Screen printing: a new screen and puff binder

My second screen was finally ready to use today.

I didn't use all of the images on the new screen today; with 17 people in the class space is at a premium and it's difficult to do more than a three or four small prints at a time. The skull that appears on most of today's prints is adapted from one of the monoprints I made in January.

I did get a chance to try out a puff binder though. The screen printing inks are made by mixing a binder with pigments, and so far my class have only used an ordinary binder in this process. The puff binder is used in the same way, but is heated afterwards, which causes it to rise. The following pictures completely fail to capture its texture.





When dry the puff binder has a slightly sticky, plasticky feel and can act as a glue. Foil, for example, will stick to it - as in the two pictures above. The foil doesn't stick as cleanly as it does with glue because the puff binder has an uneven surface, but you get an image that's both textured and shiny.

I also made some prints with the standard inks. I actually made more prints today than the ones I've posted, but several of them didn't work as a result of light inks not showing up on dark backgrounds.


While I'm really supposed to be making samples and experimenting with techniques at the moment, and not making products, (i.e. things with a purpose), sometimes it helps to make something that you know you're going to use.


I brought a cheap H&M t-shirt into college and printed on it. It ended up being one of the few things that the pink ink showed up on! I meant to add some text, (the "Alas, poor Yorick!" you can see in the first picture), but didn't get around to it. Still, I quite like the idea of a t-shirt that you change the design of in-between wearing it, so I'll add the text in at a later date.