Katie
Malone-Smith
November
27, 2011
Findings
Report
When I originally embarked on this
journey, I expected to be able to do this with ease. I expected to be able to
work from my Speedball Screen-Printing Deluxe Kit solely. I had screen-printing
books and my Speedball DVD, which I have since viewed over a dozen times. I
wanted to employ the easiest method to learn screen-printing and then in turn
teach it to my students. Because my class periods are only 42 minutes long, it
is difficult to teach complicated techniques. This led me to
concentrate on the paper stencil method. I wanted to learn just one method,
therefore eliminating other variables from the study. However, I had no idea
what I was about to encounter. Additionally, I had prepared my interview
questions and had made initial inquiries. My blog was up and ready, my camera
batteries were fully charged and had my screen all prepared. I had a cart in my
classroom that contained everything (or so I thought) that I could possibly
need. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
Paper Stencil Method
Printing
the Background
This method seemed easiest for students to learn and
easiest to clean up, according to my Speedball DVD. I created a set of 4-color
paper stencils including a plain yellow background. In the next three weeks, I
went through an entire jar of yellow ink trying to get an acceptable
background. Instead I was met with messy borders and extra ink in the middle. I
tried to isolate variables by using more or less ink. I tried a piece of
chipboard between the frame and the paper. I tried varying pressure and angles with
the squeegee. I tried many types of different papers. All led to failures but after
three frustrating weeks, two of my contacts suggested using a different screen.
How could this be? I was using a brand new screen straight out of the box. So,
I tried an old screen I had found in my classroom. I simplified and scaled down
my design in an attempt to improve my chances of success. By using the second screen,
I was finally able to print my yellow backgrounds down on paper successfully.
It had taken me almost a month to get this far.
By this point, I had also abandoned the idea of staying after school
late to print in my classroom, as by the time I finished up every night, it was
too late when considering my hour-long drive home. I started to bring my entire
set of supplies home and would only print late at night after dinner.
Printing
with Paper Stencils
Now that I had simplified my three
stencils and had my yellow backgrounds, this should be smooth sailing from now
on, so I thought. My stencils were printed out on copy paper and cut with an
x-acto knife. I was immediately met with failure. The ink seeped through the
paper right away, including over and under the stencil and everywhere else
where it ink should not have been. I knew this almost immediately but did not
foresee this happening before I tried it unfortunately. If, by any chance I
would have any successes with paper stencils, the stencils would need to be very
simple, with little detail if any and the paper would need to be very thick.
Even then, I would not able to print many multiples, perhaps just a few prints
at most.
Printing with Acetate Stencils
Similar to the paper stencils, the
acetate was too thin and curled on itself. Ink leaked under the stencils and
the details were too fine to get a clean print. I abandoned this method right
after the 2nd print as I could see that this was not a productive
use of time and resources to continue any further.
Screen Filler Method
I abandoned the stencil method all
together, since I had wasted over a month, I needed to switch gears entirely
and quickly. I still had my good yellow backgrounds, so I decided to use the
same design for my artwork. I used an old set of paper stencils that were never
inked, and used them as drawing guidelines. I drew directly on the screen with
a pencil and painted it all in with screen filler. Following the directions on
my DVD and videos online, I painted it on very thick to avoid pinholes where
the ink could seep through. Screen filler acts like a resist, so wherever I
didn’t want ink, I would paint it in with screen filler. This method worked but
my registration was off. The yellow background and my first layer of color
didn’t line up. Perhaps because the screen filler was hand painted on. The
screen filler liquid is extremely difficult to remove and I spent a longer time
scrubbing over the sink removing it than I did actually printing. The next two colors printed well but
registration was still off on all of them. I learned to not put so much thick
screen filler on as it makes it more difficult to remove. In the end, I only
produced one print out of 20 that was almost perfect as far as the 4 colors
being registered.
Photo Emulsion Method
This method I didn’t intend to try
at all but I was still so dissatisfied and frustrated with everything I had already
tried to date that I felt like I needed some successes if I was going to be
able to teach screen-printing to my students. I watched my DVD, read books and
watched videos online. As this method is more complicated requiring multiple
steps than any of the other methods, I started slowly and carefully. I realized
shortly that I wasn’t going to be able to print out any artwork onto
transparency film. I did try one but the printer ink smeared everywhere. This
was because I have an inkjet printer that I have at home. At work, we do have
laser jet printers and Xerox machines, but I didn’t want to be the person who
broke the machines by feeding plastic into them. I did end up finding
non-smearing transparency film for my printer but at $60 a pack, it was not in
my budget. The other way I could make a transparency was to draw or paint
directly on the acetate. I brought home some black markers and India ink and
ended up using Sharpie markers to draw my artwork directly on the acetate. In
the end, the artwork wasn’t opaque, so I flipped the acetate over and retraced
it on the back creating an opaque transparency. I followed the directions
including mixing the solutions, coating the screen and exposing the screen accurately
and precisely. I constantly watched videos online while I was making the art. After
exposing, I washed out the screen only to find out that very little had washed
out. This either means I over exposed or under exposed. You would think with my
background in photography, I would know which one it was but this is very
different than exposing photographs in the darkroom. The image is supposed to
wash out leaving only the background blocked so the ink will print through the
image, and not the background. I thought I would try one more time. I recoated
a different screen, exposed it and washed out. This time instead of washing out
just the image, everything washed out including the background! After looking
online and talking to my contacts, I saw that often times a test strip can be
made to get the right exposure. I also learned that a stronger bulb should be
used, than the 150-watt bulb I was using.
Screen Filler/Drawing Fluid Method
Even though I was running out of
time, I decided to try one last method based on my minor success that I had
using the screen filler. I still did not feel satisfied that I could not finish
this research without trying all possible methods in hopes that one of them
would be successful enough to teach to students. I used the same artwork as the
photo emulsion method and I traced that onto the screen with pencil. Then using
very thin paintbrushes, I painted on the drawing fluid onto whatever part of
the artwork I wanted to print. Next, I squeegeed screen filler across the
screen to block out what I didn’t want printed. Under a spray of cold water,
the drawing fluid rinsed out revealing a clear image of what I needed to print.
It worked! I was surprised for once, as nothing else had been working for
almost 2 months. When I went to print, I was still amazed that I was able to
print with success! I think the key is to teaching this method is keeping it simple
with simple line drawings and using only one color.
Success
is Bittersweet
It
felt relieved and grateful that this method worked as I was expecting failure
once again. The music I picked for the photo emulsion footage and the screen filler/drawing fluid method
footage in my video reflects the way I was feeling. I was so frustrated with
this trial and error method, but then I felt better, the success was truly
bittersweet. I could have stopped the first, second, third, forth time I
failed, and written abut my failures. But I wanted to learn this so badly as it
is something I’ve always wanted to do. I
love the look of screen-printing and it was important to me, even though not completely
necessary for my research that I find a method that I could do with my students
and for my personal art.
My Contacts and Interviewees
At the start of my research I had
lined up one in-person interview, and emailed four others with my questions.
Just as few things went as planned in the art making, little went as planned in
my interviews as well. Some whom I sent the email to never retuned my
questions. Then there were other contacts I emailed the questions to along the
way after I knew they wanted to help me out. I had one contact that never
answered my questions but was instrumental in helping me along the way. Helping
me figure out technical problems and encouraged me along the way, she also gave
me a name and number of another printer who I was able to set up an additional
in-person interview for me. In addition, she arranged her schedule so that I
could spend the day at her studio assisting in the production of silk-screened
calendar pages. I would end up meeting with her in person three times over the
course of the research, and a dozen times in messages through Facebook.
Additionally, she donated some screen-printing supplies to my art room. I found
the two people that I interviewed in person to be a wonderful wealth of
knowledge. In both instances, we talked for several hours and they were both able
to help me understand their experiences with silk-screen as well as advise on
how I can go about teaching it to my students. Additional email/Facebook
interviewees were also helpful and encouraging. By blogging my experiences and
then posting the link on Facebook, several other Facebook contacts gave me
advice and had asked to be interviewed as well. In the end, I ended up interviewing
two contacts in person, three email/Facebook interviews, four additional
contacts who did not return interview questions but were generous with their
time and advice in other ways, and one contact who never returned any
information or advise to me. Nine out of ten isn’t bad! I really wanted to make
sure that everyone of my contacts/interviewees got to know me personally because
my research is personal, as is my art and teaching, I did not want to ask a
random 100 people the questions through web 2.0 sites such as http://arted20.ning.com. Although I would have a greater
sampling of information, I doubt I would have been as engaged as I had been
contacting people I already knew. The interesting part concerning the
interviews and advice offered is that a lot of it was conflicting. There were
some people telling me to do photo emulsion with the students and some telling
me the only way is with the screen filler/drawing fluid method. While I
listened to all of the advice and reasons each person preferred, I also had to
think about what would be right for me and my students. So I guess trying out the
various techniques the way I did wasn’t a bad thing as it put me in the seat of
a student.
Learning from Content Analysis
When I studied books and videos both
on DVD and online, I was looking for several things. I was looking for
procedural directions on the techniques, how silk-screen can be used, and what
others have done as far as teaching it to students. I found little as far as
lesson plans, although I did find some plans which could be adjusted for my
students’ needs and me. I found some that related to my research in the history
of screen-printing. I did not find one overall source or book to help me
throughout. I found myself bouncing between the Speedball DVD and YouTube and
Vimeo videos for the most part and found very vague information in the books I
had. I did however find some online articles that were helpful as far as the
technical information that can be so difficult to understand in the photo
emulsion method.
Conclusion
My supportive husband has been so
important to me during this research. He has been the voice of reason when all
I had was emotion. He sees the logic where I see confusion. He has helped me
physically and emotionally with the art making, and has been there taking care
of the house so I could make art and type. When frustrated, he brought me back
into reality and asked me how long it took me to become a proficient professional
photographer? The answer is years and years. And I’m still learning. With two
photography degrees and 13 years of professional photography experience, I am
still learning. Then he asked why would I expect to learn screen-printing in a
span of the semester? I came to the realization that I cannot. I can take the
research I have done and use it as a start, but not an end all to learning
screen-printing. It doesn’t mean I have failed, it means I have learned through
failures and success.
