The Table: Screenprinting Test

Screenprinting today! Well, just a test print of a series of lines and text on different sizes on a sample wood but nevertheless was another great experience. Let's go through it though:

This is the Leeds Metropolitan University Printmaking studio where it all happened. Normally a place with lots and lots of students but since end of student year was a couple of weeks ago, it was all left just to the few brave ones (who all seemed to enjoy the quietness by the way!).

I met Dick who was a great help (doing almost everything for me!) and straight on we started preparing the screens. After putting them on the UV light, we washed them and set up the actual screenprinter.

Printing on the test wood piece was not difficult or long to do but it helped me understand a lot of things that should consider for the next phase of the final printing of the table. The fact that the wood was not really well sanded created an uneven surface and therefore the ink could not lay on it properly. The thickness of the wood was also a small problem so we decided to screenprint without the base of the printer and do it on the floor. This should give us the flexibility to print to whatever thickness we want and even on the sides of the table (which was an unsolved problem until now!). Apart from this, all lines thicknesses and font sizes printed fine which was rather satisfying.