Screen printing

As I wanted to express my versatility in design, I decided to screen print some of my deliverables. I felt that this was important within a graphic world which tends to be run by digital print. As I had never done screen printing before this was a totally new concept to me in which I wanted to explore within this project. This also would suggest myself as being a designer who is not afraid to discover new realms of designs. 

I decided to develop my busines cards first as I felt they were the area in which I was most likely to struggle with, as they were double sided. 

I decided to practice with the process before using the more expensive card. I widely struggled to begin with due to ink getting onto the other side of the screen and thus blocking the screen from further ink coming through. As I was new to the process I asked for assistance and the tutor taught me how to effectively clean the reverse of the screen. After doing this I was then instructed to develop further prints on scrap paper until the screen became clean, this was probably one of the most agrivating steps of the screen print process for me due to my time schedule being limited.  

This image depicts how blocked the screen became due to the ink over spill. The text became illegibe due to the vast amounts of ink in which was present, other areas of the design didn't even print due to the vast amount of ink appearing through the text. During this process I became conceded that I would have to develop the screen again, a process in which itself took 2 and a half hours, due to the drying of the screens, emulsion and exposing. Luckily, I was assisted and the problem was finally resolved.

                           

Other knowledge in which I gained from the screen printing process was that if the correct pressure is not applied to the screen then the design will not come out. Ways in which to resolve this are to apply your body weight to the process. If this occurs regally you can also repeat the design in an attempt to target areas in which are not filled.

A similar occurrence then happened with the front of my business cards, a factor in which delayed my process even further as I had to correct my errors. When aligning the front and reverse of the business cards I also uncovered that the separations were not aligned and thus for every reverse I printed I had to individually place the front. This was definitely a factor in which delayed my already over running process. Thankfully I only had to complete this action about 15 times, as if I were completing a mass print I would have had to do hundreds. 

                             

As I had multiple designs on each screen I covered them with masking tape and paper during each print  so that the designs did not overrun. When putting the screens to dry I accidentally left the masking tape on. As the screen seemed to take more time to dry, I used a hair dryer on the reverse side (without realising the tape was on the other side) and thus the tape began to peel. When I realised this I got assistance, where by it was discovered that the tape slightly damaged the screen, leaving pin pricks of light emerging through. In order to resolve this I then had to apply emulsion in an attempt to fix the screen, due to this I had to leave the screen over night to ix before printing. 

I feel from my experience of screen printing I have learnt multiple things. Firstly and most importantly, to not leave tape on the screen whilst drying as it will damage the screen and in turn delay my process. Also I would only print designs using screen print if I had more than 20 of each, as I felt that the rewards of screen printing the header were very little due to the time it took. Time management is also another factor in which I would consider as the overall process of screen printing for me was over three days, and approximetly 9 hours, which is a large duration of time to only develop a few prints.  

Although the time period of screen printing is very drawn out, I did really enjoy the process as it is a hands on approach to design. I also prefer the results developed from said process rather than say monoprint, due to the precise nature. This is definitely a process sin which I will take to following projects for example the license to print brief.