Screen printing and Process

Screen printing is a process in which a stencil is used to transfer a design onto any flat surface including, metal, fabric, card, wood and even plastic. The screen is ade from a mesh material in which ink is allowed to pass through. It is an effective traditional method of printing that proved to be perfect for mass printing. However although it is effective for these uses it can also be complicated a times with easy opportunities for smudging and other errors. 

Like the risograph printing workshop we were due to create a design inspired by our local folk project, I chose a couple in which I originally captured and developed it further using patterns and line work. 

Above shows my final design in which i intended to use for my chosen screen print. The idea is that the areas in which are black will be the areas in which are printed using the black ink. I chose to use pattern and negative space to help create texture and interest within the image. Overall I was happy with the design and felt it could prove to be an effective piece when printed. Once finalising the design these were sent to the printing technicians in which they are then transferred onto a mesh screen which will be ready for printing. 

For this session we were to choose five different surfaces, for mine i chose card, thick backboard, cardboard, plastic and canvas bag. It was interesting to see how each material reacted with the screenprint ink and the design. Some proved to me more successful with some ink smudging due to ridges in the surfaces, cardboard being a perfect example of the surface needing to be as flat as possible. Overall, I was happy with my screen-print design as felt the style worked effectively for its purpose. However, my most favourite printing would be both the card and the canvas bag as felt both suited the style of design and also printed perfectly. 

Therefore, overall I was happy with how my screen printing turned out and was grateful for the learning opportunity as feel it something that will enjoy using in future projects.