[Bookstoprisoners] Re: Silkscreen Basics Workshop, Sept. 22

[Mike Lehman]

I have an update and change on preparation for Saturday's workshop. This 
is the current plan, so disregard the conflicting info in the original 
message, which I've included below for reference.

Due to conflicting commitments of Maiko's helper, we are moving the 
screen coating that is required before Saturday's workshop to Thursday 
evening, Sept. 20, instead of on Wednesday night. This coating has to be 
done in advance, so it has time to dry completely by saturday monring.

If you want to drop off a blank screen outside Maiko's studio door by 
the entrance to the mechanical room in the northwest corner of the 
basement on Wednesday, we will pick it up and put it in the studio for 
the Thursday night coating session. The Thursday night screen coating 
session will start at 7pm. This will still make it ready in time for use 
during the Saturday workshop.

You can buy a silkscreen for yourself at several local stores that carry 
art supplies so that you can keep your silkscreen with your graphic on 
it for later printing, after the workshop is over. Drop it off by 
Maiko's studio door if you can't be present on Thursday night to coat 
it. You can do this either Wednesday or Thursday night.

We can make a limited additional number of silkscreens for one-time use 
during the workshop, but we will recycle these screens after we use them 
to demonstrate the process for the workshop on Saturday.

Maiko has a couple of extra screens she can sell you at cost (about 
$15).  However, you must let us know if you want us to prepare one of 
these for you before Thursday night. First come, first served. You can 
pay for it on Saturday.

Please note that depending on the number attending, we may not be able 
to make all attendees graphics into screens at this workshop. We'll 
decide that on Saturday. However, everyone will get a chance to see how 
it's done on Saturday and practice with handling the screens, ink, and 
equipment.
Mike Lehman

Mike Lehman wrote:
> We are now ready for the silkscreen basics workshop, which will be 
> held in Maiko's basement studio next to Sandra Ahten's in the 
> northwest corner of the IMC building. The room can only accommodate 
> about half a dozen students, but we have enough supplies to help you 
> make a silkscreen from your graphic, as well as show the basic steps 
> needed to create and print silkscreen printed items
>
> The requirements are:
>
> If you want to actually create your own silkscreen, then you need to 
> print a transparency of your artwork. Anything that should be printed 
> should be black on this sheet and anything that should NOT be printed 
> should be clear. This means black-and-white. Do NOT use any grayscale, 
> as this will not make a good negative, which is essentially what your 
> transparency will be. You can have a transparency made for less than 
> dollar at Kinkos by copying your design onto paper , then taking it 
> there and asking for them to copy it onto a transparency.
>
> If you want to retain the silkscreen, then you should purchase your 
> own pre-framed silkscreen at one of the local stores which carries 
> these already made up. The handiest size to use is 10 inches by 14 
> inches, as this is the right size to do a graphic on a t-shirt.
>
> Those who want to make their own screen will need to attend or leave 
> the screen outside Maiko's studio door by 7pm on Wednesday, Sept. 19. 
> It is necessary to coat the silkscreen frame with the chemical that 
> reacts to make the actual screen and let it dry before Saturday's 
> workshop. This will take about an hour, including cleanup time. We 
> urge you to attend to learn about this part of the process, but we 
> will take your screen and coat it if you can't attend.
>
> At noon on Saturday, September 22, we will meet back at the studio to 
> actually expose the screen to make them ready to print. This involves 
> a darkroom exposure with your graphic transparency laid on top of the 
> screen, which is covered with another chemical to initiate the 
> reaction once light hits it. The screens are then washed and are ready 
> to print.
>
> We will have a variety of inks available  -- black, white, red and 
> yellow, all of them opaque inks so they can be printed onto a black 
> t-shirt with good results. You should bring what you want printed, 
> which can be a cardboard or clothing or something else that can be 
> flattened under the screen. In fact, it's good to bring a piece of 
> cardboard to use as your test image before printing on clothing, etc. 
> In conjunction with the drying heater, the ink rapidly sets and your 
> stuff is then ready to wear or show. We expect this workshop to take 
> about two hours.
>
> If you have questions, please send them to mcovingt at uiuc.edu
>
> Thanks,
> Mike Lehman
>