Intro to Screen Printing

Lesson Info

Printing Process in Action

So actually we're gonna jump right in and do some printing. We've got an amazing little graphic that I created for this class called Intro to Silk Screen Printing. And we're using the hashtag #CreateToMake. It's actually a hashtag that CreativeLive uses all the time to just sort of highlight what's going on. We've integrated this into imagery and we're gonna go ahead and make a silk screen print with this. I've already rigged up my screen. I'm gonna go ahead and grab some paper. We're using a really nice, rich printmaking paper. It's made from cotton rag. This is a really great paper to use for printmaking processes because it's very absorbent. First, we're gonna go ahead and add a little bit of... a little tiny bit of adhesive here. Do we have a paper towel handy? I don't think we do. We're gonna need to find something to go ahead and wipe that down with. We're just gonna go ahead and apply a little bit of the adhesive, which is gonna help our paper have a little something to stick to...

on this smooth surface. Normally I would use a cotton rag but that's not what I have available here. So that is a low-tack adhesive that's just gonna-- It's a very low-tack adhesive. And it just kind of helps to hold our paper still. You don't really need it per se, but it's gonna be helpful when we're doing edition printing and we're printing multiples. Okay, thank you. It just helps to hold it still. We've gone ahead and placed our paper. You can see I've made little registration marks to tell me where to lay the paper down. Now we're gonna dole out some ink. Use this nice water-based ink here. I really love this stuff, nice and natural. (hums quietly) Okay, this is brand new. Love that sound. As a printmaker, that little sound of opening up a fresh can of ink, there's nothing like it. That means we're about to start having fun. And you can see that this process is a little bit messy. I love getting my hands dirty in the studio. This is where the fun part starts. All right, dole out a little more of that ink. I'm excited to show you guys what this is gonna look like once it's on paper. There we go, that should be plenty. Set that aside over here. I need to get a wet rag to wipe my hands off. For now, that's okay. This is our squeegee that we're gonna use. Silk screen printing is a direct printing process. So we're gonna be pushing the ink directly onto the paper. (squeegee squeaks) So I've gone ahead and flooded the screen. I'm gonna teach you more about this terminology in a little bit. You can see our design is already coming to life here. (squeegee squeaks) Okay, let's lift it up. The big reveal. Oh, better flood that first. (squeegee squeaks) Okay. Now you'll see we have our first silk screen print. I'm excited, we're gonna do a lot more of this today. Gonna set this over here to dry. Erin, I love that. It's like magic. It's like magic. And we can pull another one, too. This is what's so great about the silk screen printing process, especially if you're looking for a way to affordably print your designs onto paper to sell in an Etsy shop, or to sell on an online shopper or create work for craft fairs, this is a really easy and accessible way to get into printing your own work. And it's fast! (laughs) We go from start to finish really, really quickly. Okay. Now we already have our second print done. All done!

Class Description

Lessons

1Class Introduction
2Printing Process in Action
3Gather Materials & Setup Worktable
4Create Design with a Transparency
5Set up your darkroom
6Degrease your screen
7Coat the Screen with Emulsion
8Expose the Screen
9Wash out the Screen
10Prepare for Printing
11Time to Screen Print
12Clean-Up & Screen Storage
13Examples of Advanced Screen Prints