An Artist.pdf

7/27/2019 An Artist.pdf

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An Artist's Method

Screen Printing for Pleasure

Introduction

Silk screen printing evolved from early Japanese cut

paper stencils which were used to decorate textiles. The

isolated elements of the stencil were held in place with

human hairs or with fine silk threads glued across them.

Eventually silk fabric was used to support the stencil.

Early in this century, commercial screen printing

developed rapidly. Today, everything from grocery store

signs and shampoo bottles to china and printed circuit

boards can be screen printed.

During the depression, in the 1930s the government

financed Federal Art Project (part of the WPA)

encouraged the development of silk screen printing partly

to create "original art for the masses". Many emerging

and recognized artists of the time responded by creating

"serigraphs". This was a name for fine art silk screen

prints as opposed to commercial work. The WPA artists

investigated creative methods of making stencils directly

on the screen. They used blockouts and resists, cut

paper and cut film stencils as well as simple photo silk

screens. Ever since the creation of the National

Serigraph Society in 1940, screen printing has been

recognized as a fine art medium.

Many prints of the late thirties and early forties have a

socialistic message in their images of typical scenes from

life. In the fifties Abstract Expressionism was the all the

rage and screen printing was an ideal method of

expression. Pop Art arrived in the sixties and again

screen printing was used extensively by artists such as

Andy Warhol, Roy Litchenstein and Edward Ruscha.

Then came Op Art and Josef Albers who found screen

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printing to be the perfect media. Later Robert

Rauchenberg, Roy Lichtenstein and others would

combine screen prints with painting to create original

works.

Screen printing has continued to develop. The

commercial market has encouraged so much new

technology that it is impossible for the average print

maker to know all that is available. The term "Serigraph"

is now obsolete. Silk, as in seri is no longer the screen

fabric of choice. It has been replaced by polyester, nylon

and stainless steel. The old oil based inks have almost

been eliminated in this ecology minded society.

Techniques for stencil making can involve expensive,high tech. equipment.

There are serious artists, who are using the new

technology combined with the old method of working

directly on the screen. They produce original art that has

a character all its own. There is a controlled freshness in

each color pressed onto the paper with the pull of the

squeegee. The image may be painstakingly made on thescreen, but it is spontaneous in the printing.

Thirty eight years ago when I moved to Western New

York, I had an immediate impression of the strong

character of the buildings and of the landscape in this

area. After a few years of painting local scenes in oil and

acrylic I began experimenting with screen printing to

express what I was seeing. I found that breaking downmy images into areas of flat color and value strengthened

my work. My subjects are often historical architecture and

figures as well as wild flowers and quilt patterns. The

same basic technique is used for all.

The image will print as you design it, there is no reverse

image as in other print media.

You can use photographs, old advertising art and book


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illustrations as well as your own original art work as

subjects to print. The resulting screen prints on paper can

be used as framed prints note cards, posters etc. Prints

on fabric can be sewn into wearable art, quilts, pillows,

tote bags and of course, you can print

T-shirts.

The supplies needed to get started

The framecan be ready made, custom made or home

made. There are many sources for ready made framesand screens. The common ready mades are of 2" x 2"

lumber, I find them cumbersome to handle. As a result I

have been using frames of my own design, made of 1" x

2" lumber. The important thing is to have a stable, rigid

frame. For printing on paper, the frame can be hinged

onto a printing bedwith loose pin hinges. This is to

permit the frame to be easily removed from the bed to be

cleaned and to be replaced in the exact position forprinting.

The screen printing fabric that I use is a fine mesh

monofilament nylon (280 threads per inch) for very small

detail. For general printing, I have been using a

monofilament polyester (169 threads per inch). Either

fabric is stretched tightly on the frame. I have had a

number of screens professionally stretched and held ontothe frame with epoxy glue. When I need an odd sized

screen, or want to replace the fabric on a frame, I stretch

the fabric by hand and staple it in place with light duty

staples. I then varnish the frame and fabric over the

staples, taking care not to get any varnish on the printing

area of the screen.

Squeegees can be plastic or wooden handled. The


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wooden handled ones are sold by the inch. I often use a

window cleaning squeegee for small work. The squeegee

should be at least two inches wider than the image to be

printed and at least two inches smaller than the inside if

the frame.

Hunt Speedball Screen Drawing Fluidcomes in an eight

ounce jar. It is a blue, water soluble liquid that is used to

paint the image to be printed directly on the screen.

Hunt Speedball Screen Filler comes in an eight ounce

jar. It is a dark red, thick fluid used as the blockout on the

screen.

Home made blockout is made by simmering "Future"

acrylic floorwax in a pan on the stove until it thickens to a

paintable consistency. I add a little red food coloring to

make the acrylic blockout visible. Ammonia is the solvent

for this.

Hunt Speedball Textile Screen Printing Ink comes in

many colors plus a transparent acrylic extender base.These can be mixed to make any hue. I also use Hunt

Speedball Acrylic Screen Printing Ink for work on

paper. The textile ink will work on fabric or paper, but the

acrylic ink cannot be used on fabrics that will be washed

or dry cleaned. All of these inks are soluble in water until

they dry.

Water color brushes that come to a good point areneeded. Drawingpens with blunt points are useful.

Paper for printingcan be vellum bristol or cover stock

from an office supply store. There is an envelope

available that fits an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet cut in half. This is

very handy for greeting cards. Art papers, water color

paper, drawing paper will all work. For professional work I

use acid free, archival papers. Arches 88 is an unsizedpaper made for screen printing. Stonehenge is another


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100% rag paper that works well. It comes in soft colors as

well as white and is less expensive than Arches.

Both of these papers come in sheets of 22" x 30". I cut

them to whatever size I want on a paper cutter.

Fabric for printing should be light in color and have a

smooth surface. A cotton/polyester blend is good. T shirts

and sweat shirts should also be a blend.

Other items that you may use are:

Masking tape 3/4" is fine Crayolas

Paper towels Hair dryer

Rubber cement Spoons

Dry transfer letters Scrap paper

Mat board stripsor card board

Making the Stencil

You can work from your own sketch, photograph or a

composite of pasted up images. The finished print will be

the same size as whatever you are working from. From

now on I will refer to this as the working drawing. If you

use a photograph, get a good photocopy of it enlarged to

the size of your finished print and keep the original handy

to refer to.. You can use a copier to enlarge or reduce

whatever images you want to use. Plan to have at least a

one inch margin around your print. If your working

drawing is 6 1/2" x 9" yourprint papershould be at least

8 1/2" x 11". If you plan an edition of prints, prepare a few

extra sheets of print paper to allow for mistakes.

Center the working drawing onto a sheet of print paper

and paste it down with rubber cement. Tape this onto the


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printing bed, centered under the screen. The hinged side

of the screen should always be away from you when you

print. The opposite side will be referred to as the bottom.

If your image is horizontal, the "bottom" will actually be

the side of your image - that doesnt matter. Set register

guides in place. These will be three tabs of poster board

or cardboard that are just a little thicker than the print

paper. Two are to be glued so that they butt up to the

bottom of the print paper and one will be at the side.

Lower the screen over the working drawing, insert a strip

of mat board to separate the screen from the drawing.

With a watercolor brush carefully paint everything that

you want to print with screen drawing fluid. Anymistakes can be removed with a little clear water on a

brush and blotted up with a paper towel. Dont rework an

area until it is dry.

Remove the screen from the printing bed, keeping it

horizontal Elevate the screen from the table with two

blocks, cans or whatever. Let this dry to the touch, hold it

up to the light to see if you have missed any spots. Theimage should look just the way you want the print to look.

With the screen supported by blocks, spoon about two

teaspoons ofscreen filleracross the top of the screen.

With a strip of matboard spread the filler across to the

bottom in one pass. It is important to cover all of the

drawing fluid.

Applying the screen filler

A small piece of mat board can be used to fill in any open

areas near the edge. If you missed covering any of the

drawing fluid, allow the filler to dry before going over it.The drawing fluid as it is very water soluble and will


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smear if you go over it when it is wet.

Let this dry thoroughly. A hair dryer can help.

Then take the screen to the sink and wet both sides with

coolwater and spray. Keep the water cool. The drawingfluid will dissolve leaving open areas in the screen filler.

Let this dry. Apply masking tape to the inside edge, where

the screen and the frame meet, half on the screen and

half on the frame.

You are ready to print.

Printing

Replace the screen onto the printing bed. Remove the

working drawing. Before you start have your print paper,

ink, spoon, squeegee, scrap paper, paper towels and a

place to put your wet prints ready. Place a sheet of print

paper against the register guides. Spoon 2 to 3

teaspoons of ink across the top of the screen. Then withyour squeegee, firmly draw the ink across the screen

towards you.

The squeegee should be at a 45

degree angle to the screen. The

corner of the blade is all that should

be in contact with the screen.

Right after you finish printing the edition, clean the

screen. Scrape off the excess ink with a piece of mat

board and return it to the jar. Scrape it off the squeegee

and spoon too. Take the screen and tools to the sink and

with coolwater, rinse all the ink off. Use a soft sponge

and a spray. Get all of the ink off both sides of the screen.

This must be done right away so that the ink doesnt dry

in the screen.


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If you never want to print the image again, it can be

cleaned from the screen by using hotwater. Wet it first,

then spray with 409, liquid Spic and Span or a similar

cleaner. Let this sit for 15 minutes of so and then spray

with hotwater. Any spots left can be scrubbed out with

cleanser. Let it dry and you can use the screen for your

next project.

A blend of colors printed across a

print can be made by putting two or more colors of ink on

the screen. With the pull of the squeegee the colors will

blend with each other. Print a few on scrap paper until the

colors look right and then print on the good paper. No two

prints done this way will be alike.

Making multicolored prints

A screen print composed of images printed through a

number of stencils can be extremely complex. All the

stencil images must work together to make a final, single

statement. This requirement is complicated by the factthat the finished statement is not revealed until the last

stencil has been printed. Each stencil adds its own

particular elements to the final effect. All stencils

contribute some degree of modification, some more than

others. The stencils are printed sequentially, one color at

a time, one over the other. Each color is printed in turn on

all copies in the edition before the next color is applied.

Thus, the size of the edition cannot be increased after thesecond stencil has been printed..." Lawrence Rugolo,

The Process of ScreenPrinting "

Progressive Blockout Method or Reduction Print


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First color Second

color printed over first

With this method you can print a number of colors using

the same screen. The stencil is reworked after each coloris printed. Each time additional areas are blocked out .

The registration is simple because parts of the original

are still on the screen You can reduce your subject into at

least three values and work from light to dark. Often the

lightest color is the sky and any highlights. The first

stencil is created by blocking out only those areas . The

medium color is printed and then all areas to stay that

color are blocked out. This leaves only the darkest colorto be printed. The block out can be painted directly on the

stencil or drawing fluid can be painted onto the areas to

be the next color. Then screen filler would be spread over

all, dried and the drawing fluid removed to make another

stencil on top of the previous one.

Prints made from two or more screens

!st color - 2nd and 3rd colors - First color

printed over 2nd and 3rd

This works well for an image that has strong lines and

areas that enclose other colors. Make a stencil of themain design on one screen. With register guides in place

print two copies of it. Clean the ink from the screen and

set it aside. One of the prints can be hand colored with

water color, crayons or whatever to show where the

colors will go. With another screen hinged onto the same

bed and with one of the prints in place make a stencil

where you want another color. A new stencil is made and

the edition is printed for each color. When all the


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additional colors have been printed use the original

stencil to print on top of all the other colors.

You can combine methods of stencil making. A

photographic stencil can be printed over a background

made with drawing fluid and screen filler. Various

techniques can be used in a single

stencil.

SIMPLE DIRECT PHOTOGRAPHIC STENCILS

"Clara and Arthur, 1913"

You will need a transparent positive of the image to be

printed. Any black and white art work, lettering or high

contrast photograph will work. Get a transparency made

at any place that makes copies. When translated into

direct screen prints photographs lose any gray areas.

This creates a very strong image. Another way is to draw

or letter on a sheet of acetate with a black permanent

marker (Pilot, Sharpie, etc.) Dried pressed flowers, laces

and other objects that will block the light can be used.

As a light source for exposure, I use a light box with three

fluorescent tubes and a Plexiglas top. The transparent

positive is placed on the light box so that the image looks

the way it should when printed. Transparent tape can be

used to hold it in place.

From now on all work is done under very subdued light or


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a darkroom safe light. Four parts of Speedball Photo

Emulsion are put into a jar. Then one part ofSensitizer

is added and mixed thoroughly with the emulsion. An

even coat of the mixture is spread across the under side

of the screen and the screen is quickly dried with a hair

drier.

Place the coated screen, fabric side down, centered on

the transparency on the light box. Place a black, soft pad

inside the screen, over all and weigh it down (I use a bag

of shot). This keeps the image and the screen in good

contact. Turn on the light box forfive minutes. Turn it off.

Then take the screen to the sink and spray both sides

with warm water.

Now you can put the lights back on. Keep spraying until

the image appears on the screen. Hold the screen up to

the light to see if the areas to be printed are open. When

they are, the screen can be placed on a towel and blotted

and the dried with a hair dryer and you are ready to print.

When you want to clean the image from the screen youshould wet it with warm water and let sit to soften. Then

with the screen down in a sink, pour household bleach

directly on it. Let it stand for a few minutes and then

spray with hot water.

Stencils made with Rubbings

Any textured surface can be used to create stencils that


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capture the look of the original surface. I often use

antique, embossed book covers, dried flowers and

leaves, ribbon and laces, coins and wood.

The screen is placed over the surface to be used. It is

important to have a comfortable grip on the screen with

one hand. Then with the other hand use a crayola crayon

to make the rubbing directly on the screen. Dont let the

screen move, or you will have a double image.

The crayola will act as a blockout to the water base ink.

The image will be the color of the paper and the area

around it will be the color of the ink.

It is necessary to have a border of blockout around the

rubbing. An open area on the screen can be made first

and the rubbing can be done in it. To reverse the print - to

print the image rather than the background - screen filler

can be spread over all. When it is dry the crayola can be

removed with paint thinner.

When I use antique books, I cover them tightly with saranwrap to keep the crayon from getting on them. Dried

flowers and leaves should not be too dry and brittle as

they would crumble when rubbed.

After printing, clean the ink off with cold water. The

crayon rubbing will stay on the screen. When cleaning

the rubbing from the screen use hot water and a strong

cleaner to remove the crayola.

Information provided by: http://members.aol.com


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