Easy ways to screen print with photo emulsion

-

Hiya! 

I hope everyone is doing great this week :) I recently posted a video on 5 easy steps to screen print using photo emulsion. However, I decided to include a blog post on the subject, in case you might not be too keen on watching videos or if you just want a brief explanation on the subject.
So, here it is! 5 easy steps to screen print using photo emulsion.

Step 1
Apply photo emulsion
Use your squeegee to apply a thin layer of Photo emulsion on both sides of the board. Keep in mind not to put too much as a thin layer on both sides is sufficient enough. Then put your board in a dark, dry area so that the board could dry. (not letting the coated screen touch anything) The drying process could take anywhere between 7 hours to overnight.



Classy Robe! Oh yeah, and I also applying photo emulsion in the bathtub. 


Step 2
Design your stencil
You can make your stencil traditionally or digitally. I usually draw my stencil traditionally at first and then upload the image into Photoshop (or any photo editing software). I then edit the photo and get rid of the darkness and shadows in the image. After that, I also add the threshold effect unto the image, this emphasizes the black lines and whitens the rest of the image. And then you print out your stencil on acetate/ transparency paper (make sure you pick the right paper for your printer either inkjet transparencies or laser jet transparencies). Also, put the printer settings on "glossy photo paper/ glossy paper " when printing transparencies.
You can also draw the stencil straight unto the transparency using an opaque medium (like black Posca pen or matte India ink like the Dr Ph Martins India ink)

Step 3

Expose your stencil
Then once your coated screen has completely dried, you then need to burn your stencil onto your board. This is done usually with an exposure unit, but if you're doing it at home you can simply use your desk lamp or the sun if it's a sunny day. What you'll need to do is get your black sheet/card that covers the whole board. Then lay the screen board on top of the black paper/card, and then set your stencil in the board (place the printed side of the stencil on the side where the ink is pushed through with the squeegee).
Then place a pyrex glass on top of the stencil, and face the lamp towards the stencil
*safety tip: don't hold the head where the bulb is placed as it can get hot, and you will burn yourself, so hold on the bottom of the neck of the lamp when exposing stencil.
I usually, let the stencil burn for a good 20 mins.
When using the sun, simply use the same set up as the desk lamp exposure setting, but simply placed on a flat set up facing the sun. As the sun is a powerful natural source of light and UV rays, the exposure timing is really short anything from 30 secs to 1 minute is sufficient enough.

Step 4
Wash off the softened emulsion
Then after burning the stencil, I wash off the softened emulsion (which was what the black lines were covering to make the stencil) to make the stencil come to life. Essentially, you should be able to see a faint lining of the stencil on the screen once you've finished exposing the stencil. Usually, you can wash off the stencil with the force of the shower but in some cases, you may need some help using a scrubbing brush to make the stencil clearer. Once the softened emulsion has come off, you should be able to see through the stencil very clearly.

Step 5
Finally, leave to dry
Once you've finished washing off the softened emulsion, you should leave the screen to dry, it will take roughly 30 mins. And then you'll be able to print!

Screenprinting with photo emulsion stencil 
 It is a long process, but once you've used photo emulsion a few times, you will get the hang of it and find that you don't really need a large studio to make screen prints or screen print art. If you'll still like some more visual aid, you can check out my video on my channel!

Also if you have any other tips for screen printing with photo emulsion, please don't hesitate to comment down below!

Please like, comment and subscribe to my blog for more advice on screen printing, the freelance life and faith-based posts!

Thanks for visiting, and I'll see you next week!

Have a good one and keep being creative!

Glo XO 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to choose your colours 101

-
Image
Hiya!  I decided to make a post about colours and touch on colour theory. I've always liked using colours that contrast in my work (because I'm a rebel like that!) So this post is for anyone who needs some tips on picking contrasting and complementary colours. 1) Secondary Colours VS Primary Colours The easiest way to pick contrasting colours is going back to basics. This means looking at secondary colours and using their primary hues to determine the contrasting hues. For example, to make Orange you need Yellow and Red, the odd primary colour out is blue. This means that the contrasting colour of orange is blue. primary colours 2) Complimentary Secondary tones Another layer to colour theory is choosing a warm or a cool tone A lot of people (myself included) often place a warm and a cool colour together to make a complimentary colour palette. For example, there is orange & green. One is made with 1 warm primary colour (yellow and red) and the other wit...
Read more

Art Equipment Review : PH Martins India Ink

-
Image
Hiya!  This is my first blog post as a freelance illustrator, and what better way to begin than with an art review! As you can tell by the title, I'm going to be reviewing the highly recommended Dr Ph Martins black star India ink in matte. I bought the 1 ounce / 29.57 ml bottle which only cost £4 on Amazon (I'll include a link at the end of the post). I've only used this once but for my artwork, I was looking for something that was water resistant and that was intensely dark. And this one seemed to check all the boxes (oh and also something affordable). The bottle has a dropper as a lid, so you have more control over the amount used. Which is beneficial in the long run, however, does depend on the scale of your artwork. Artists who usually work with large canvases maybe purchase 2 bottles or a larger bottle, for those who work with anything from A3 and lower, 1 bottle should be sufficient. He Holds me like a seashell screenprint art It also claims to hav...
Read more