Screenprinting introductory workshop

Note: photo taken under bad light - will retake in better (daytime) light and update the blog entry tomorrow.

The last two days we've had screenprinting workshops and above is my final print. I'm quite pleased at how it turned out - and plan to tweak it a bit (change the lettering!) and re-print more, hopefully for sale :)

Anyways, the process started yesterday with us drawing onto something called "Mark Resist" (it looks like tracing paper with a bit of texture on the surface). The tutor showed us the kinds of marks we could make using graphite sticks, chinagraph pencils, litho crayons, TG1 ink (with methanol as a diluent or Lipsol as a retarder) and process black acrylic paint. Apart from dip-pens and brushes, you could also get lines and textures by scraping into ink-painted areas with sharp implements or even sandpaper. I had my bird sketches on me so decided to make a design based on that; trying out the various techniques on the different birds. Below is what it looked like in the end.

Today we learnt how to coat the screen with emulsion; how to expose the screen using our drawings from yesterday; how to mix up the paints; and finally how to print. Now that we've had our introduction, we've basically passed the health and safety requirements they need us to have for insurance purposes - so now I can go and used the screenprinting studios anytime! Yippee!!!

Next week - lithography ...