Tag Archive for 'tutorial'

Screen Printing Tutorial Part 3: Printing an Image

Published on October 4, 2009 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

This is the third in a series of three screen printing tutorials, in which I will describe the process I use to create the hand printed items for sale in my Etsy shop, The Dog House. Over the course of the tutorials I will show you how to use a photograph to create a screen printed product, using the example below:

This specific tutorial will show you how to make a print of your image using the screen you created in the second part of this tutorial.

What you will need

equipment

* Use lighter coloured inks to print onto darker coloured fabrics & vice versa . (See part 2 of this tutorial (Painting the image onto the screen with glue) to decide what will work best with  your screen.)

Printing your image

Lay flat the material onto which you wish to print your image. If, as in this case, it is a double layered item (e.g. a T-shirt), make sure you place a good layer of newspaper between the 2 layers so that the ink does not seep through onto the back layer on printing. Then position your printing screen on top of the material so that the image lies where you want it (in this case, in the middle of the chest area). Dip your sponge into the screen printing ink so that one surface is lightly coated. Then, holding your screen firmly in place with one hand, dab the sponge repeatedly onto the screen with the other. This will push the ink through the tiny mesh holes & onto your fabric.

printingprinting

It is best only to apply a thin layer of ink, otherwise the resulting image may be rather ‘blobby’. Experience will tell you how much pressure you need to apply in order to create a clear, crisp image (I often make a test print on a scrap piece of material first). Once you have dabbed ink over all areas of the screen,  lift the screen off, being careful not to smudge the image by dragging it sideways across the fabric:

printing

Adding finishing touches

At this stage you may choose to use further screens +/- inks to embellish your image. In this case I used a separate screen (but the same ink) to add some text to my image. You can also use further screens to print additional colours onto your image (it is best to let each colour dry thoroughly before applying the next, & to print lighter colours prior to printing darker ones), but I personally prefer to leave my images in monochrome.

Opt to Adopt

Once you are happy with your printed image, carefully remove the newspaper from behind the fabric (it may have started to adhere to the fabric a little if you have taken a long time over your printing) & hang your item up to dry for an hour or two.

Opt to Adopt

Cleaning your screen

Rinse the ink off your screen, sponge & hands using cold water. It is important not to use warm water, as this may cause the ink to set (thus clogging up your screen & preventing further use) & / or the glue on your screen to melt. Once you have cleaned your screen in this way, leave it to dry thoroughly then store carefully. It can then be used again & again to make further prints of your image.

Setting the ink

Once your print is completely dry, the ink must be heat-set in order to make your image permanent.  This can be done by simply ironing the material on which the image is printed on a medium-hot setting for 3-5 minutes on each side. Now your printed item will be resistant to machine washing at up to 40°C, dry cleaning & ironing on a cotton setting.

finished product

I’d like to thank Kristy of Strings to Things, for sharing her own Cheap Screen Printing Tutorial back in 2004, which introduced me to this method of printing & made it possible for me to not only set up my Etsy shop but bring you these tutorials today.

Opt to Adopt ladies T-shirtopt to adopt bandanaOpt to Adopt men's hoodie

Screen Printing Tutorial Part 2: Creating a Printing Screen

Published on September 7, 2009 in Uncategorized. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

This is the second in a series of three screen printing tutorials, in which I will describe the process I use to create the hand printed items for sale in my Etsy shop, The Dog House. Over the course of the tutorials I will show you how to use a photograph to create a screen printed product, using the example below:

torresoriginal

This specific tutorial will show you how to make a printing screen using the monochrome image which you created in the first part of this tutorial:

finished monochrome image

What you will need

  • a computer print out of the monochrome image which you wish to screen print
  • an embroidery hoop large enough to accommodate your monochrome image
  • fabric (non-water-soluble) glue
  • a pair of tights (nylons) – the tighter the weave, the more detailed the resulting print will be
  • a coloured pencil (in a colour that will show up on the tights you are using)
  • a cheap/old paint brush

materials

Setting up the blank screen

Loosen the outer part of the embroidery hoop & stretch the tights (nylons) across the inner ring, pulling taught. Carefully place the inner ring back into the outer, then screw it securely shut over the tights. Trim off any excess material from the edges, leaving a smooth, taught surface to be used as your screen.

Transferring your image from paper to screen

Lay the screen you have just made flat on top of the paper print out of your monochrome image. (Make sure the screen is the correct way up with the stretched tights in contact with the paper, as opposed to upside down with a gap between the paper & the material ). Use the coloured pencil to trace through the image onto the screen:

traced image

At this point you can refer back to the original photograph & add in any additional details, such as the whiskers in the case, which have been lost in the conversion to monochrome. You can include as much or as little detail as you like. I like to draw smooth lines & geometric shapes rather than stick faithfully to the monochrome image, but that’s just my personal preference.

Painting the image onto the screen with glue

Now you need to decide whether you would like to print the black parts of your image in dark ink onto a lighter coloured fabric, or alternatively the white parts of your image  in light ink onto a darker coloured fabric.  Although any image can be printed in either way (a good example is my ‘Just Jess‘ design, which I have printed in both ways, having created two separate screens), in the example I am using here, I have chosen to print in light ink onto dark fabric.

Use a paint brush to carefully paint a thin layer of fabric (non-water-soluble) glue onto any areas of  the screen through which you do not want ink to go. In this case, I want to print the white parts of my image, so I filled the black parts with glue. However, if you want to print the black parts of your image, you need simply do the reverse i.e. fill all the white parts of your image with glue.

glueing screen

It’s important to ensure that the material of the screen is not touching the surface on which you are working, otherwise you will end up glueing the screen to the surface! You can switch to a finer brush to paint thin lines & detailed parts of the image, & use a thicker brush to apply glue to larger areas of the screen, including a border of 1-2 inches outside the outline of your image.

Once you have filled all the black (or white) parts of the screen with a thin layer of glue, set the screen aside (propped upright so that it doesn’t stick to anything) & allow to dry before turning over & repeating the process on the other side. (It isn’t strictly necessary to repeat the glue-painting process on both sides of the screen, but I find that it results in a crisper print & a more durable screen which can be re-used over & over again.)

Once the screen is completely dry, it is ready to use to make a print of your image, which I’ll describe how to do in the next & final tutorial in this series.

Screen Printing Tutorial Part 1: From Photograph to Monochrome Image

Published on August 2, 2009 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

This is the first in a series of three screen printing tutorials, in which I will describe the process I use to create the hand printed items for sale in my Etsy shop, The Dog House. Over the course of the tutorials I will show you how to use a photograph to create a screen printed product, using the example below:

torresoriginal

This specific tutorial will show you how to convert a photograph into a monochrome image using image manipulation software (in this case GIMP – the GNU Image Manipulation Program*), which is the first step towards creating your print.

* GIMP is a free piece of software that runs on most computers – you can download it here.

Choosing a photograph

First, pick the photograph that you would like to use as the basis of your print. You can choose any picture you like, but I find that highly contrasted images with relatively plain backgrounds tend to work best with the technique I use. It also helps if the subject of your photograph has clearly defined edges. I think this photo that my partner took of our foster dog, Torres, fits these criteria nicely:

torresoriginal

Remember you can choose to include as much or as little detail from the photograph as you like in the resulting print, so you can choose to focus on just one part of an image, editing out the rest. For example, with the above photo I only intend to make a print of the greyhound’s head, so it doesn’t matter that some of his body is missing from the picture. I also do not intend to print the background.

Selecting which part(s) of the photograph you want to print

Next, open your image using GIMP Image Editor (or image manipulation software of your choice). Using the drop down menu View at the top, zoom in so that the part of your image on which you would like to focus fills the screen:

gimp2

gimp3

From the Toolbox window, select the Scissors Select Tool & tick the Interactive boundary box. This tool allows you to ‘cut’ around the part of the image which you wish to print. In this case, I want to cut around the dog’s head, excluding his collar & the background.

Click on any part of the outline to the area which you wish to ‘cut’ around. Keeping the mouse button pressed, trace a line with the curser along the edge of your image. The interactive boundary tool means that this line should naturally follow the outline for you. As soon as it begins to deviate, go back & release the ‘click’ at a point which is on your outline. (If you are confused, see this link.)

In this fashion, you should be able to trace a line all the way around the edge of your image, ending up back where you started. Once you have placed a point on top of your starting point, simply press return or enter to select the image you have just drawn around:

gimp5

Using the drop down menu Edit at the top, Copy this image then select Paste as new image. A new file should open, containing only the parts of the image which you have selected:

gimp4

Converting your selected image to monochrome

gimp6

Using the drop down menu Colours at the top, select Threshold. You can now move the arrow within the Apply Threshold box to change the resulting monochrome image.  Select OK when you are happy with the image. Remember you can always add in details which are lost, but which you wish to retain, by hand later on in the process of creating a screen.

I think the monochrome image I opted for of Torres has a nice balance of light & shadow with clean, sharp lines between the two, whilst highlighting his beautiful eyes. I plan to add in some details which have been lost, such as his whiskers, by hand later on:

gimp7

Now, you need to draw a border around your image that will be visible when you print it off the computer to make your screen.

gimp8From the Toolbox menu, select the Select by Colour Tool.  Next, click anywhere within the grey background to your image. Then, using the drop down menu Edit at the top, select Stroke Selection. Within the Choose Stroke Style box, choose the width which you want the border to be (I usually pick 1.0 pixels) & click Stroke. Then, using the drop down menu Select at the top, select None.

There should now be a black outline all the way around your image:

gimp9

This is the image which you will use to create your printing screen.  You can now save this image as a .jpg file & print it off your computer, ready to use as described in the next part of this tutorial series. Use any program to print your image, making sure you adjust the dimensions according to how large or small you wish your eventual screen printed image to be.