My bones are weary - screen printing is a physical job. For the last two weekends I've attended an intensive screen printing workshop with Paula McLoughlin refreshing my skillz (which weren't much to start with and were developed over 30 years ago during art class (I am gasping and having an anxiety attack at the very thought of how long it's been since I was in Fifth Form))

I had a great plan that was working out very well for 8 of the 9 screen overlays - the last one, the most important one, the black one - the one that would pull the how shabang together failed a wee bit, but that's okay (mostly) I learned a lot about the intensity of black ink.

As much as screen printing is about techniques and preparation - it's actually about process and cleaning up. Thinking about how to layer colours to achieve an outcome, figuring how many and what type of screens to use, and how to fit in cleaning and drying screens, prints and equipment between every colour.

So my project pretty much went like this:

1. expose photo-sensitive silk screen to ultra violet light to create stencil
2. trace and cut out the 9 stencils (one for each colour) that will make up the background (took 90 minutes)
3. tape t-shirts to tables
4. attach stencil to screen, apply ink and print each of the 4 t-shirts in turn
5. remove excess ink from frame
6. clean and dry silk screen
7. clean and dry squeegee, stirrers and stencils (yes, they're reusable)
8. dry ink on t-shirt with hair dryer
9. attach next stencil to bone-dry screen
10. print layer number 2
11. remove excess ink from frame
12. clean and dry silk screen
13. clean and dry squeegee, stirrers and stencils
14. dry ink on t-shirt with hair dryer
15. attach next stencil to bone-dry screen
16. print layer number 3
17. etc and so forth
18. etc repeat from No.4 to No.15 until finished
19. from 10am to 3pm

I kinda like systems so the process of screen printing suits me. I also am absolutely at home with the concept of layers, and separation of colours along with blending techniques - so all and all, I had a completely exhausting but very happy Sunday printing thejamjar.com t-shirts.

 

30DMC - Favorite made for TV movie

I have trouble these days - what with old age and senility settling in - with figuring which movies are 'made for tv' and which aren't. So I'm reaching back into the distant past to a television movie that has stayed in my thoughts ever since I saw it.

Threads tells the story of people in Sheffield, England who experience the aftermath of a nuclear missile strike. The fact it has stayed in my head all these years must point in someway to how good (?) this made for television movie was. Or maybe I just catalogue such memories because I have a keen interest in mass destruction and its aftermath.