Screen Printing Tips and Tricks

Hello there! Today I want to share some screen printing tips with you all. I did this on my Instagram account a few months back, so I'm going to copy most of that here but include some more info for you!

I am contacted regularly about silk screening, and I love sharing tips with people! There are a lot of small businesses out there trying to create brands and they are paying local printers to do this, which is totally ok if you have the budget to do so! But if you're starting with a shoestring budget like I did, then DIY is the way to go!

When I got started, I was really nervous about it. And I tried desperately to find info on various groups, message boards, etc. and I had a hard time getting some straight answers. SO. I'm going to cover some basics here, and please comment below if you have ANY questions!

First things first, you need to have your designs. For me, I draw everything by hand and then digitize it. You may do things in Photoshop, totally up to you! When your artwork is complete, have it printed onto transparencies (I use two and tape them together with clear tape). 

I will try to outline the steps here in my own words, I I recommend a book called Silk Screening Basics - A Complete How-to Handbook. This is how I learned and I really loved it. I refer to it still even now.

But, these are the basic steps, so let's get started!

Supplies:

• Transparency of your artwork
• Silk screens (I often order from Amazon)
• Photo emulsion kit
• Fabric ink (I love ordering from Desserres)
• Squeegee (I use a smaller version of this one)
• Lamp (or, you can use natural light but it's tricky)
• A light tight box (I used one I had on hand and taped/covered all seams)
• Piece of glass (I used one from a picture frame)
• Black cloth or an old t shirt
• Blank item you want to silk screen on
• Spatulas (I buy mine from the dollar store)
• Iron

Steps:

1. The night before you want to print, you want to coat your new silk screen in the photo emulsion. Follow the kit steps to mix it, then coat the screen. Run a thin bead across the top of the screen and pull it down using your squeegee. Flip and repeat, flip and repeat, until you have it nicely covered with no empty spots.
2. Place the screen in your light tight box, and let it dry overnight (or for a good few hours).
3. When you're ready to burn your design, set up yur lamp according to the box directions, have it all set up but dn't plug it in yet.
4. Go into a dark room, and take your screen out. The light can't hit the screen yet, so you have to sort of fumble through this part. Put your screen face down, then place your artwork on the back (backwards), and put the glass on top. Put it all back in the box.
5. Bring everything to where you set your lamp up. Place your black cloth on the ground (this will prevent light reflecting and messing with your image), turn on your lamp, and quickly place your screen/design directly below it. Make sure at this point you set up your timer! (The time you burn your screen is included with the light kit)
6. If you don't have a lamp and don't want one - you can do everything above and just take your screen outside. It's not foolproof, and you may have to redo your screen, but I did several in the natural light and found that about five minutes worked for me. You do NOT need a sunny day, overcast will work just fine.
7. As soon as your time is done, quickly bring your screen to your shower and direct the water at the design. This part can take a bit of time, but soon your design will begin to reveal itself!
8. Once your design is nice and crisp, dry it off with a papertowel, and place it outside for at least 20 minutes. This step really hardens the remaining emulsion, giving you a screen that will last years! I have been printing regaularly for nearly two years now and the only screens I've ever had to redo are the ones that I did in the natural light, back when I had no idea what I was doing. I REALLY recommend the lamp you guys, seriously, just get it.
9. Now the easy part - printing!! Take your screen, and place it on top of your blank clothing item. I place something in between to pro the blank up towards the screen, you want nice tight contact. You can use a folded towel under the shirt, a padded ipad case even.
10. Run a small bit of ink across the top of the design with your spatula, and holding your screen nice and firmly, use your squeegee to slide the ink down. Do this only once or twice, but firmly. 
11. Lift the screen up, and you're done! - You may need to experiment here with pressure, amount of ink, etc. Use some scrap fabric or old items you no longer want beofre printing on your good blanks!
12. Let your item dry completely, at least an hour or two.
13. Run your iron over it for a couple of minutes (I put a thin cottom cloth between the ink and iron) to heat set the design and make it resistant to fading in the wash.
14. THE END.

Here are some little extra tips I've learned along the way.

• Watch a lot of Youtube. There are tons of video tutorials on there to help you with each step. 
• Don't make your own screens. I mean, ok, fine, you can. But, I don't recommend that because if you use them a lot they take a bit of a beating, and they need to be PERFECTLY square in order to sit nice and flat. But that's just my opinion :) 
• If you are printing and ink comes through where it shouldn't, I use a heavy threaded tape to patch the area. You can buy screen filler too, but this is just faster and no drying time. 
• Use this tape to tape the edge of the screen, on the back side. Ink tends to squeeze through the edges if you press down hard enough and the emulsion breaks, so this tape protects you from ink bleeds even if that does happen, making your screen stronger.
• If you want to redo your screen after a while, you can buy screen, just replace it! I find that easier than actually using the photo emulsion remover. 
• Wash your screens quickly after each use. Take good care of them so they last a long time.
• You can use any colour of ink on the same screen (for example, I print my grizzly bear in both black and white), just again make sure you thoroughly wash it in between and let it dry.
• Only print with a bone dry screen, don't rush it, or your ink could bleed.

That about covers it! If I can ever help you, just email me thewildkidsapparelATgmail.com or comment below! 

Thanks so much for reading you guys!!! Happy printing!! 

At the art gallery

On Saturday we headed down to the art gallery to wander and drink coffee and take in all the creativity. Alas, they took away our coffee (ya) and Ben was pretty fussy the whole time, and there was a gallery security guard with a cheesy ponytail who was giving us the side-eye the entire time (ensuring we kept our kids hands off everything, of course). But, it was still ok! 







This was easily the best piece there. It's the most incredible installation by Kim Adams. I could have looked at it for hours, but ponytail guy would have been pissed.





No smiles for you Mommy. Not today.



Um, Creepiest thing ever. Also, brilliant? 



This room was all paintings done with dice rolled in ink. I mean, I loved it. 

One of these days I'd like to get out to another gallery, I'll just have to remember to sneak my coffee in with a flask...

Pantone 2013 Colour of the year - Emerald

So long Tangerine Tango, Pantone has officially named Emerald the 2013 colour of the year. I'm sure most people aren't overly concerned with this sort of thing, but as an artist it matters to me, and as an artist that happens to hate the colour green....it kind of sucks.

Is it weird to hate a colour? I don't know why I can't stand green, but it's true! I mean, it depends on the use, I guess, but I never use it (there is a distinct lack of green in my entire portfolio).

I don't mind a hint of lime or wasabi green, and I do love Kate Spade green, but I would never paint a room in my house green, or buy green bed linens. What's wrong with me?

As it happens, it looks like I'm going to have to come around to it. I'm working on a set of four paintings right now for a client and the colour connection between them is green. I've had more and more requests for it, and I'm sure emerald skinnies are going to be everywhere in the spring. Great.

What do you guys thing of Emerald? Does anyone even care? Beuller? If anyone is interested, the full spring 2013 colour trend forecast is on Pantone's site. I actually find them all a little boring, except for Monaco Blue and Poppy Red. I guess I'm just not a pastel girl.

Note: This post is not intended to offend the colour green or green-lovers in any way.

Via Pantone

ADOP Donation Painting

My friend Morgan is hosting a Holiday Fair for a local Long Term Care facility and reached out to local friends and business for donations, and I was excited to help! I painted this piece to go in a raffle that will raise money for the residents. I hope they get a couple of bucks for it!



This piece is super textured which is hard to see, there are tons of layers, but it's pretty graphic which I like. I wanted it to be sort of like a messy square, layered over lots of messy scribbles (which is the part that's hard to see). Anyway, although the original will not be available in my Etsy shop, I have uploaded it to my Society6 shop!

Handmade holiday shopping!

Anna over at Door Sixteen posted about supporting handmade/small/local business during the holidays and I think this is such a great idea!



In the spirit of this, I would like to offer all of my blog readers a very special discount code just for you. You can use the code AANDBSTORIES1 at my Etsy shop and you will receive 20% OFF your painting purchase! This is the largest discount I have ever offered and it will be a rare event friends, so take advantage! 

This offer is open until December 10th, 2012. This applies to paintings in my shop and to custom painting requests. Sadly it doesn't apply to anything in my Society6 shop, sorry!

ADOP Throw Pillows are now available!

I'm so, so excited about this. I've actually been trying to source this out for a while and have had some trouble, but Society6 recently launched the functionality to offer throw pillows, and I was all over it!

You can view my full collection of throw pillows here. Most of my pieces are there, and more will be added. I'm also thinking about adding my nursery line too!

Anyway, hope you guys like these! They are pretty reasonably priced (the small cover is only $20) and right now shipping is free until Monday!

Dare I say these are the perfect Christmas gift? ;)

Dear Santa

I've been moderately well behaved this year, so please please bring me this amazing new Fine Little Day Cecilia Pettersson Forest Poster. Pretty please?



Seriously, that shop can do no wrong. I heart you Fine Little Day!

Image via Fine Little Day

Amazing condo tour with a little pop of ADOP!

One of my clients, Colette, contacted me today to let me know that her home was filmed for House and Home, and that the art she purchased from me could be seen! Hurray!



The entire home tour is stunning, wow, her place is incredible. If you watch closely after about the 3 minute mark you will see an ADOP deer painting in her family room, and a fox in her sons' bedroom. I have to say, Colette's home is exactly the type of home I picture when I create my nursery pieces. They look so perfect in the space! I love seeing this :)

New at ADOP - Winter 2012

After a few weeks of painting during every free minute of the day (of which there are few friends, very few, with this crazy toddler of mine) I've managed to get my act together and post my new line of paintings! Hurray!



You can see these paintings, along with a few more, all in my shop now. There are 15 new pieces all together, yay!

Some of these pieces are inspired by the first few paintings I ever did years ago, but with different colours. I really like this set, there's a sense of nostalgia for me when I look at each one :)

Anyway, sweet Ben will be up any minute so I'd better get going. Thanks for listening! :)

Amazing pixel art by Nathan Manire

I've seen a lot of pixel art around...to be honest usually I'm not usually a fan - love the concept, but don't always love the execution. Until I saw Nathan Manire's work over on Design Milk. Woah.



Cool, right? It must take seven thousand hours to do, but it's clearly worth it. Amazing.

ADOP - One year later + branding stuff + news

I have a few updates that I wanted to post so I decided to to one monster post. That way if you're totally uninterested it's very easy to just ignore this and move on with your day. See, I'm always thinking of you.

+ + +

Part One - A year later



A little while ago I passed my one year anniversary with ADOP. Woah. Years go by way too fast when you're counting them, I can't stand it. But, a year it has been, and there have been some pretty awesome little milestones for me during this time. To name a few:

• Officially opened ADOP on October 5th, 2011
• Made my first sale within just hours of opening
• Sold three pieces to a production company back in November of 2011 to be seen in this movie. (No, I haven't mentioned that yet because it was so long ago and I didn't want to jump the gun, but it happened...I can't WAIT to see it!)
• Launched my kids line of paintings which has now officially been more successful than my abstract line 
• Opened a Society6 shop for prints, iphone cases, etc.
• Had my first (and second) art show at The Grey Room
• Had three shops contact me to have ADOP carried in their stores (a little more on this later).
• Was mentioned in Hamilton Magazine, Style at Home, House & Home, and a ton of other really amazing design/kids/lifestyle blogs (thanks everyone!)
• Sold two pieces to a production company to appear somewhere in Season 6 of Mad Men (still in shock over this one)
• And lastly, as of yesterday, I sold my 100th painting between direct Etsy sales and private commissions. Yep, 100. Ok, so maybe it's not that good, but I remember vividly thinking I would never sell a single piece, so to have sold 100 in my first year is way beyond what I thought I could do and I am very very proud :)

It hasn't been all sunshine and daisies. One of my paintings was destroyed in transit (it was just a fluke, everyone was reimbursed and I made a new one for the client, but it sucked). Also, a local gallery scammed me - they sold a painting of mine and refused to pay me for it (currently working on my claim), and THAT sucked. But, it's been almost all great things for ADOP, and I love my little shop :)

Ok, enough about that. Sorry if this sort of thing comes across as self-indulgent, I mean for this blog to be like a living history of bits of our lives, and this is a big part of it now, so I can't help it!

+ + +

Part Two - Branding Package

This is a bit of my current branding/marketing bits, and a few people have asked about where I get things so I thought I would share it here. I'm a Marketing graduate so this kind of thing is my fav.

My logo design is all done by me...it could not be more simple so I whipped it up pretty easily. I recently redesigned my Dad's logo too, I guess it's just like a weird nerdy hobby of mine.

My business cards and thank you cards are printed through Vistaprint. I LOVE that place, they always have crazy sales and the prices are great. Now this is not good if you want the letterpress neon sided cards, this is your average business card that may not be Alt-approved, but if you get the thickest stock they offer it's pretty good. With my simple design it works just fine, and I just bought 1000 for $20, free shipping. Love that. 

The tags and shipping labels are just printed at home using cardstock and labels. So simple. 

I order my twine from The Baker's Twine. They used to be on Etsy and it's been so long since I've ordered this stuff I just realized that they aren't anymore. But, still, great stuff, great price.

My custom pencils are something that I include with every purchased painting, and I order them from Ebay. I really love them and have had great customer feedback about them!

As for the stickers, I won't disclose this because I'm actually quite unhappy with them. I ordered them from an Etsy shop and the colour smudges right off. Not good. So, I'm on the hunt for a new sticker supplier. If anyone knows of one, please share!

+ + +

Part Three - Some news




Lastly, I wanted to share that ADOP has custom paintings available on By April and May! I loooove the April and May blog, and when Jantine approached me about creating some paintings just for her shop I was over the moon. Be sure to visit her shop and buy something!

NOTE: Yes, I realize that I come across as times as a little sales-y at times, and I would like to state for the record that I have NEVER been paid or asked to write about anything I write about. I'm just that girl who gets all excited about her stuff and wants everyone else to go buy one. I don't know why. But, this is a 100% ad/sponsor free blog, so don't be mad at me.

Ok guys, that's enough out of me. Thanks for reading for those of you who stuck it out (Mom).

New Fall Line at ADOP - Modern Abstract Paintings

It's September! I LOVE the fall. I must say, I'm not 100% ready for sweaters and mittens just yet, but I'll get there. It's my absolute favourite season.

I wanted to add something new to my abstract line for the fall, and I've been working on a few pieces over the past month or so. Last night I finally got them all listed in my Etsy shop, so I thought I would share them here as well!



These pieces are a little different for me...usually my painting process is fairly methodical, but I wanted to do something a little more free, so I just started painting and went with it. SO much fun.





I've also added the iPhone cases to my Society6 shop too of course!



Anyway, that's all for now. Hope you all have a great start to your week!

ADOP /// Fun custom nursery painting

Not too long ago I shipped out this custom nursery painting to a client who was looking for something very specific. She was looking for a modern shaped apple with the phrase "You are the apple of my eye." written below. I love how it turned out! 








Oh, it's so much fun painting for kids's rooms and nurseries. I have so many ideas of things I want to do for my kids line. JUST NEED MORE TIME. I'd probably free up quite a bit if I'd stop whining about never having time. I should try that.

A few new pieces in ADOP

Well tonight I have been busy adding some new pieces to the shop, and yes, I'm on a black-and-white-only kick. I've come full circle. Don't worry, colour will make it's return. 


I'm experimenting with new nursery paintings (the bottom row are designed for nurseries and kids' spaces, though they could work anywhere really). Have some more ideas that I hope to work on soon for this line. Oooh how I love painting. Love love love.


Anyway, it's way past my bed time. Sorry for the bursts of posts followed by days of nothingness. Summer has gotten the better of me. 

ADOP at the Art Crawl

Well, it happened! My first art show can officially be added to my 99% blank artist CV. I definitely think I'll do it again if I have the chance! I LOVED Grey Room Design Studio, and it's owner, Melissa. Her studio is in this super cool building that used to be Hamilton Hotel and is now all studio space. I want to live there. Like for real.


Anyway, here are a few pics of the night, the gallery and the Art Crawl. (Please excuse the blur, I'm still trying to use manual mode and clearly failing at it).





(Nerd alert).





My father. The original artist.





Thanks Rach for coming all the way from TO!





More of Hamilton Hotel. LOVE.





Mixed Media. Coolest art shop!





Finally got to the Design Annex. Gorg.





Mulberry Cafe.





James Street.





Blurriest photo ever.


This was the first Art Crawl that I've been too and it was really fun! It was so cool to go to an event that brought people of all ages and all walks of life together. My parents came down with me and at first we had Ben there, and there were tons of people with babies all night! So cute.


Again I just want to thank my family and friends for stopping in to see my paintings, I have the best fam/friends ever. This was a pretty nerve-racking experience for me but overall I'm really happy I did it. And, I'm more inspired than ever to paint. More to come!!!