OUGD504 - Primary Research: Screen Printing

For primary research into this area Charlie and I decided that we would do six processes:

• One colour printing
• Fluorescent ink printing
• Metallic ink printing
• Spot varnishing

To do the first four processes we need a paper printing screen (yellow mesh).

We decided that we would put two A5 designs each onto one screen so it would make it quicker and cheaper for us.

My designs

We got a screen which has been finished with and took it to clean.

Cleaning the screen

After this screen was clean we took it to emulsion.

Emulsion being put on

We then put it into drying cupboard specifically for drying emulsion. It needs to be left for at least an hour.

Our designs

The two designs we did were inverts of each other, so we will be able to see how the ink will look in both the type areas and the background areas.

Setting up for exposing

After the screen was exposed we had to wash it down for a few minutes with soapy water.

When this was cleaned we then had to put it into the drying room. The emulsion wasn't left quite long enough so part of the design came off quite grainy, however as it is only primary research we decided it doesn't matter and would at least show us what the print will look like with a screen that isn't perfect.

Taped up

The outside of the screen needs to be taped up and placed into the printing frame.

Screen in the frame

We then chose our inks and started printing.

Ink 1 - Fluorescent orange

Ink 2 - Metallic gold

For the one colour print we decided on white ink as we had a selection of colour & black stock. For spot varnishing we wanted a colour to go over that would be seen well, so added blue ink to the leftovers of the white to make a light blue.

Ink 3: White Ink

Ink 4: Light Blue ink

Ink 5 - Spot varnishing

Final images:

Fluorescent Orange

Metallic Gold

White

Light blue

Spot varnish over the blue

Overall the processes worked well and by the end we were confident in our abilities to clean and make a screen as well as print good quality images. Half of the images didn't look great due to the quality of the screen, but the other half worked well.

Problems faced/everything that went wrong

The first problem we faced wasn't to do with the printing, but to do with the screen. After we put the emulsion on it, we were told that it wouldn't take that long to dry and that we could come back in an hour to clean it off. We did this, however the design came out patchy on the two prints on the right, due to the fact that the emulsion didn't dry completely. This was disappointing as it meant the prints from that side of the screen wouldn't come out as intended. The second occurred after a few attempts at screen printing where a small hole formed over one of the letters in my design.
We decided that as this was only primary research and more about the doing than how well everything comes out, that we would keep the screen and keep going with the processes instead of redoing it all over again.

Below are a list of the printing problems we faced.

Spot Varnish: On the second attempt we had at spot varnishing we thought we had put enough of the liquid onto the screen but it came out very patchy. This was either to do with the amount we put on or if we left the screen a bit too long and the liquid from the previous attempt blocked it up.

Blue ink: This attempt was done after a previous one or two, so areas of the screen had blocked up a bit, leaving patchy printing.

Fluorescent ink: A bad stock choice for the amount of ink used. It crinkled the paper up because of how much ink used.

Fluorescent ink: This one has a large streak down it due to the fact we forgot to turn the vacuum on. It crinkled the paper up in this section and left a bit too much ink and a crease in the paper.

Fluorescent ink: This was the first attempt with this ink. There wasn't enough ink in with the binder to make it thick enough to show on this colour stock.

Metallic ink: When creating the metallic ink it is hard to know how much of the powder to use, so the first attempt we did was far too lightly colour and didn't show very well on the stock.

The problems faced were a large array, but they are a learning curve and I now know how certain inks should be used and what sort of stock works best with these.