DIY screenprinting - Has anyone ever used this stuff?

[scotsman]

Looks interesting - but, I wonder if it really works.

http://photoez.itcstore.com/

[Noplasticrobots]

This looks very similiar to what we used in screen printing back in high school. The only difference being that the capillary (green stuff) was adhered with water to a screen in a frame. From there it was laid in a light box with a positive copy transparency of the artwork and exposed just like this stuff. Same process with the water too.

I don't see why it wouldn't work, my only doubts are that it's not mounted to a screen so it seems a little flimsy. Also, I wonder how long it lasts. Other than that, the price is really not too bad.

[markm]

This does look interesting.
One could paint an enclosure your favorite color and screen on the lettering/graphics.
Or......paint the lettering and graphics onto a plain enclosure and.....ehem....ETCH! 

[birt]

This looks very similiar to what we used in screen printing back in high school. The only difference being that the capillary (green stuff) was adhered with water to a screen in a frame. From there it was laid in a light box with a positive copy transparency of the artwork and exposed just like this stuff. Same process with the water too.

I don't see why it wouldn't work, my only doubts are that it's not mounted to a screen so it seems a little flimsy. Also, I wonder how long it lasts. Other than that, the price is really not too bad.

we used allmost the same method. a screen in a frame where the green stuff (we also used that for photograpich etching) was sprayed on in a room with no UV (protected windows and yellow light) and then we let it dry in some kind of box with drie hot air. then the positive film was put upon a big glas table with uv light unbderneath. the screen went on top of the film and then a frame as big as the table with fabric went over the whole thing. this had a built in pump that sucked out all the air so the fabric pressed the screen and film tight against the glas. then when the screen was lighted you could clear the not lighted areas (the negative of the film) with water and start printing.

[Noplasticrobots]

Wow, your setup was a lot fancier than mine. We didn't worry about UV light and didn't have a vacuum in our box. Then again, I haven't screenprinted in almost 15 years and our machines were old and hand made by the metal shop class that lost all it's funding almost 10 years before that! All our artwork was done by hand or taken from old school clip art books (where you'd actually have to "clip" the artwork!) Sure it was time consuming, but you really do learn a lot when you don't have to rely on the computer so much. All our transparencies were made on a vertical camera and we had to develop our film ourselves. Using your hands is always more fun.

If it wasn't so damn expensive I'd love to get into screen printing again as a hobby.

I had a very cool teacher in high school who would just let me spend all my time after school screen printing. He would leave me in the class room after he went home and sometimes he would help me on projects until nearly my dinner time. He also never charged me extra money for use of all the extra materials. He was a really great teacher.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Screen printing isn't really expensive, in that you can make your own frames & jigs..
Some people seem to have problems with the solvent fumes, though. And it's damn hard work because of all the cleaning up. If anyone can make PCBs (and enjoy it) then they can screenprint. Plus it's something you could share with others, doing T-shirts & flyers etc.

[Noplasticrobots]

Screen printing isn't really expensive, in that you can make your own frames & jigs..

Assuming you have a few hundred dollars worth of woodworking tools lying around!  Let's see, a table saw, planer... 

[birt]

Wow, your setup was a lot fancier than mine. We didn't worry about UV light and didn't have a vacuum in our box. Then again, I haven't screenprinted in almost 15 years and our machines were old and hand made by the metal shop class that lost all it's funding almost 10 years before that! All our artwork was done by hand or taken from old school clip art books (where you'd actually have to "clip" the artwork!) Sure it was time consuming, but you really do learn a lot when you don't have to rely on the computer so much. All our transparencies were made on a vertical camera and we had to develop our film ourselves. Using your hands is always more fun.

If it wasn't so damn expensive I'd love to get into screen printing again as a hobby.

I had a very cool teacher in high school who would just let me spend all my time after school screen printing. He would leave me in the class room after he went home and sometimes he would help me on projects until nearly my dinner time. He also never charged me extra money for use of all the extra materials. He was a really great teacher.

nah it wasn't that fancy you know. it was all very old and made by students themselves over the years to ease the process. it was an art school so we experimented a lot. maybe i should explain some etching techniques since there's some people here who like etching. like photographic etching or how to etch planes instead of just lines.

edit: cool this is my 666'th post  

[kindred]

hey guys. im new... just thought i would contribute here because im a screen printer by trade. in my shop we have a 6 color auto press, a few manual presses, 3 dryers and around 200 screens on hand ready to be used at any one time.
they are probably using a solvent based ink on that kit because most people dont have means to dry a plastisol based ink. it also sounds (i could be wrong cause i cant see any pictures) that they the screens are free... without a frame. there is a prety big problem with this... a screen has to be stretched  out over a frame so whtn you pull the squegee it wont move the screen and distort the image... also a good print requires a bit of "off contact" wich means basicaly that the screen has to pull up off whatever you are printing by itself shortly after the squegee passes over it (not by much mind you, a mm or two). this setup will work but probably wont do a verry crisp image. you'll end up with a mushy print, but by all means give it a try.

[lumpymusic]

http://photoez.itcstore.com/

Am I the only one that's not able to see any of the images?
All I see is red X's.


Lumpy
--
Can you do that FM disc jockey voice?
Yes, but it doesn't translate well in ascii.
www.lumpyvoice.net

[Noplasticrobots]

Thanks Kindred, I assumed that too, but if anyone gives it a shot, please let us know.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Assuming you have a few hundred dollars worth of woodworking tools lying around!  Let's see, a table saw, planer... 

May the Lord give me patience..... He sure ain't given me any of that table planer & saw shit! Check out some 1950s art & craft texts.. it was called 'seriography' then
And glad we have a real screenprinter Kindred here.. right on about needing "snapback", the idea is that the frame is a few mm above what you are screening, and the squeegee presses down to the surface momentarily as you make the single sweep. Yeah, there's a knack to it.. but compared to most things in life, it's easily (and cheaply!) acquired.

[puretube]

http://www.photoezsilkscreen.com/
http://www.freshairwear.co.uk/screen.htm

[Noplasticrobots]

Paul, it's actually "serigraphy" Don't worry, I forgive you. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silkscreening

Damn this thread. I wanna screenprint again so bad now!

[Tim Escobedo]

Make Magazine has a fantastic blog (very highly recommended!!!), covers someone's clever screen printing project now and then. ISTR an entry where someone used old sheer curtains and an embroidery hoop to make a screen. Pretty low tech, may be good enough for one-offs. I used to do t shirts all the time, but haven't been into it for a few years. The most taxing thing, I think, is the mess involved and the space to make a mess in.

[tiges_ tendres]

has anyone tried using a Gocco printer for this stuff?

It's bascialy a childs toy that is no longer made!  Ebay prices are through the roof.

Primarily, you make t-shirts and greetings cards with them, but im sure they could be used for our purposes.

http://www.savegocco.com

here are some examples of gocco art
http://thewurstgallery.com/we_heart_gocco.html

[Noplasticrobots]

A friend of my dad's has been a screen printer all his life and recently acquired spinal cancer traced back to the chemicals used in the printing process. Be careful, kids.

[Samy]

Noplasticrobots, one of my cousins died at age 35 from spinal cancer and he had nothing to do with screen printing ! Maybe your friends father spinal cancer has nothing to do with that .. or maybe it does , we´ll never know !

tiges_ tendres, Gocco what That´s new for me ! I´ll try to read a bit more info about it but it seems to be very interesting .

[John Lyons]

Gocco was pretty simple but they had a more complex one that was well...more complex. Basically it was a silkscreen kit concept with simpler and less messy ink application.

Screen printing is a very simple process but there is a lot of finese to getting good results. The main thing to know about screenprinting on pedals is you have to use good solvent based inks meant for metal etc. and not any old shirt ink. This requires the solvents to clean the equipment and screens. Stinky stuff and for the most part nothing you can do without a large space to do it. You neighbors might turn you in for running a meth lab by the smells coming from your basement!!!

Surely possible to get something done at home that looks nice but a lot of trouble for one off FX boxes. Think gas is expensive try screen printing ink!

[runmikeyrun]

most inks from the old days contained PCBs which we are all familiar with here.  Lots of toxic waste sites are contaminated with them from printing industry waste.  I am sorry to hear about your father, there is a very real chance he did get exposed to PCBs (which contain dioxin, one of the most toxic substances known to man- also in Agent Orange) in screenprinting ink.  I don't think it was phased out of inks until the 70s.

I got a small kit from the art store, from speedball.  You can get them online from art supply stores as well.  Mine was about $50 and included a screen, some photo emulsion, a few small jars of ink, and some other stuff as well, the most important of which were the directions!  It is a very simple process, the trick is in burning the screen properly.  That's what takes time to get the hang of.  It can be very tricky to get a screen to burn long enough without burning into your shaded areas and having it not wash out (you'll see what i mean when you start reading up on it).  So for FX i used the speedball kit along with a clamp light fitted with a plant light spotlight.  It provides the right spectrum of light to set up the emulsion.  Standard fluorescent and incandescent bulbs will not work.  I made designs in black on photoshop and printed them onto inkjet transparencies.  That was my ghetto way to make film positives and it works well.   

The screen in the kit is small and easy to use and the nice part is you have room to burn about 4 boxes worth of art onto it and if you use a little ingenuity to make a taller press you can print from all 4 corners of the screen.  Without an actual press you can't really do multiple colors because the registration will be extremely difficult to line up unless you have very simple designs with a good amount of distance between the borders or each color.  The ink in the kit is water based which is fine to use if you clear coat over the print, otherwise it scratches right off.  To have scratch resistant prints you need an industrial based ink which is messy, oil based (requiring paint thinner cleanup) and stinks pretty bad.  It also comes in gallon quantities and costs a lot more.  The speedball black and white are pretty good, but the blue and red are a bit washed out, kind of like the dollar spray paint.  It's also a little tricky to use on metal enclosures because it's quite thin.  They also make some night glo colors which is cool on a dark stage.  The ink is pretty economical too, i think it's $10/jar.  If you must go with a heavy duty ink maybe a local screenprinter will sell you some small amounts that you can put into some mason jars.

Good luck, it is fun and simple to do, just requires some setup time.  But you can get good professional quality results and the designs are really only limited by your photoshop skills.