[PRACTICE PRINTING your STICKER (rubylith) STENCIL with WATER-BASED INK]
* Today, you received a handout to help you with your first print practice:
First Print Practice (Handout) - 2 pages
(if you lose your handout, you can print a new one from this pdf)
(you will need your handout in order to receive points, by the way! -earning up to 25 points for successful first prints! 10 points for printing, 10 for cleaning, and 5 for properly using/filling out the handout...)
and the steps for this exercise were demonstrated last friday, including how to clean!
Because BEFORE you can print with water-based ink, you must first know:
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how to clean your screen and squeegee
of water-based ink
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Water-based ink has its pros and cons... one of the pros is that it's much easier to clean than oil-based ink; it rinses off the screen with just water, whereas you have to scrub a cleaning solvent into oil-based ink before it can be rinsed off.
Because this ink is water-based, though, it will dry in normal air temps... which means it has to be cleaned off right away, before it can dry on the screen or squeegee (at which point it's very difficult to remove and/or can damage or even ruin a screen).
YOU MUST ALWAYS GAUGE (calculate and plan for) THE AMOUNT OF TIME NEEDED FOR CLEANING
In other words: before you start printing, make sure that you have enough time to fix any mistakes that may happen AND have sufficient clean-up time when you're done (which may be more than five minutes, especially if there's a line for the sinks...)
HOW TO CLEAN:
As soon as you've finished printing,
1. PUT NEWSPAPER ON PLATEN
Immediately place a piece of NEWSPAPER (or blank newsprint, if we're out of newspaper) on the platen under the screen/stencil
2. SPRAY STENCIL WITH WATER MIX
Spray the inky stencil with the blue WATER MIX (mix of glass cleaner and water, in a spray bottle). This keeps the ink in the stencil from drying out while you're doing the first cleaning steps
3. REMOVE EXCESS INK FROM SCREEN
Put leftover, unused (uncontaminated-- not mixed with other colors, dried out, etc) ink back into the jar, using the INK CARDS. Scrape the ink from your squeegee blade into the jar using gravity; scoop up the ink from your screen with two cards, using two hands (as the ink can be kind of runny).
Removing excess ink from the screen and squeegee saves usable ink, AND makes cleanup easier.
4. CLEAN THE SQUEEGEE
Clean your squeegee in the little sink in the MAIN ROOM (not the sink room), using a rag. (If you just rinse it, it takes forever and wastes water; much faster to wipe with a rag). The rag will look gross but it's just stained :); if ink gets on your hands, just rinse or wash them off.
Make sure to wipe off all five sides of the squeegee blade! plus the handle of the squeegee if necessary.
Rinse and squeeze out the rag for the next person, and put the squeegee in a rack to air-dry. DO NOT DRY IT with paper towels!
5. REMOVE TAPE FROM SCREEN
Peel off the tape on the print and squeegee-sides, also the masked-off area. Ball up and throw away;
NO SPIDERWEBBING the trashcans!!!
(the cleanest and best way to do this is to "drop" the tape web onto a piece of newsprint so that it sticks to it; then use the newsprint to ball up around the tape, keeping your hands clean and the trash can from being taped shut!!)
6. CLEAN THE SCREEN
Put the screen in one of the large sinks and rinse off with water until there is no wet ink left. This should only take twenty seconds or so, maybe even less.
TIP: IF THERE IS A LINE FOR THE LARGE SINK/HOSE, after removing the excess ink and putting it back in the jar, SPRAY YOUR ENTIRE SCREEN WITH WATER MIX, TO KEEP THE REMAINING INK FROM DRYING OUT WHILE YOU WAIT...
If you see ink on the emulsion of your screen after rinsing it well, check to see if it's wet or not (if it comes off on your finger when you touch it); if it's dried and staining the emulsion, it will not affect your printing (and will come off later when you 'reclaim' the screen).
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| normal water-based ink staining after proper cleaning |
If you see ink in the stencil, hold it up to the light... if the ink/color "disappears" with light shining through it, then it's just staining the mesh and won't affect your printing (and will come off during the reclaiming process, later).
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| no ink is blocking the stencil; therefore it has been cleaned/washed out properly |
If the ink blocks the light, it needs to be scrubbed out so that it doesn't block the stencil for your next print. If there are areas that don't rinse off easily, HELP THEM OUT BY WIPING WITH A CLOTH RAG! And remember to rinse off the FRAME, as well... and the inside corners of the frame.. basically the whole screen!
if light can go through, ink can go through...
and if the light is blocked, ink won't go through when printing!
and if the light is blocked, ink won't go through when printing!
If there are areas that don't rinse off easily, HELP THEM OUT BY WIPING WITH A CLOTH RAG! And remember to rinse off the FRAME, as well... and the inside corners of the frame.. basically the whole screen!
6. PUT YOUR SCREEN IN A RACK TO DRY
if it's the end of the period and still dripping-wet, put it on a bottom rack space (move other screens up, as necessary) so it doesn't drip onto a dry screen. Otherwise, wait until it's partially dry before putting it in a rack. If you want to speed up the drying process so you can tape-off and mask-off for the next day, set it outside in the sun for a bit, or use the air compressor.
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