I said “-reverse” instead of “-negate” to ImageMagick, so I got an image with the wrong polarity. I interrupted the printer and the thing to the right is the result.
I thought it was mildly interesting that the interrupted edge of the print doesn’t just stop, but kinda drops off. It’s supposed to be 100% black, so I guess this means that my Epson R3000 is printing every bit many, many times when printing “best quality”.
I mean, the printer takes forever, but the result is immaculate.
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…