I've been screen printing since 2001 and even have a college degree in printmaking with a focus on screen printing. I've done other types of printing but always preferred screen printing most. In class I was making anywhere from 4 to 12 color serigraphs (screen prints on paper) in small editions of 25, but we weren't using a professional press in class. We had two hinge clamps built into our desks, and we did use some DIY methods. Though I have only used sunlight to burn my screens, I've always post exposed all my screens by letting them dry in the sunlight. I have a professional 6 color press, and a ton of pro equipment, but for burning screens I've been DIY with sunlight since I discovered it in 2004. It only takes 45 seconds to burn your screen this way, and if I do it well enough, I can get any halftone and small details in my screens. As long as it's sunny outside, I have been making all my screens this way for the last 19 years. I've not looked into whether other screen printers have used sunlight to burn screens, but it's possible someone else might have discovered it too. Lastly I found a way to make film positives when my printer runs out of black ink but still has colors. My photo emulsion is a green color, and I discovered that using a film positive printed in the opposite color of the emulsion works just as well as black ink. I've been doing a mix of pro and DIY screen printing techniques for almost 20 years. Maybe I should make some videos on them and put them up to view here...
Definitely post videos of your techniques if you have the time! Your knowledge and experience of burning screens in the sun is valuable info. There are a lot of printers out there without access to an exposure unit that would benefit from further instruction on harnessing the sun to burn screens. It doesn't work everywhere as the UV content matters - burning screens with the sun here in the PNW is a real struggle! Thanks for sharing your story and experience. Tag us on social so we can see your prints! 💚
Good thing to know about post exposure. Could use a bit more info on that in the future.
Good to know. Thanks for the comment, we'll work on that!
I've been screen printing since 2001 and even have a college degree in printmaking with a focus on screen printing. I've done other types of printing but always preferred screen printing most. In class I was making anywhere from 4 to 12 color serigraphs (screen prints on paper) in small editions of 25, but we weren't using a professional press in class. We had two hinge clamps built into our desks, and we did use some DIY methods. Though I have only used sunlight to burn my screens, I've always post exposed all my screens by letting them dry in the sunlight. I have a professional 6 color press, and a ton of pro equipment, but for burning screens I've been DIY with sunlight since I discovered it in 2004. It only takes 45 seconds to burn your screen this way, and if I do it well enough, I can get any halftone and small details in my screens. As long as it's sunny outside, I have been making all my screens this way for the last 19 years. I've not looked into whether other screen printers have used sunlight to burn screens, but it's possible someone else might have discovered it too. Lastly I found a way to make film positives when my printer runs out of black ink but still has colors. My photo emulsion is a green color, and I discovered that using a film positive printed in the opposite color of the emulsion works just as well as black ink. I've been doing a mix of pro and DIY screen printing techniques for almost 20 years. Maybe I should make some videos on them and put them up to view here...
Definitely post videos of your techniques if you have the time! Your knowledge and experience of burning screens in the sun is valuable info. There are a lot of printers out there without access to an exposure unit that would benefit from further instruction on harnessing the sun to burn screens. It doesn't work everywhere as the UV content matters - burning screens with the sun here in the PNW is a real struggle! Thanks for sharing your story and experience. Tag us on social so we can see your prints! 💚