... a screen print

Last Saturday I went to a screen printing workshop at  Print Club London.

It must have been the hottest day of the year, and it was actually quite nice to be inside this light, airy studio. Our tutor, Barry, made a point allowing us to be very hands-on in the workshop. His explanations and demonstrations of everything were so good, it was easy to follow and practice what we had been shown.

I brought a photograph of two sea-urchins. I had to turn it into a black and white image and remove any shading. While it's possible to create shading in screen printing (by using halftone dots), for a first attempt at this technique, it's easier not to.

The image was then printed in black onto a sheet of tracing paper. We each got a large screen and had to apply a thin layer of light-sensitive emulsion to it in the dark room. It has to be applied in a very thin and totally consistent layer, otherwise there is a danger of it bubbling and peeling off during printing. You pour the emulsion into a so-called scooper. Then you hold the sharp edge of the scooper against the bottom of your screen, which is propped up against a wall. You slowly let the emulsion flow forwards on the scooper until it reaches the screen and, with one swift movement, pull the scooper up towards the top of the screen. Wiggle it left and right and lift it off. Then you scrape around the edges with a piece of cardboard to make sure the screen has no thick layers of emulsion. The screen is then left to dry for a while in a warm cabinet.

At the next stage, the screen is exposed to light, which hardens the emulsion. You have to place your printed image underneath the screen in the light exposure machine (can't remember what it's called). A black rubber cover is placed over the screen and when the machine is switched on, the air is sucked out from between the glass and the rubber cover. The light then falls onto every part of the layer of emulsion except those areas on the tracing paper that are black. The emulsion in these areas stays soft, and is washed off in the next stage using a hose and a soft sponge. The screen is then left to dry again, and inspected for inconsistencies, which can be filled in with a fine paint brush, or covered with brown tape (on the bottom of the screen).

The screen is then fastened into the printing table. You stick a sheet of acetate underneath the screen to do a test print - this will help you to register the paper on the printing table. Register the paper by sticking three or four rectangles of cardboard on the table marketing the corners of your paper. This allows you to print very quickly, which is necessary due to the quick-drying paint.

We used acrylic paint for our screen prints - the more expensive the acrylic paint, the longer the colours will last and the more resistant they will be to sunlight. However, the more expensive acrylics also dry out much more quickly, and are therefore a bit more tricky to screenprint with. With all acrylic paints, it's important to mix them with acrylic printing medium, as acrylic paint would otherwise dry in the fine mesh of your screen, and it would become unusuable. 

With the screen lifted up from the printing table, apply a layer of colour in a strip. Place the squeedgee into it, wiggle it left to right, then hold it at a 45 degree angle towards you and "flood" the screen, pushing it away from you. Lower the screen onto the table, with your paper placed underneath, and swiftly pull the squeedgee back towards you at the same angle. Pat it on to the screen a few times, place it on the side, and lift the screen up. You will need to do a few test runs on newsprint or other cheap paper to see if you have flooded the screen properly and if you are applying the right amount of pressure evenly.

After we completed our prints, we scraped all the colour off, washed the screen, and then sprayed them with some kind of detergent (I think it was a mixture containing window cleaner). We scrubbed this in with a brush and then washed it all off with a power washer.

The result... well, I would have liked it to look less black and more blue, but unfortunately the colour I chose was very dark. But for a first attempt, I'm happy. It was a really fun and inspiring workshop, and it's a technique I'd love to try again. I've already signed up for my next printing workshop in November!