On March 25, 2016 we met for a screen printing workshop led by Dr. Jillian Round.

After seeing our announcement about the event, our colleague Greg Metz reached out and offered to let us use space and equipment in the Visual Arts Building, affectionately nicknamed “the Art Barn.” This space let us get messy and to try out the photo-emulsion method of screen-printing.

Jillian collected images from us and created the transparencies.

This workshop required some slightly different equipment than our usual.

Once everyone had all their safety gear sorted, Jillian showed us how to prep the screens and how to use the emulsion process to transfer our transparency images onto them.

And then it was time to print! To keep things simple, we printed onto paper and everyone used black paint. But we could have used any color, so long as we mixed it with the thinning agent. To print onto clothing we would have wanted special screen printing ink that could be heat set for washing and drying purposes.

 

This sounds very linear but, in fact, we were taking advantage of the time between processes to prep new screens and cure them. When one group was printing, another was prepping screens, and so forth. So it was actually quite energetic and bustling, no doubt aided by Jillian’s great 80s music playlist. We are using quite a bit of specialized equipment here, but it is possible to do this at home. At my house we have done it with home-constructed screens, an inkjet printer for the transparencies, and a grow-lamp.

Many of us are already plotting about when we can do it again, how we can combine techniques, and how to choose and disseminate images related to our research and other projects. Here are some other action shots from the day:

Credits:

Workshop, organizing, and supplies: Jillian Round

Organizing & flier: Kim Knight

Use of the Art Barn: Greg Metz