Thursday, October 09, 2008

Learning curve like this --> /

Due to the two person requirements of our massive screens, printing times at I&S are restricted to after hours and weekends whilst the girls finish off their day jobs. We're still playing around with printing on sample fabrics, and it's going well.



The Acacia print in it's completed form. This is printed on a yellow/beige coloured Jersey that was donated to us so it's not worthy of sale as yardage methinks. But soon we'll print on 'proper' fabric I promise!


Mixing inks for the next test run. From this...


... to this. A familiar colour, anyone? Geez I love formulas.




Serious & stylish cleaning action from Teegs.

It's funny, the part of the process I was most concerned about was the actual act of printing, and being able to get a good result. So far that has probably been the smoothest and easiest part of all! Mixing the right amount of ink and cleaning screens without getting mess and water everywhere has been the hard part. But it's all part of the learning curve and we're learning heaps which is great.

23 comments:

Michelle Engel Bencsko said...

I would love a How We BurnThe Screens segment in the future. They're so big! I mess up on little ones, I can't imagine how you do this.

roisin said...

when i'm just cleaning pigments and inks off of my screen, i don't use the pressure washer at all. i find that even on t's lowest setting, it does just as you said - sprays everything everywhere! i use a garden hose and sprayer - you can purchase a number of brass fittings to make one fit any pipe.

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Teegs said...

Thanks, Lar! Gotta love having that one on the internet!!

Spin Spin said...

Wow, the scale is amazing. And an electric mixer - genius. Can't wait to see/hear more!

trash said...

Wow! you have an NBF (New Best Friend) - that Reneese Mackey sounds like she would be just so much fun!! ;-)


BTW if you are looking for a home for any of that acacia jersey you have deemed unsaleable......

Anonymous said...

I love reading about all your new print adventures...makes me wish I was there joining in too!!! It looks so much fun and it's so refreshing to see. It takes me back to my college days, sigh!

natsumi said...

Thank you for sharing this! Such a great work!

Anonymous said...

I'm definitely with Roisin on this one, garden hose with spray end on it is fine for cleaning water-based ink off the screen. I only use the pressure washer when using stencil stripper to reclaim the screen, which is good because using the pressure washer is kinda like having a shower in your clothes, water always sprays everywhere!

five dot design said...

oh my goodness- i LOVE your technique for mixing your color! i've never seen that before, but when you think about it, it makes PERFECT sense!

Anonymous said...

Looks like all is coming along well, love seeing the printing in action.

Fer said...

Great to see the good ol' mix master multi-tasking! My Mum uses her Kenwood blender for mushing up newspaper to make recycled paper - works a treat!

Di said...

Wow - it looks fantastic! Who knew you could mix inks in a food processor.......

I can't wait to see the "real" thing - fabric for sale! Because I think the trial run looks pretty perfect!

Jan said...

I hear you on learning curves! I'm on a different one relate to rotary printing, but it is a steep one, too! Keep on keepin' on.

Sarah said...

Wow, the studios looking great, and that screen is huge!! The biggest I use (I work in a college print room) is about A0, I don't even think I'd be able to life that massive one on my own :)

Congrats on setting this all up, it looks fantastic!

p.s I'm lucky that where I work there is an extraction system to stop us getting a shower when pressure washing, otherwise I would be soaked 9 hours a day... I'm with the others though that you only need the pressure for stripper not ink :)

alison said...

I think the acacia fabric is lovely, and wonder how it would be for sewing clothing, T shirts perhaps? I wouldn't mind giving some of it a good home...

Steve Caddy said...

Awesome! A mix master! So yummy. :)

Just remember that you learn more from mistakes than you do from successes - so messing things up now means less to mess up later when everything more complex and expensive. Fail forwards and so on. ;)

Can you re-use all your screens? If not, what do you do with the old ones - archive them for future runs? Throw them out? Cos they look like they might look really cool hanging on a wall, say ... in our new house ;)

Shirley said...

whoa baby! looking good!

Kim said...

Looks like heaven to me! A dream to create your own fabric, not so dreamy to clean up the ink, lol, but worth it. You studio is fabulous space to work in. I wish you all much success. So far, so good!

Anonymous said...

Oh man does this look like FUN! I love following your blog. I'm totally living vicariously through your studio there!

Anonymous said...

that print is so yummy!

MEAGHAN COOK PHOTOGRAPHY BOUTIQUE said...

So that's how you mix the ink??!!
Just like baking a cake.
And just as fun!
*Meaghan

Anonymous said...

It is really exciting coming to the blog (sadly not as frequently as I'd like) and catching up on the process. Almost like I'm doing it all too!

And for future reference? If you do a run on cotton jersey AND actually sell it I would be abso-freakin-lutely rapt!