I was really on a roll today. My goal for this weekend was to have one design ready to go online no later then tomorrow. I am right on track for that goal but I also finished four other designs in the process. :) Sweet!! Once I started working on designs my creativity went into overdrive. My screens will be dry in an hour or so but I will probably wait till tomorrow for printing.
All the screens I used today were 156 mesh. I coated each screen with a 1 x 1 coat of DXP dual cure emulsion using the thin side of the scoop coater. When I burned the first screen I forgot to put weight on top to hold the transparency tight against the screen. The image turned out fine but I made myself slow down with the rest of the screens so I would not make that mistake again. I burned the screens for 4 minutes using Ryonets RXP 20 x 24 Exposure unit.
I burned the screens 15 seconds longer then the recommended time but the emulsion on the ink side of the screen was a little slimy when I washed out the image. From my understanding, that means the screen was not exposed long enough. Hmmm! Previous screens I had burned for the recommended time of 3 minutes 45 seconds were slimy, that is why I increased the exposure time for this run. I will try increasing it another 15 seconds when I burn the next screens and see what happens.
I tried for eight hours last night to upload my first video. For some reason blogger would not upload it so I had to go through youtube. I was planning on a new video camera by now but I guess it will have to wait another week or two.
In this video, I was using a 20 x 24, 110 mesh wood screen, dual cure diazo emulsion and a scoop coater. The scoop coater has two edges, one wide and one thin. Use the wide when you want a thick layer of emulsion and the thin edge when you want to apply a thin coat. I have only used the thin side. I applied one layer of emulsion to each side of my screen and let it dry completely. After the first layer was dry, I applied a second layer of emulsion to the front side of the screen. (The side your image will be on) The second layer of emulsion allows more ink on your shirt. A third or fourth layer of emulsion may also be used. I have only used the two-layer method. Make sure your emulsion is completely dry before applying another layer.
LIGHT SAFE ROOM!
Emulsion is light sensitive so your room must block out UV light. I was confused with this when I started setting up my printing room. I looked everywhere for a light safe light but no one knew what I was talking about and I could not explain it to them properly. I called a photography place and they could get me a “darkroom" light but it would cost $18. I finally went online to http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/. They sell the lights but I needed it how. Their answer….A BUG LIGHT!! I felt a little silly but I was new to screen-printing and had never set up a “darkroom”. Sometimes the little things make all the difference. So go to Lowe’s, HomeDepot or Wal-mart and buy a couple bug lights and you should be good to go.
