[Imc-web] Silkscreen Basics Workshop, Sept. 22

[Mike Lehman]

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