Silk Screen #Fail Re-Run!

I'm still in experimentation mode with this silk screening deal and I'm getting really annoyed.

Here's my first attempt with a homemade silk screen.

I'm a little impatient, but aren't we all when it comes to something we want and could potentially make us money?

So I bought a silk screen kit from Stencil Pro. I was torn between PhotoEZ and Stencil Pro and with some quick review reading I went with the latter and I'm glad I did. PhotoEZ had a few specific directions in order to make it work correctly which required too much brain power on my part, so Stencil Pro it was!

This stuff is insanely easy to use and the price is affordable. No chemicals to deal with, you just need a high quality transparency print (the blacker the print the better), sunshine, and tap water.

I was so excited to get started, I had been working on color separating designs and now on my day off I was ready for action. I don't own a printer (because I'm so indecisive about these things, my digital camera is over three years old too. Just can't decide.) so I packed up my children (consisting of my Macbook Pro, stencil kit, and son) and headed off to my mother's to use her inkjet printer.

The instructions stated to print the transparency as a high-quality print using the "best print" features on the printer instead of the transparency option. I was skeptical at first and my skepticism proved correct: printing a transparency using a premium paper setting makes it blurry and overly saturated with ink. So I tried again using the transparency setting and it came out great but the images weren't opaque enough and I knew it. I was thinking of filling it in with a paint pen but I didn't have one. And as I said before I'm impatient. So you know where this is leading...


The kit only gave me two transparencies. The first one bombed. The second one was looking pretty good, I waited a little while for it to dry then assembled the pieces to burn the images on the silk screen. The silk screen sandwich looks like this: contact frame which consists of black felt glued on what I think is thick chip board, silk screen, transparency, thick piece of clear/transparent plastic which had small magnets in the corner to keep it secured to the black felted chip board.

I placed it directly in the sun for about 30 seconds.

I took it apart and put the silk screen in an aluminum throw-away lasagna pan with tap water and left it submerged and covered with a solid colored/opaque top (so no light could get in) for ten minutes.

I put the plastic canvas from the kit under the silk screen and while in the water took a soft bristle brush and brushed over the images to rinse away the chemical residue that actually makes the silk screen. (The plastic canvas is to help the silk screen keep its integrity since it's a mesh and acts like paper and fabric mixed together.)

I left it on the canvas and put it back in the sun to dry.

The silk screen was under-exposed. The images didn't burn all the way through so it was clear on one side but not on the other. It was under-exposed for two reasons: my transparency wasn't opaque enough, and even so- if I left it in the sun a little longer it probably would have compensated for it.

Trash!

Oh well.

Live and learn!

But! I was only given TWO transparencies and TWO silk screens. Both transparencies are gone and so is one silk screen. I went on a trip to my local wally-world and lo and behold they didn't have any transparencies. That's what I get for living in the friggin' country. I'm close enough to enjoy city life when I want to, but too far away to make a 25 minute trip for transparencies.

Dammit.

Lessons I Learned:

~ Use a laser printer to make your transparencies. I *know* that will work better. Got to make a trip to the big city for the Office Max!

~ Let the friggin' transparency dry *completely* if you're using an inkjet printer. I didn't and this is what happened:

I smeared my stuff. The small one on the lower left is a
sample sent in the kit: see how black the images are?

~ Have lots of backups, one small silk screen as a tester for exposure time, then a large one for the real deal.

Never fear! I may be easily discouraged but I'm not a quitter. I'm highly annoyed and just as determined to get this blasted thing to work right. I've got big plans and I will see them to fruition.


This week has been a little crazy- wally world has never a dull moment- and my cousin passed away. Which made me realize even more that whatever is causing you stress in your life is not worth your time. His stress was pretty major- but if you are able to wipe the stress away, do it. If your job is causing you more stress than joy at being able to make a living- find a new job. Just do it. Find a way to block out the nasty stuff and focus on the good. Life is way, way, WAY too short. Cherish each day.



I know my website design totally sucks. I'm working on it. Feel free to give me feedback, I don't mind, as long as its constructive and not hateful.

Silk Screening #Fail

It seems I have been fasting the online community lately, and so I have for various reasons, I will post an OHTY re-brand update this week...

But in the meantime I've been desperately searching for a quick and easy AND cost-effective way to do silk screening. I think I may end up doing some sort of stamping instead.

Let me start by clearly stating this process is just for DIY hobbyists and not meant for commercial printing. By no means. Ha!

I was using this How-To guide from eHow to start off and it seems simple enough.

Well not so much.

Instead of using embroidery hoops I used canvas stretcher strips and stapled the fabric to it much like stretching canvas.

This did not work because the fabric I bought was too sheer and lightweight. Because of this I was not able to get a nice tight fit around the strips. An embroidery hoop probably would have worked better.

Furthermore, the fabric was not woven tightly enough, too many large spaces. I thought it would make it easier to pass the paint through, but it ended up looking like a 64-bit image than a nice smooth image.

I drew the image on the reverse side, hard to see, eh?

I drew my image on the "silk screen" with a pencil, which was not successful. It was hard to see the pencil lines. I used too soft of a pencil and not a stiff enough fabric.

I used mod-podge to fill in the negative space where the paint should not come through. That was messy and tedious making sure the holes were properly filled up.

Upon closer inspection, it looks like a rough pixellated image. I forgot her tail too. Oops.

Clean up was also difficult. The fabric of course became heavy, it will probably stretch out because of it...

Anywho...

The lessons I've learned:

I would probably use thin, solid pieces of wood with no rounded curves (as the stretcher strips do) and stiffer fabric that is still sheer enough for paint to pass through, maybe tulle would work great.

I also would use some form of a squeegee and not a foam roller like I used for this experiment. The foam roller just soaked up the paint and it was hard making the paint pass through the fabric.

Also make sure that the apparel you are silk screening is properly tied down and stretched tight. My experiment was hastily done and things will work better when you follow this rule.

And if you don't know or haven't figured it out- you cannot use regular paint. No acrylics, tempera, oils, watercolors (heavens to betsie! *rolls eyes*) FABRIC paint.

Silk screening can be a lot of fun! But like scrapbooking the supplies are ridiculously expensive. Its funny how capitalism makes everyday found materials so expensive when put all together.... its all just wood, plastic, rubber, textiles, paint... Oh well.

I was looking for a fun way to make apparel since everyone I know is having/has had babies and was wanting to make things that were more personable. I have used the iron-on transfers before but those come out stiff and crinkle after they are washed. I will try again, but this time I'm thinking about making a large stamp instead- lithography if you will. I've done it before with wood blocks and a material that for the life of me I cannot remember what it was.... it was like a rubber stamp, but wasn't... when I figure it out I will let you know! Or if by any chance your brain wavelength is riding the same wave as mine- please tell me what it is because I'm going crazy trying to remember...

If you're on Twitter come follow me! I in like will do the same- I'm only following two real people, everyone else is a company. Wow.

Day One As A Professional Blogger

Greetings all! I thought it would be wise to step out of the stone age and start a professional blog in order to advance my creative career. I have another blog, a personal blog, that I update pretty sporadically, however I plan on updating this one at least twice a week if not more.

To continue with introductions my name is Amanda Haskin, I currently reside in the foothills of North Carolina although I am a born and bred yankee (Western New York, not the city...). I do not want to divulge too much personal information (just short of an autobiography) but I would like to highlight my credentials as a graphic designer.

I received my Associates of Applied Science in Graphic Design from The Art Institute of Charlotte in 2004, soon after I worked as a graphic designer in direct mail for two years. After the company I worked for closed down I returned to The Art Institute and completed their Bachelor of Arts program in September of 2008. After graduation I relocated with my family to Kansas where I was a stay-at-home mother. Wishing to expand my horizons I enrolled in the MFA in Media Design online program at Full Sail University. Even though it was an intense program with its ups and downs, I happily graduated in October of 2010. Since then I have moved back to North Carolina and currently work part-time in retail as a photo technician. I am still an active graphic designer, mostly creating designs pro-bono and crafting with my mother for our Etsy shop Our Home To Yours. My goal is to reintegrate back into the creative industry full time because ultimately I am at my best and happiest when I'm creating and surrounded by creative people.

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Some recent graphics I made for apparel

Faces have been blurred to protect the innocent.

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The goal of this blog is to showcase my work and pass on some helpful hints and tutorials. Ideas should be shared freely, but I still charge for my creative services... :)