that I can take ideas from in the future, but also sometimes a great memory aid.

May 15, 2009

This is about how I've been feeling lately

2010-03-31T16:08:00.003-05:00

head cold pattern 2 (above) and head cold pattern 1 (below) by Lauren Nasseff, from her Drawing a Day series. I've been following this series since summer, and I love the very careful handling of stroke in her drawings, and the unfinished quality of a lot of these images (whether intentional or not) make them really interesting.

DANIMAL GRAFFFIXXX

2010-03-23T13:18:00.000-05:00

Last summer, I went to a small arts and crafts fair in South Minneapolis. It was neat, but I actually liked the prints displayed around the coffee shop sponsoring the fair way more than anything that was a part of the sale.

Again, this is another person I don't know much about, but I really enjoy his prints. His name is Daniel Luedtke, and prints under the name Danimal Grafffixxx.

His prints are full of bright colors, and he uses a split-fountain technique to get some neat gradient effects and lots of layers.

I saw both of these prints for sale at the Center for the Book Arts, and I was really tempted to get the one with the microphone lady. Maybe someday soon.
DANIMAL GRAFFFIXXX blog
DANIMAL GRAFFFIXXX on mnartists.org

Jeff Millikan

2010-03-21T12:25:00.002-05:00

When I was home this past week, I stopped at the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts for some supplies and for some quality work time in their nice cafe. As always, I spent a long time looking through the shop and the gallery. The current exhibit, Quantified Aesthetics, was all about work that featured numbers and formulas.

One piece I really liked was a book by Jeff Millikan (unfortunately, I forgot the exact title of the piece). From what I gathered, Jeff takes old books (this one was a math textbook, I think), covers them with beeswax, and places them in custom bee hives. He tries to use the beeswax to encourage the bees to build honeycomb in certain areas, and eat away at the book in others. It was really fascinating to have the beeswax built directly on the book, and other pages seemed chewed through, showing many layers of text and diagrams.

There were also some photographs of other pieces of his, which were all equally interesting. I've been trying to find more information on him, but have not been too successful yet. I think he might be an adjunct professor of photography at the University of Minnesota, but again, I'm not sure if that's the correct Jeff Millikan.

I did, however, find this single image of a book from this series (which he calls the Insect Manuscripts, if I remember correctly).

overdue

2010-03-17T13:54:00.003-05:00

Well, I said I was going to get back into this, but that was over a month ago. So, maybe I'll try posting other things besides my work to get back in the habit of updating. (I'm toying with the idea of making some spring mixes)

In other news, here's the full embroidered/sewn storytelling project that those patches were for. It's somewhere around 18"x24" in size. Overall, I think I like how some of the individual patches turned out better than the entire piece, but I absolutely loved that I did an entire project without using my computer at all. It was an extremely refreshing break, something that I should do more often.

embroidered patches

2010-02-08T18:37:00.005-06:00

Here's a peek at the embroidered patches I've been working on for my storytelling project for studio right now. I think my favorites are the bear and the beehive... I also like how the leaves of the trees came out.

getting back in

2010-01-30T15:34:00.002-06:00

After a long period of no updates, I'm going to try to start back up again. I'll probably change the content of what I put up, especially since I won't be able to do quite as much experimenting since I have plenty I should be doing for class.

Luckily, though, I'm working on an honors project which includes making hand-bound books and completing spreads in them every day, so at least I'm doing something with my hands all the time. I'm also doing some embroidery for one of my current projects for class, which has been kind of therapeutic. I feel really great having not used my computer at all for this project (so far. probably won't, though. total win.)

holy crap

2009-08-24T20:37:00.000-05:00

holy crap I leave for the airport to begin my journey to rome in about nine hours.

I probably won't update this blog too much while I'm there, but you can check out my travel blog here:
www.abconnell.blogspot.com

scrap pads

2009-08-13T20:00:00.000-05:00

I made these little note/scrap pads as thank you gifts for my coworkers, and I really like them.. might make one for myself.

The finished size of each book is 3.5" x 7.5" and has about 20 sheets in them. I wanted to use some nicer paper, but didn't have very much of any one kind, so I decided to use four or five types of paper in each, hence the "scrap" pad.

I covered some chipboard with a couple different kinds of fabric that I found in my basement (more scraps!), since again, I didn't really have any interesting paper to cover them with. Originally, I wanted to bind them just using a rubber band, and the paper I did have would not have looked very nice with the rubber band.

I decided against the rubber band and just used a bundle of embroidery thread to hold it together, but the principle is the same. The pages are all single sheets, with the notches cut in the side. The thread just makes a loop around the whole bundle, but the notches keep anything from slipping out.

Since I used chipboard for the covers, I hinged the front board on each one to make the pad easier to use. This was done cutting the cover into two pieces, then securing them together using a piece of book cloth, leaving a small gap where the hinge should be.

Overall, I think they turned out well. The only thing I am concerned about is the fabric fraying, but hopefully I glued the edges well enough that it shouldn't happen.

how 'bout some cows?

2009-08-10T23:38:00.001-05:00

or a sheep? a goat? man-b'loons?

design and science

2009-08-04T18:50:00.002-05:00

I got a chance to write a post for the blog of Affina, the firm I intern at, and it was posted today.

Check it my entry on growing up in an engineering family HERE.

I like brains.

2009-08-02T14:49:00.003-05:00

Hats make the best zombies because nobody would ever suspect them... plus they have easy access to the brains. You'd better start watching what you put on your head.

finished design is about 2.5" x 3"

uuuUUUUUUuuunnnnggghhhh

I love how the brain turned out.

zombie hat in-progress

2009-07-30T21:39:00.003-05:00

I've been taking my sweet time with this one, so I thought I'd post an in-progress shot. This, however, is the backside, which I find just as interesting as the front. Definitely messier and more haphazard.

helvetica

2009-07-28T15:25:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that's right. I did it. Love me or hate me for it, I don't care.

nose goes

2009-07-26T20:01:00.002-05:00

I just couldn't stop! The poo was just a little too fun (although my mother was not amused by it), and I had a second round frame, so I decided to make a partner for the poo. So, a nose it was! I probably should have done this on the same fabric as the poo if I wanted to really make them a pair, but oh well. Too late.

detail

poo-broidery

2009-07-24T20:12:00.005-05:00

Well, I'm kind of thinking about changing this blog from being more specifically about screen printing to something broader.. maybe just artsy crafts things I've been doing lately. Or, at least, I really need to share this fine piece of work.

I felt a huge need to embroider the other day, after seeing some cool ones at the Des Moines Arts Festival in June and on a couple blogs, so I dug around my house to see what I could find. I ended up digging up this little green frame, which was the perfect size for a quick little piece (about 2" diameter in the opening), and this is what resulted. I have to admit, I'm rather proud of it and would like to do more! Maybe not poo, though.

poo-broidery!

detail

a change of pace

2009-07-22T16:09:00.006-05:00

I decided to play with my lead type this time, oh boy!

bundle of punctuation, held together by masking tape

Since I don't have a press, I figured the best way to use it would be to bundle some sorts together and treat it similarly to block printing. Since I have a limiting selection of letters and I couldn't think of anything exciting to write at the time, I used larger pieces of punctuation with the intention of eventually doing some photoshopping and making a pattern out of it.

brayer wrapped in waxed paper

I used a brayer to ink the pieces, so I wouldn't get too much ink in places I didn't want it. It's my mother's brayer (how cute), and I have no idea what she uses it for, so I wrapped it in waxed paper so it would be easy for me to clean.

I used my screen printing ink since that's all I really had that's thick and water soluble, although ideally, I would have liked to use a little bit thicker ink.

stamping

rubbing

Since I was just pressing with my hands instead of a press, I wasn't quite sure what the best way to do it was. If I stamped it down, I couldn't get enough pressure for great coverage, but if I treated it like a rubbing, the paper wrinkled and there was more ink build up around the edges.

newspaper spacer

After a while, I decided to add a bit more on to my block since there wasn't much there. Newspaper was a great makeshift spacer to help hold it tight!

some printed pieces

When I scanned these guys, I ended up putting together good parts from a couple different little prints since I didn't really get any great ones.

Then, photoshop fun! It was actually more difficult to make this little guy into a pattern than I thought it would be, but it made a nice floral-looking pattern, below. They are sized for a desktop background (at least they're sized for my screen), click them if you want the full size.

Acetate

2009-07-17T19:40:00.000-05:00

Next, I wanted to try acetate (remember overhead projector slides? ha.) for a stencil since it's thick enough to be pretty stiff, so therefore hopefully easier to place where I want it without it moving around on me. Also, since it resists water, I would be able to use it again as many times as I want without the risk of ink eventually seeping through.

I dug up a stencil I made last summer, from a sketch.

[ sketch and stencil ]

To make the stencil, I just traced my drawing onto the acetate with a permanent marker, then cut each piece out with a sharp exacto blade. Since I've used the stencil before, it's a little dirty, but that's unimportant.

[ stencil detail ]

My first thought with the acetate stencil is that I may have to spray mount it down since there are so many little connections that ink could easily squeeze through, but I didn't want to ruin a brand new screen with spray mount. I figured I'd try taping it down first, since that would be a lot easier if it did work.

[ stencil taped down, screen ready to go! ]

Well, as it turns out, simply taping the sheet of acetate down worked just fine! I think this is the print that I am the most happy with so far. It was easy just to tape the acetate in its place, and the edge quality was pretty good for the most part.

[ print using acetate stencil ]

Once again, my biggest problem was ink coverage, which is a result of my shortcomings, not of the method of blocking the ink. On to keep practicing!

[ poor ink coverage again... ]

Planning Ahead

2009-07-14T19:08:00.005-05:00

Catching up on some blogs today, and found this article on For Print Only:

[ Pretty Sure Poster ]

The comments from the designer are classically me: he was too focused on the end result and didn't take the time to plan everything out, which in turn caused the process of printing this poster to be more frustrating than rewarding and had to try again once he had planned properly.

I personally, tend to do this, as usually when I decide to print, I decide I want to do it right then and there, and often lose interest if I wait too long. Maybe learning to screen print is a good test for my patience and planning abilities. It's odd because as far as the rest of my life goes, I like to have a plan. I'm more of a person that schedules than a person that flies by the seat of her pants, but apparently not when it comes to creative urges..

Off to go practice my patience and planning...

Waxed Paper Part II

2009-07-11T18:58:00.000-05:00

I was curious about how the waxed paper would hold up if i decided I wanted to use the same screen again, like if I needed to pick up printing again later or if I decided to change colors.

Washing the screen out was fine, as long as I made sure to only wash on the side of the screen that did not have the waxed paper, since some of the waxed paper started to come off if I did that.

Once I had all the ink washed off, however, there were a couple issues (since the fabric stretches a little bit when it's wet). First of all, there were new wrinkles in the waxed paper.

[ wrinkles ]

Secondly, the waxed paper cracked and tore a couple places along the edges.

[ tears ]

Once the screen was dry again and tightened up again, the wrinkles mostly went away. Getting rid of the cracks was a quick fix, since they were away from the design — I just put some masking tape over them.

[ repairs ]

Doing a second run with the same waxed paper on the screen worked just about as well as the first time. I didn't bother finding new pieces of paper or trying to register these since it's just a test.

[ red layer ]

For the most part, the biggest issue I had was with ink coverage, like below. That issue is entirely on me, though, since I'm still trying to figure out how much ink and pressure I need to get good coverage. Although I'm getting better, it's still hard for me to judge.

[ bad coverage ]

I did also have some problems with the ink squeezing out some of the wrinkles in the waxed paper. I feel like there was a little bit more of that this time around, but it could be because the red is more visible than the yellow.

[ edge fail ]

The biggest disadvantage I discovered about spray mounting the waxed paper onto my screen is that a lot of the spray mount did not wash out of my screen with just water. I tried scrubbing it with a stiff brush, but I was not making a lot of progress. Since it is just a piece of organdy stretched over a frame and it's not all that expensive to get more, I decided it wasn't worth it to try super hard to get the spray mount out. Although it has been nice that I've used the same screen for everything I've done so far, it's not that big of a deal to change it. Something like turpentine might be able to get the adhesive residue off (since that's what you're supposed to use to clean the can's nozzle), but I don't have any around and don't really want to mess with a lot of chemicals.

[ spray mount residue ]

I think that I would use spray mount to tack down my stencil again if I was okay throwing away that screen when I was done, and if I used some thicker material that would be easier to tack down.

Waxed Paper and Spray Mount

2009-07-08T14:43:00.000-05:00

Since the thinner black ink didn't work out so well with the newspaper, and I'm looking for a better way to stick down the stencil before the first pass of ink, I decided to try spray mounting waxed paper to my screen.

Since I just wanted to see if it worked, I just cut a quick design, with both larger and smaller pieces of wax paper:

[ waxed paper stencil ]

I then went to work on spray mounting the waxed paper onto the screen.

[ spray mount! ]

Since the waxed paper is pretty thin, it was actually fairly difficult to manage. With the adhesive on the waxed paper, the extra weight pulled areas unsupported by my hands down to the screen before I was ready to place it. It's not normally a big deal for me to pull things up and replace them with the spray mount, but the waxed paper ripped easily. Something sturdier would definitely make a big difference (acetate maybe?).

[ largest piece mounted on screen ]

The biggest piece of waxed paper definitely ended up quite wrinkly, and I was worried about ink maybe squeezing into some of the wrinkles (didn't really happen, though). I figured I should let the spray mount set up completely before trying to use my screen. I was just going to wait overnight, but it was a few days before I got around to actually printing. I am sure waiting a day would be enough time, though.

[ printed design ]

I decided to just print on extra newspaper since I was just testing the method and I didn't care about the design anyway. I was actually surprised at how well this worked. I may also be getting better at judging the amount of ink I need and am getting much better at covering the area in one pass.

I did have a couple problems, the first of which has happened before, and could probably happen anytime, no matter what I do. I accidentally got some extra ink on the underside of the ink, or there was a glob and it squeezed out underneath my stencil.

[ squeezed out! ]

The second problem was that there was an area of the screen where the ink would not pass through, since it was blocked by some extra spray mount from a heavy coating and repositioning. I was able to rub some of it off, but it was dried and stuck to the screen.

[ blocked by dried spray mount ]

So, I'd say the waxed paper and spray mount was only a partial success. Yes, the waxed paper held up well, but it was really hard to lay down where I wanted to, which was part of the idea of spray mounting it in the first place. The spray paint worked well, but became troublesome if I got some in areas I wanted the ink to pass through.

Punched Newsprint

2009-07-05T15:25:00.005-05:00

I wanted to give the newspaper stencils another go, and this time doing something with finer details. I forgot to take pictures of my stencil before I used it, but I punched small holes in a piece of newsprint from a quick sketch I did. Here is the stencil after being inked (the small holes worked like perforation and made it hard to pull the stencil away intact, especially since the newsprint was soggy as well).

[ stencil after being used ]

My regular black ink is definitely thinner and runnier than the inks I had used before. This was good because it was easier to push around and easier to coat the screen in only one pass. The first print, just on some blank newspaper, turned out alright. The ink passed through the small holes just fine, but my stencil was short at the bottom and I didn't have it blocked, so ink got squeezed out the bottom.

[ print one ]

The second print, however, was a bit of a surprise. Since the ink was thinner, a lot more ended up squeezing through the screen. I actually like the effect of it on this print, though.

[ print two ]

I moved onto some different paper that I had colored with watercolor pencils. This third print also had a lot of extra ink squeezing out, but these areas of black just kept growing.

[ print three ]

I started adding new chunks of newspaper underneath to try to help some of the leaks, but they really didn't work. Also by this point, the ink started to sink through my stencil, since the ink was much runnier and wetter than the previous inks I used and since newsprint is thin. This made kind of a gray effect, such as in the area under the mouth in this fourth print.

[ print four, with ink soaking through stencil ]

By this time, I'm not really liking the effect that's happening. By the time I got to this last print (maybe six prints?), the stencil was really weak, with ink soaking through everywhere, and plenty squeezing out in unwanted areas as well.

[ last print ]

Overall, this experiment was not a success, although I do like the second print on plain newsprint. I think it was a combination of the newsprint being thin for a stencil and the ink being less viscous than would be ideal for screen printing. I think for the future, if I want to use this black ink, I'll have to figure out a way to thicken it or find a better way to block the screen.

Newspaper!

2009-07-02T20:30:00.002-05:00

Cheap and dirty screen printing: take one.

I decided I HAD to try using newspaper to block the ink.. it seemed so easy and so perfect for the times that I didn't really feel like planning ahead too much, but just jumping in instead. So, I just cut some large block letters out of newspaper and gave it a go! I'm sorry I don't have any photos from the process, I didn't think about starting this blog and recording all my thoughts/process until after the fact.

[HEY]

Doing the large, chunky graphics actually worked fairly well.. the edges are decently crisp, and the newspaper was actually pretty successful in blocking the ink, and held up really well through my very short run (6, I think?).

The downfall to the newspaper was that I just used the first coat of ink to stick the newspaper to the screen.. therefore, the placement wasn't super accurate, as the paper moved slightly when I lowered the screen. Since the newspaper wasn't flush against the surface when I started, some ink did get underneath the surface and onto the paper where I didn't necessarily want it. I wonder if spray mounting it to the screen first would make a difference? I guess that's an experiment for another day.

I also tried adding a second color, to see how a little bit finer details would work with the newspaper, and to see what overprinting would look like.

[two colors, oh boy!]

Cutting the newspaper into finer pieces made it harder to handle itself, but it still worked to block ink just as well, although I still had the same issue with getting ink underneath before I started.

[overprinting...]

The overprinting? Not so hot.. the ink is more opaque (and on thicker) than I had envisioned it to be. I don't really like it, but it was worth a shot.

I definitely need to work on judging the amount of ink I need to coat the area with one pass, if possible... I seem to have to do a few, in all kinds of different directions in order to cover all the area with ink.

I also need to work on keeping my hands clean, because I kept getting little fingerprints everywhere.. that's probably the most avoidable problem I've had so far, though!

Overall, though, this method could work for short runs, if I can figure out a way to stick it to the screen better in the first place...

newspaper?

2009-06-29T17:45:00.000-05:00

I'm not really sure if I feel comfortable trying to use the ancient photo emulsion stuff I found with my screen... it's all so old, and some of it might have hardened? I guess I really haven't opened one of the containers yet, but I'm a little terrified.

Because of this, and because I didn't really know what I was doing, I just used the drawing and filler fluids to make my screens. I would trace my image onto the screen with a pen, then fill that area with the drawing fluid. After it dried, I would coat the screen in the filler fluid. Once that's dry, the drawing fluid would wash out, clearing that area of the screen. So, this method is similar in a way to photo emulsion, but was less accurate. I had trouble washing out small areas of the drawing fluid and edges were nowhere near crisp. I always ended up having to go back in and touch up holes in the screen filler as well.

So, I've been dragging my feet a little bit on trying to do photo emulsion at home by myself. The most logical thing for me to do would probably just be to go buy some new stuff and some lights and get it done that way, but frankly, I'm kind of lazy, and I don't really want to spend much setting up equipment when I know I'll just have to be moving it soon anyway. So, I got super excited when I saw this article on FPO: For Print Only:

[image from FPO]

Justin Leibow was trying to teach his kids about screen printing and just used newspaper to block the ink from a blank screen. Now, that seems to me to be the ultimate cheap way to make some short-run simple prints. Definitely worth a shot!

THEY MAKE A TOOL FOR THAT???

2009-06-26T20:09:00.000-05:00

[my screen]

The screen I have is just a wood frame, about 12"x19," that hinges onto a little base. It does not have a screen on it, just a groove all the way around so you can stretch your own screen over it. A while back, I bought a few yards of organdy to stretch and use as a screen. It works alright because you can see through the threads, there are holes large enough for ink to go through, but still small enough to get a little bit of detail.

[organdy]

When I stretch the fabric over the wood frame, I get it a little wet first, since it stretches more when it is wet. I'm not really sure if this actually makes a difference and makes the screen tighter when it's dry, but I like to think it does, anyway.

The cord I had for stretching the screen ended up breaking at one of the corners, since I used to have a lot of difficulty pushing it into the groove. I lost the small piece, so had to cut the rest of the cord into a bunch of small pieces in order to hold the screen in well enough... gotta make do with what you have!

[tool]

I was super excited, though, when I found out there are tools to help you push the cord into the groove! It made stretching a screen so much easier, since before, I used the corner of a scraper to push the cord down little bits at a time. The tool is kind of like a mini, wider pizza cutter, which is way easier to put weight onto...

[stretching the screen]

Beginnings

2009-06-23T17:35:00.017-05:00

My first experience with screen printing was in high school, I think. I did some block printing with linoleum in studio arts, and found an old screen and some inks in my parents' closet. I don't remember exactly what was on the screen at that time, but I remember it being some crude drawing of some sort, probably my uncle's doing.

So, I dusted the kit off and went to work reading the directions. It was just one of those Speedball starter kits, and all the ink was really old. Old, yes, but luckily not dry. There was some photo emulsion stuff in the box, but I'm a little afraid to try it.. I think it might be too dried out, but I'm not sure how well the chemicals hold up after so many years...

I did two prints back then:

One was a one-color tshirt of a figure skater, which I then ended up making about 100 tshirts and selling them to members of my figure skating club. The graphic was kind of clunky, and I ended up losing details in my screen when washing out screen drawing fluid.

The other was a three-color self-portrait (although it of course looked nothing like me). This one I did on paper, and I mostly remember having problems with the screen filler coming off the screen.

[screen filler chunk, oh no!]

Also, I didn't think about registration before I started, so I had problems getting a good print with all three colors. I even left some at just two colors because I didn't want to ruin them.

After these preliminary attempts at screen printing, the screen and inks just sat in my basement for another few years... I once again became interested after reading the books Fingerprint, New Vintage Type , and New Master's of Poster Design and decided that I needed to actually learn how to do it this time, or at least spend more time experimenting to get nice, clean prints.