Random Thoughts

On the previous screens, I got a bit too much emulsion wash-off.  Yesterday I experimented with increasing the exposure time, thinking that if it washed off, it can’t have been exposed enough?  But instead the un-exposed areas were very difficult to wash clear, and the exposed bits washed off, anyway, since I spent so much time hosing it down.

So today I went the other way: I decreased the exposure time.

And what do you know!  The unexposed bits washed off straight away, and the exposed bits stayed put.

Note to self, this is apparently the magical exposure: 2x 150W light bulbs, 35 centimeters distance, 35 minutes.

(The image is from an early Raw issue: A Jimbo story I can’t recall the title of by Gary Panter.)

Bonus Jack Survives:

It’s really difficult lining up different parts of the print without one of those hinge thingies.  I should get one of those…

For this screen printing experiment, I’m coating the 32TW screen with three layers of emulsion, and drying for three hours.  Would that affect how much emulsion is washed off?

Not really.  I still got excessive wash-off at the bottom there…  Hm…  Perhaps my main problem is the exposure stage.  Perhaps it’s not even enough? Perhaps I need a bigger lamp…

I printed anyway after gaffaing off the problem areas.  Glow pink on marine:

Kinda nice.

(That’s Tony Target by Mark Beyer.  (I’m fortunate enough to have several of his paintings on mah walls.  And more prints.))

A while ago, I asked if anybody knew what caused these Diazo blotches. But then I thought: Perhaps cleaning the screen a bit might help?

So I went at it with Windex and a cloth for ten minutes.

It helped!  Just compare the edges of that speech balloon to the red/black version.  But the round blotch at the stem of the balloon is still stubbornly there…

I got a coarser screen (32TW) than what I’ve been using until now (43TW).  I’m using “supercover” paints, which is thicker than what professional printers use.  When printing on dark fabrics, they often lay down a white paint layer underneath the real colour, so they can use a less opaque paint.

But you need better equipment than I have to do stuff like that.  I have basically a cutting board on a floor.  So no registered prints.

For this attempt, I’m using a panel from a page of Jack Survives (first printing, Raw Books) by the wonderful Jerry Moriarty:

Hm.  Did I flip the transparency correctly before exposing?

I did! Nice!

But, once again, I’m not getting full paint coverage at the edges:

See the semi-circular smudge-like thing at the edge there? Here’s what it looks like on the screen:

There’s a round “bubble” going on there.  (Not the shadow at the bottom, but near the stem of the voice bubble.) So something is happening during the washing/drying process.  Am I not washing down the screen enough, so that water bubbles are forming while drying?  That contain particulates from the emulsion?  Is the screen not dry enough before exposure?

Anybody know what this might be a symptom of?  I’m using Speedball Diazo photo emulsion, and I’m washing the screens down with cold water.  I tried using warmer water (like Speedball’s web page says), but that made large parts of the screen just wash away…

New gear time: I got an emulsion coating trough:

It’s a lot easier to apply the emulsion evenly with the trough than trying to use a squeegee, although I got a bit messy at first.

But look at that dapper gentleman by Lisa Hanawalt, who made the funniest comic book of 2013. Just look at him!

I’m printing it in reverse — that is, I’m printing the white background, and using the black fabric for the lines.  It always makes my brain all hurty trying to figure out whether to print the transparencies in reverse or not.  “I’m printing on a dark fabric, so I’m printing the light bits, so what’s dark should be transparent, since that’s where the paint is going through, so on the screen what’s black should be, right, I think I’ll go shopping for new shirts instead”.

But this one got the right way around on the first try.

Something weird happened when printing, though:

The linework looks good, but the edged are all smudged.  Either I didn’t press hard enough, or some emulsion leaked into the printing area…  Hm…  perhaps I didn’t hose the scum off the back of the screen sufficiently?

Gah.  So I could either start from scratch…  or I could apply masking tape.

And print with silver ink!

Better, but it’s still not perfect.  I may not be pressing down the squeegee hard enough.  Should I do one final attempt?  Red on grey:

Now there’s too much ink! Oh, well.

Perfection is overrated anyway.