Support Living Artists T-Shirt and Screen Printing

Just finished printing off another silkscreen t-shirt for my Etsy Shop. This “Support Living Artists” shirt is flying off to Maine.

I thought some people curious about screen printing might like a peek at the process behind it. The press here is a home made four color press, but I’m only using one color for this tee.
If you’d like your own Support Living Artists t-shirt, you can buy one from my Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jacosta Only $10 in the US.

Make Your Own Quality Screen Printing Frames For Cheap

To make your own screen printing frames, you’ll need a few items:

• Wood Glue
• Staple Gun
• .125” diameter Screen Door Spline
• Screen Door Spline Tool
• At least two clamps
• Silkscreen Mesh
• Balusters

Screen Door Spline

Screen Door Spline Tool

Wood Balusters

Finished Silkscreen Frame

Tools and complete silkscreen frame without mesh

To begin with, the most vital pieces are the balusters. They are the four sides of your silkscreen frame. If you look at the diagram illustration, they are 1 1/8”x1 1/8” pieces of wood with 45 degree cuts at the sides, and a .5” cut 1/8” wide down the middle of the baluster. If you have some carpentry tools, these can easily be made for very cheap. If not, you can buy the balusters at Blick Art Studio. Blick Balusters are also cheaper than buying a premade frame, but making your own is ideal. Remember when making them that you need the top and bottom the same size baluster and the left and right side also need to be the same size.
Put the four sides together to see how they will fit, and then take wood glue and join one corner. Then use a clamp to hold them tightly together over night. You should have two pieces left, I suggest joining these with glue and a clamp too. You will have two separate L shapes now drying overnight. The next day take the two Ls and join the last two corners with glue and clamps so it creates a square frame. Let that dry overnight again. Finally take a staple gun and staple the seams on both sides of the frame for extra sturdiness. Be sure not to cover the cord groove with a staple.

Now that you have a frame you will need to attach the mesh. I suggest buying .125” screen door spline from a hardware store, and a screen door spline applicator. They should both be at the same place in the hardware store. The tool looks like a pizza cutter. Then you need to lay your silkscreen mesh on top of the screen and cut it with about an 1” extra on each side. From here, I suggest using clamps to hold the mesh against the frame on the opposite end you’ll be working with, and gently push the screen door cord into the first corner of the frame’s groove and work your first side down. Just push enough in so it won’t come out. Keep working around your screen until the cord is completely in and cut the cord to keep the rest for another screen. Then take the applicator and push the cord all the way in. This will really tighten the mesh against the frame. You want your mesh as taught as possible. At this point, you should have some extra mesh hanging out, just trim it down. Your screen just needs a washing with water and dish soap, and left to air dry after towel drying. This removed any manufacturing oils from the screen that won’t react well with your emulsion.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me! jesse.acosta@gmail.com

After gluing one pair of balusters, use clamps to keep them tightly together as they dry.

Align your balusters before gluing to see how you will glue it.

If you choose to cut your own wood balusters, these are the dimensions.

Clamp the mesh against the screen to start attaching the mesh.

Begin rolling from one corner with the tool, but don't push too tightly.

The corners are the hardest part.

Now that you are all the way around, cut the cord, and push it all the way in.

Now that the cord is all the way in and the screen is tight, cut the excess mesh.

A complete silkscreen frame with mesh. Just needs to have the mesh trimmed on the edges.

Halloween Art and Comics!

I haven't had much time to write a decent blog entry in a while, but I've been actively at work. If you follow me on tumblr or instagram, I am a little more frequent about posts simply because I can share just images and photos of my projects.

Right now I am trying to do four things. 1) Prepare to teach a silkscreen workshop 2) write a silkscreen zine guide 3) Writing a El Gran Búho lucha-halloween comic 4) A Boris Karloff Mummy limited edition silkscreen print

Right now I'm building the silkscreen frames from scratch, and just recently worked with my father to build a four color silkscreen press based on plans from http://www.printingplans.com/. My silkscreen project will be three colors: black, dark brown, and light brown on an offwhite "taupe" heavyweight paper. Here are some pictures of the project:

 These are my three silkscreen layers of ink.

This is a mockup of what it will look light when I am done.

I'm pretty excited about this project, can't wait to photograph the silkscreen process for you, and get the final product up in my etsy shop.

I'm also finishing up a couple things for my Etsy shop as well. I need new business cards, plus I want to put a giveaway postcard of my art in each Etsy order. Here's my illustration so far for that postcard:

Now regarding the comic, here's what I have so far:

As you can see, I'm fairly busy running around like a headless chicken. Halloween is so much fun, I love the movies, candy, monster cereal, and everything else that just makes this time of year so special. I'll be posting next week when I complete the silkscreen project, then hopefully I can jump on that mini comic and get it done before the 31st!

Silkscreen SUCCESS!

Last night's attempt was a success. I think I found several small detailed hangups from previous attempts that I've corrected and made all the difference. Mainly you need some real pressure when spraying out the screen. I had a crummy dish sink hose.

Exposing the dry emulsion silkscreen to a 500 watt halogen work lamp (with removed UV filtering glass)

Using brown craft/mailing paper for testing. Giant roll of this for cheap at Staples.

Washed out image looks great on the screen.

 

Going to flood the screen with ink, then lay it down and pull a test.

Test image isn't too bad. The random spots of ink are from a previous test.

 

Now I'm using the nice black 11"x17" cardstock I ordered from PaperAndMore.com

 

Pulling ink, making some screen prints! My girlfriend said I have a ridiculous smile while doing this.

  I made a total of 16 Mega Hombre silkscreens

Some small labels I've stamped with the silkscreen title and my contact info for the backs

 

Front and back of a print.

 

I actually silkscreened the paper prints with acrylic titanium white ink. Hobby Lobby only carried Speedball Fabric Ink, so I improvised. Now I'm silkscreening a navy blue Mega Hombre shirt for myself, and drying the ink before I toss it in the oven to cure it.

 

Done! Not too bad, if I say so myself! It took a lot of attempts and learning, but it was worth it!

So now I'm going to attempt my other two designs as silkscreen prints, and a shirt each for the convention. I'm so ready for Spokane Comicon Saturday! See you there!

PS Im thinking I may write a tutorial covering everything I did, and list all the little details that I had to be aware of to get a proper screen.

Screen Printing Fun!

"The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry"
-Robert Burns

I have to say, for the last ten years, I've wanted to get into screen printing. But I assumed it was a super expensive field of art from looking at these $500+ kits at Ryonet and silkscreensupplies.com. Once or twice a year, I'd google more about it, until finally a few months ago I realized I could make my own one color press, and buy starter supplies for fairly cheap. I bought the book PRINT LIBERATION: A Screen Printing Primer, and started at it.

Next Saturday is also Spokane Comicon 7 (yes, there have been SEVEN already). If you're in or around Spokane, come check it out! The more who frequent this con, and spread the word, the bigger the con will get. I'd really like to see this con be the big Eastern Washington con of the year. It's a lot of fun, and the organizer is a great guy.

In preparation for the con, I am working on three silkscreen prints. They are 11x17 black cardstock with white silkscreen images:

 

But, unfortunately for me, too many things are coming to a head. I've been working a lot the last few weeks, which has been a blessing and a curse. I need the cash, and I'm more than willing to work, but that has cut severely into my home time to finish this project and other art demands. It's fine though, that's how the game goes.

So, last weekend I've been trying to make screens of these, and my efforts have near futile! I am just one of those people who better learns from hands on experience with an instructor. Working from a book, Youtube videos (Look up Catspit Productions for great tutorials), and forum troubleshooting has been great to a point. But honestly, things would have gone more smoothly with a pro explaining what I'm doing wrong. Below are some pictures of my experiences so far:

This is a rough sketch of a Kid Icarus día de los muertos print.

 

Burning my image with my old setup, which is a clamp lamp and a 150 watt bulb. Takes 45 minutes though, not efficient. I found an Ulitech 500 watt halogen work lamp at Lowes Hardware for $12, which shortens the process to 12 minutes.

 I am not skilled at making a smooth coat of emulsion yet. This is directly after burning, then I wash it out. I learned something though, which you will see in later pics.

 My films I made at Office Depot for .50 a piece.

 For fun, I took pictures of them against my car window. Makes me want to print up window clings!

 On this print, I accidently bumped the film at some point in the middle of the long 45 minute process, and it made a ghost image, which ruined the picture. Also, as a side note, I've been using brown paper from the dollar store as test paper. A very good idea before trying on expensive paper or clothing first.

This was a second burn, and I learned another thing. If the screen isn't washing out easily, it's a potential sign that your film positive isn't doing its job of protecting the screen from UV rays.

 

So thank God I am stubborn. Now that I have realized the image isn't dark enough, I'm going to double up the film like several people online suggest. I've also taped the film against a piece of glass so it doesn't move and has contact on the screen. I need to make some more film positives to double it up, and buy some screen reclaimer, and I'll be at it again this evening.

Hell or High-Water, I shall have grasped screen printing, and have at least one print at the con to show. If any of you are screen printers, I'd love to hear any suggestions. I'm just learning this as I go, and doing my best. I'm having fun so far, even if it hasn't been easy.

Nothing worth learning ever comes easy.