On the board for Friday's print demo...
APRON
NEWSPRINT
SUBSTRATE
CRAFT STICK
WATER-BASED INK
"INK-FREE ZONE"
PLATEN
PRINTING STATIONS/PRESS/HINGE
"OFF-CONTACT DISTANCE"
ARTWORK POSITIVE
REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION MARKS
SPRAY ADHESIVE
"HAIRSPRAY CLOUD"
SQUEEGEE/SQUEEGEE BLADE
"PULL A PRINT"
TEST PRINT
BACK-FLOOD
SUBSTRATE PRINT
CONVEYOR DRYER
NEWSPRINT
WATER MIX
INK CARD
NO SPIDERWEBBING!
These are basic screen printing terms. tools, practices, and skills you will need to know! They may be unfamiliar now, but they'll become part of your screen printing vernacular (vocabulary) quite quickly. (And if they remain unfamiliar to you... it's going to be difficult the whole year!)
If you missed today's demo, or feel like you didn't fully grasp it... no worries! The first time you print, you'll have someone helping you! Not to mention a very comprehensive instruction sheet to help you along the way... and, of course, ME! Then you'll help someone else to print, and that will help you to learn as well!
in the near future, there will be a simple quiz on burning, printing, and cleaning basics. You will have your burning demo worksheet (and the blog!) as a reminder for the burning terms and processes, and if
you pay/paid attention to the printing demo and your own printing, you'll be just fine with the rest... But, to help you out, here are reminders of the definitions etc of the above terms (this is condensed; more info was given in the demo):
SUBSTRATE: the project material that you are printing on. Could be paper, plastic, sticker paper, fabric, a t-shirt, a hoodie, wood, etc. (Substrate is not used to describe the paper used for test printing, but the project substrate...)
CRAFT STICK: like a wooden tongue depressor/popsicle stick; used for scooping thick ink out of tubs, or guiding thinner ink out of jars when it's poured onto the screen
WATER-BASED INK: is used for printing on paper and sticker substrates. Dries in natural air temperatures (as opposed to oil-based, which ONLY dries when 300+ degree-heat is applied), and this quality dictates certain printing and cleaning requirements
NEWSPRINT: thin, off-white paper used for test prints, handling jars and tubs of ink, etc etc etc
PRINTING 'PRESS': the machine used to hold the screen in place for printing (one or more print stations, depending on the press). The screen is held tight in a hinge so that it can be raised and lowered over the platen, and kept from moving during printing
PLATEN: the board that holds your substrate in place for printing. Also called a pallet, and some are also shirtboards (all shirtboards are platens, but not all platens are shirtboards)
REGISTRATION: to "register" is to line things up-- usually, to align/line up the substrate to the stencil (substrate to screen), so that the stencil will print in the desired spot on the substrate
REGISTRATION MARKS: marks on the platen that show where the substrate should go, so that after being registered, it can be removed from the platen so test prints can be made . Usually these registration marks are made with pencil
PALLET (SPRAY) ADHESIVE: makes the platen sticky/tacky so that the substrate doesn't move during printing. You have to apply pressure to the substrate to make it stick, but it can be removed/lifted easily from the platen after a print is made. The adhesive should be sprayed onto the platen like a "hairspray cloud"
"OFF-CONTACT" DISTANCE: the distance between screen and substrate/platen; there should be a little space between the two (proper distance is about the height of two stacked quarters), so that the screen can spring back after the print is pulled, thus releasing the ink from the stencil onto the substrate. The off-contact is adjusted with the knob under the press hinge
SQUEEGEE/BLADE: there are two kinds of squeegees used in class; the stiffer blade (blue) for water-based ink, and the softer blade (yellow or green) for oil-based. When the squeegee is pulled across the screen to make a print, or pushed back to back-flood, it should be tilted just slightly so that the blade is on its edge
"PULL A PRINT": the action of pulling the squeegee across the screen, towards you, to push ink through the stencil onto the substrate. The ink should be in front of the squeegee as you pull, the squeegee should be on its edge (tilted slightly towards you), and you should simultaneously be pushing down so that the screen is making full contact with the substrate/platen. You only need to pull across the stencil, not the entire screen
BACK-FLOOD: the action of flooding the stencil with ink in between pulls/prints, when printing with water-based ink, to keep residue of ink left in the stencil from drying out between prints (and thus clogging the stencil). The screen should be in a raised position (not down!) when back-flooding; the squeegee is lifted so that it's on the other side of the pile of ink, tilted away from you just slightly, and then scraped back across the stencil (you can also back-flood in the same direction as pulling a print, but then you have to move the ink back to the other side of the screen first... going backwards is usually easier/better)
TEST PRINT: made on newsprint to test that your stencil is printing properly, before making the final (substrate) print. You make as many test prints as necessary; for practice, to ensure consistency or proper back-flooding, and to fix smeared ink or mistakes-- but you ALWAYS make a test print before pulling the substrate print, ON THE SAME DAY (a test print from the day before doesn't work/count for the current day), and you always will make at least one. Whichever is your last test print-- the perfect one, right before the substrate print-- should be dried and saved, to turn in with the project for grading (required). All other test prints should be thrown away, unless you are keeping them for yourself
* NOTE-- NO TEST PRINTS SHOULD BE MADE UNTIL YOU HAVE BOTH CHECKED THE OFF-CONTACT DISTANCE AND REGISTERED THE SUBSTRATE!
* YOU DO NOT REGISTER THE TEST PRINT/NEWSPRINT; THE REGISTRATION FOR THE SUBSTRATE SHOWS YOU WHERE THE NEWSPRINT SHOULD GO
FINAL ("SUBSTRATE") PRINT: the print on the substrate used/meant for the finished product or project-- sticker, paper, shirt, etc. Other prints are test prints, on newsprint
CONVEYOR DRYER: the dryer used to dry paper and shirts. Water-based ink will dry with normal air temps, but you can speed up the drying with the conveyor dryer. Oil-based ink has to go through the dryer to dry, and to "cure" properly so that it doesn't wash out of shirts. STICKERS MUST DRY ON RACKS, NOT THROUGH THE DRYER-- (they will melt!)
"INK-FREE ZONE": Areas of the room where ink must NOT be placed! Ink jars and tubs can be on the sink/supply counter, at the press, on platens (with newsprint placed underneath), press stools, and that's about it... NOT at student desks, especially not the black table by the conveyor dryer, and also NOT on the table at the end of the dryer-- finished, clean projects come out that side to rest on the table and should not be greeted by a wet tub of ink!
steps and tools for cleaning will be detailed in a separate blogpost!
