Look ma! I made a … mess!

It’s supposed to be like that. It’s art.

Screen printing is hard. First, we had to find a way to get the image printed out. The laser printer’s ethernet card died from an electrical surge (as did everyone else’s in the building) so that was a no go. The inkjet didn’t print kindly on vellum, so we went with a vellum sample sheet to try it out.

So many variables… The photo emulsion is very sensitive. We need to adjust the timing and the light source height, since much of what should have washed away didn’t, and vice versa. Then we realized that sunlight during the wash process was being very destructive. In a mad effort to block all sunlight from the office, we realized, this was not the best controlled environment. Nor was the lack of hot water.

With all this ahead of us, we were hellbent on making SOMETHING, so we decided to run with it and try out the inking process.

Lotta variables there too. The consistency of the ink and the resolution of the screen need to be in harmony.

Ours were not.

So what did we learn? Well, we need to prep a good darkroom and get a good basin for the first step. We need to read up on screens and ink consistency. And we need to get an ethernet card for that dang laser printer. Then we’re good to go after countless more attempts.

We ruined 2 shirts in commemoration, 1 apron, and one set of "Nasty" underwear was created.

The latter, not my idea.

Overall a good experiment and foray. Next time, we shall have beer and we’re sure that will help.