Studio Brief 2: Screen Printing

In order to produce my A3 print based on the suffragette riot i've used screen printing, which I found difficult during both the preparation and printing process causing some errors in the early stages of printing. 

Firstly I started by stripping a screen which proved difficult as the design on my screen had stained the screen making it difficult to determined when the the screen was sufficiently clean. Once the screen had been striped I left it to dry and then applied the light sensitive emulation which was left overnight to dry. The next day I prepared my design by apply halftones to my black and white image using photoshop. Initially this was difficult due to the original image I'd used however by using channels within illustrator I could effectively edit the grey within the image so when printed the definition of the face and hair within the image would be clearly visible. Once exposed the excess emulsion needed to be wash off to reveal the exposed design, I then left my screen to dry before printing. 

In regards to the printing processes I first started by printing the image of Leonora Cohen using purple ink to represent the suffragettes. I found this layer particularly difficult as it was hard to apply equal pressure across the whole image which resulted in fading at the bottom as I couldn't apply enough pressure to push the ink through the screen (see figure 1 and 2). However as I got used to printing I managed to produce some successful, even prints. Once the first layer was dried I moved onto adding the text layer using green to create a contrast against the purple and keep in line with using the colour of the suffragette flag. The difficult part of this layer was lining the text up equal around the sides of the print as well as lining the text up with the tick list, causing some sections of the text to be cut off on certain prints (see figure 3). Throughout the printing processes I experimented with different paper including cartridge paper and card to create a crisp print so the image wouldn't be distorted. However I also experimented with newsprint to reflect the newsletter/paper the Suffragettes used to produce. The newsprint and white card produced the most successful prints (see figures 4 and 5). 

Overall I'm pleased with the final prints however due to an unseen mark in the screen theres a slight mark of green on Leonora Cohens face which if I had more time I would reprint and correct. Despite the issues during the printing process I found experimenting with screen printing and a method I would like to experiment with further in future in order to perfect the technique especially when pushing ink through the screen. 

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5