Screening 101 Intro

The last post covered what screen printing is, now let's talk about how to actually do it.

If you haven't read my first post, the goal of this blog is to create an easy-to-understand online resource for people who want to learn to screen print.  I plan to do this by creating a series of posts called "Screening 101" that will walk you through each part of the process step-by-step.

Below is a list of planned posts for the Screening 101 series.  This list will probably be revised many times as I figure out what really needs to be covered.  In the future I plan to convert each list item to a link once that post has been completed, so hopefully you can use this as an index if you are trying to read these posts in sequence.

So here's my first draft table o' contents for Screening 101:

1. The Gear You Need to Get Started
2. Creating Your Artwork
3. Preparing the Screen
4. Applying Photo Emulsion to the Screen
5. Exposing the Screen
6. Wash Out
7. Printing
8. Clean Up
9. Screen Reclamation

Ok, just looking at that list you've probably already figured out that screen printing has a significant number of steps and is pretty detail oriented, BUT DON'T WORRY, it is not as hard as it seems!  We're going to go through this step by step, hopefully with a bunch of pictures, and make this into something that anyone can do.  

Remember, this is supposed to be an open-forum, constantly-evolving tutorial, so if you have questions at any point feel free to leave them in the comments so everyone can learn together.

Alright, let's get started!

What is Screen Printing?

In the interest of making this blog accessible for everyone, let's start at the very beginning.  What IS screen printing?

Basically, screen printing is a printing technique where ink is forced through a piece of mesh that is partially blocked by a stencil.  In the areas where there is no stencil, ink transfers through the holes in the mesh onto whatever substrate you are printing on (fabric, paper, etc.).  In the areas where the stencil is present, the ink is blocked and nothing is printed.  

Pretty simple, right?  You've got something to print on (the substrate), you've got something to print with (the ink) and you've got something in between that determines where the ink can and cannot go (the stencil).  The shape or design of the "something in between" (i.e. the stencil) determines the shape of your print.  That's the basic concept behind screen printing.

Before moving on, I have to say something briefly about the word "screen printing" (at the risk of boring the hell out of everyone including myself).  It's the exact same thing as "silk screening" and "serigraphy".  These words are often used interchangeably which can be a little confusing.  Generally professional or commercial printers go with "screen printing", serious artists tend to prefer "serigraphy" (presumably because it sounds pretentious) and the rest of the world is most familiar with "silk screening".  For this blog I'll mainly use the term "screen printing" because silk hasn't been used as a mesh material for about 40 years, and I can't take the word "serigraphy" very seriously.  Glad we got that out of the way.

So, we covered what screen printing is, and the many other names it goes by.   That seems like a good starting point and definitely enough for one post.

The Birth of Screenist

So I used to be a photographer.

I say "used to" because my brain has recently been kidnapped by another art form, which this blog will be devoted to.  But back when photography was my one and only, there was a blog I was (OK, still am) obsessed with: Strobist.

Strobist is about learning photographic lighting.  The thing about lighting is that it is treated like the most arcane secret in all of photography.  Go ahead, try to find a decent book on photographic lighting, I dare you.  You'll find something on the subject, probably a book that assumes you already have $25,000 worth of lighting equipment (right, because I decided to open a studio and then learn how to light from a $25 book).  

OK, so then try the web.  Nothing there either, at least nothing coherent, nothing an average person could follow or benefit from.  Until the arrival of Strobist.

 

So what's so special about Strobist?  

It's aimed at AMATEURS, at the people who don't know what they are doing, have no money, not much time and a short attention span.  It's starts at the beginning (Lighting 101), explains the principles, the basic gear, and how to get started in a accessible, un-intimidating way that a monkey with Down's Syndrome could understand.

Now, with that said, let's get back to how this blog started.  

I've always wanted to make my own t-shirts.  Since I was like 10.  I never really did anything about it, but the thought kept marinating in the back of my mind for, oh say, 15 years.  When I was 25 I decided "Fuck it, I'm going to lean how to do this" and I asked for a Speedball Screen Printing Starter Kit for Christmas.  Which I promptly put in my closet for a year.  But a year later, I actually remembered that I had it and dragged that sucker out.

So, like the good little technical writer that I am, I read the instructions.  Here's what I learned: Screen printing is NOT intuitive, and neither are Speedball's instruction manuals.  So after making a total mess of my apartment and ruining several articles of clothing, I went to plan B, a.k.a. Google.  

Google basically said "good fucking luck buddy".  So did Wikipedia.  So did EVERYTHING.  Then I start wondering, "Where is the Strobist of screen printing?  There has to be one right???"  The answer is no.  There isn't one.  There is no Screen Printing for Dummies.  According to the Internet, the only people in the world who screen print are emo hippies from Seattle and they ain't saying nothing.

Six months later, I'm now 27, and I have struggled through the process of learning screen printing largely through painful trial and error.  I'm no pro, hell I'm barely competent, but I'm ready to start sharing the little that I know, and learn from any of the talented screen printers who may one day stumble across this blog.

What Strobist has done for photography and for lighting needs to be done for screen printing, and although I'm not the best candidate to do it, at least I'm willing to try:

Welcome to Screenist.