the great printastrophe is over.
Friday, March 16, 2012 at 3:10PM yes. i did it. and, as promised - the update.
the block. it’s a lino block and it’s seen it’s share of wear. sweet little goat boy in all of his delicious glory. i had decided once and for all to create a screen using this very block. using water based block ink and a brayer, i printed the image onto un-stretched silk cut to size. the image printed so easily and was perfectly crisp.
then it was time for the tedious - long and painstakingly detailed - work of hand painting the image with drawing fluid. this is a little risky because there are really no guarantees as to how clean the fluid will rinse away after adding the screen filler - especially with so many tiny marks and details. i just had to go for it. i used a 000 round brush for almost the entire image. zzzzz i stretched the silk after the fluid was dry (this is an old hat thing. most people should stretch the silk first while it’s wet).
i pulled the screen filler, let dry, then washed the fluid out or… scrubbed the fluid out vigorously (insert limp, tired arms here).
pulled as i normally would with silkscreen ink of the fabric variety. i know i lost some of the beautiful details but at this point, it’s a perfectly acceptable trade off. PLUS, with all the bleeding and other issues i was getting before i lost details anyways. the icing is that i printed three shirts (because mae needs one of everything mama makes) in about 5 minutes rather than screwing around with that block for a half hour on each shirt.
now that i completed the kids, i’m excited to set to work on the i love ewe. that one should be comparatively easier! xo
Reader Comments (3)
WOW! What hard work, but it turned out great! And screenprinting is so the way to go... I mean, you're going to be making hundreds of shirts to meet the demand, so you need a quick method right? ;-)
i just love those shirts. when are there gonna be some for sale???!!!!!! you are amazing!!!
thanks ladies!!!
heather, i'm getting there. i just went through this same mess for the ewe and i'll be a printing mama tomorrow. i've actually already sold some (!) and would love to have them up on the lucy & the bird website by mid-week. phew!