Silkscreen and More

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Dedication to:

All the Tea c hers who h I n uential a ve been in m y decisio n s to becom a Gra phic D e esign er. Wit h o u t would ha ve You all I S topped bef o re I kn ew t this is wha ha t t Go d will use me thr ough. Eric Fenton

creening s k il S o T s S t ep s: r: t your Idea e Compute th to Sketch Ou n o h Your Sketc Scanning tor: : Into a Vec g Materials : in Turn Scan r a p e r P d r u y an Vinyl Cutte a h Time To B it w n esig e n t B o ar d : D m r n u g o li Y A g e n Printi ilding th e Vinyl, Bu th g in ly p Ap Printing : Nex t Level: e h T to t r Prin Taking you

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Sketch Out your Ideas: So you are interested in making something that could can be printed over and over again? But you have no idea of how to get to that point. Well through out this piece we will help you learn how to go from that simple idea to being able to print it it yourself. It’s time to get that idea out of your head and get it onto some paper. After thinking about the different ideas you must begin on one of the most important parts of this process, sketching. The reason why you want to make sketches of your idea is so that you can play around with it and perfect it. When sketching don’t just go for the first idea that you have but sketch out many different concepts (ideas) so that you can see the different options that are available. Not only will you be able to refine you design by creating these different sketches but you will also be able to see what you idea looks like with different elements. Once you are happy with your sketch you are ready to move on to the Next Step.

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Scanning Your Sketch onto the Computer: Once you have your sketch read. It is time to take it and scan it into the computer. Take your sketch and place it in the scanner. Then open Photoshop and go to File>Import>EPSON Perfection 2480/2580. With the Scanner Open enter into Profession Mode in here you will be able to access the needed Fields to ensure the best scan Quality. Under Destination change Resolution to 300 dpi.

Hit preview to make sure that you are in the image is ligned up correct inside of the scanner. If you do not see all your sketch simply take it out and reposition it until you see it all that is on the Preview screen. Once you see it fully hit Scan. After it is scanned into your computer, you are ready for turn your sketch into a Vector File.

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Turn scan Into a Vector: Your Sketch is now on the computer and you need to make it into a vector image. By turning your sketch into a vector based graphic it will help you later with printing. To being this process drag your image into Illustrator. It should open up in its own window. Now go to File>Save As> and save it to a place where you will beable to find it later on. With the File open, click create a new Layer under layers remembering to lock to layer with the image on it. We will use the both the Pen tool and The Pathfinder tool to make your sketch into a digital copy of your sketch. You are going to use the pen tool to make the basic outline of all the different shapes that are in your sketch. To use the pen tool simply click on a starting point and click at the secondpoint. While Holding the mouse down on the second point move the blue handles around to help make the line to be that perfect angel. Once you have the angel you want simply click again on ur second point. Continue all the way around making the shape enclose its self.

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Once you have all the basic shapes made it is time to use the Pathfinder Tool. The Pathfinder tool helps by joining and seperating different elements from the design. Simple select what you want to keep and what u want taken away and click one of the different options found in the path finder. You will have to play around with it to find just exactly which option will work best for you.


Time To Buy and Preparing some Materials: Here is were you will begin gathering and assembling all the needed parts to make your silkscreening screen. The Materials for this project will Cost around $20. een Screen, To Build a Silkscr y: you will need to bu t Fabric; Multi or Monofillomen ifferent Length An Artist Canvas or D les, Stretching bars; Stap Vinyl Foam Board, and 2’ of to Purchase: You also will need all Fabric Ink A Squeegie & Speedb

Once you have all the materials needed take the Artist Canvas, and remove all the staples from the back of it using a flathead screwdriver discarding the canvase when you are finished.

You can now take the multi fillament fabric and cut a peice big enough to wrap around the wooden frame. With the frabric cut take one side and begining at the center staple across from each other. Once four staples are secured, secure one staple to the right side of the first staple while stretching the screen. In the end you should have a screen that is stapled around the entire wooden frame, and is tight and flat. If you notice any soft spots simply pull it tightly and secure with some more staples. You may also insert the wooden pegs to help keep the frame firm. Be sure to snap them back so you can apply vinyl in the next step. Silkscreen Printing | 5


Printing Your Design With A Vinyl Cutter. Now is when you will start putting the pieces together. First we need to take the vector file that we were working on earlier and set it up for getting cut on the vinyl cutter. To set it up correctly, with the file open choose Object>Transform>Reflect... Then choose Reflect verticaly. If your image looks backwards that that is GOOD. Next choose the different layers you have selected and divid them up so that when the cutting begins cutting them it will beable to cut each individual piece. This is important so that you can line things up later during printing. After they are seperated Load your vinyl into the machine and clamp it down. It will then measure to see how much surface area you have. After its done measuring choose File>Export to Plotter. After the cutting you will take an exacto knife and remove everything that you want the ink to pass through. The area that you have removed with your exacto ill act as a window for the ink to pass through onto the paper under in.

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Applying the Vinyl, Building the Alignment Board In this step you will take the vinyl that you just cut and put it onto your silkscreening. You will need a piece of transfer tape (this helps move your vinyl by picking it all up at once so you can make a smooth transfer). Once you have your piece of transfer tape cut place it on top of your vinyl and press the two items together. Now that they are sitting together slowly peel your vinyl up starting at a corner. When it is all off you can begin placing it onto the flat outside of your silkscreening screen. Press it firmly to make sure that it will stick to the frabic. With it in place, take your left over pieces of vinyl and cover up the rest of the screen on the outside. On the inside of the screen you are going to want to place vinal around the sides and the base. You are doing this to make sure that when it comes time to squeegy, that the ink will stay where you want it. With your screen made now you are just about ready to start making your first prints. Before you can start making prints you

will need to assemle a board to make sure everything will align correctly. To make the board you will need to take a piece of foam board and cut it so that you have a rectangle and two strips that you will fasten to the edge of your rectangle Like the diagram below. Make sure to use Either Glue or Tape. The main porpose of the board is to make sure your prints will align.

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Printing: Now is the time that you have been working your way up too. It is time to make your print. To make your print get some pieces of paper. Taking once piece of paper stick it in the corner of your alignment box. While it is in the corner take some tape and make an outline of the paper area using the tape (this will help when it comes time to printing your second color color). On the back side of your silkscreen screen take some ink and spread it across the top portion of the surface area. You a then going to place the entire frame over your piece of paper and make sure the screen is flush with the corner. When it is flush in the corner take your squeegy and holding it at a 45ยบ angel pull the ink across the opening of the vinyl screen.

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While pulling make sure that you apply some down ward pressure. This will ensure that the ink will pass through the screen and onto the paper. If you find that it is coming out blotchy, lift the screen and squeegie some ink and then set it down onto the paper and make your second pass. By doing two passes you should not have any voids in your printing. When you are done makeing your prints simply clean the screen and squeegie with warm water and soap. If you are printing mulitple colors. you will need to print many copies of the first element (around ten more then you think you will need). Once you have made your first print clean the screen and squeegie and let it dry.


Once the screen and the vinyl have dried, you will need to remove the first piece of vinyl (that which was acting as the window for the ink during your first print) and place your new pieces of vinyl in place where the old one was. Once you have secured the new piece of vinyl in place take a blank piece of paper and make a print using the steps you have followed before. You will use this first print to help you align paper for the second print. Placing your first print down and then laying the new print on top of it you may notice that is dose not align correctly. To fix this you will tape ur second print down to the alignment board. Then take your first print and lay it on top of the second print and move it around until it lines up. You will then take your tape and create an edge with the tape that will indicate where you will need to put your paper to get it to align correctly while printing. You will repeate this same process when it comes time to print your other layers.

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Taking your Print to The Next Level: Now that you have made your prints you can simply keep it how you have it, but you also have the opportunity to use your design in many different areas. Some will use there design on shirts, or use it also in posters. If you wish to turn your print in to a poster you will have to think of the size poster you are wanting. If you are plan to print it at home then you can make a small poster as big as 8 1/2 x 11” You may also wish to print at a medium size at about 18” x 12”. If you wish to make your poster bigger then 18” x 12” you will need to contact your local printers to see what sizes they are capable of printing, Once you have decided on the size of the poster that you want you are ready to choose which program you want to build your poster in. When you begin building your poster consider using a combination of Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign. With Photoshop you have the choices to add many different effects, including textures, shadows, different brushes and more. You can add even more effects if you choose to use illustrator.

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Above you see the icons that are used for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Indesign part of the CS5 Collection. These programs are the primary designers tool for Print and the programs that we will use to make your poster. To start working with your scan and turning it into a poster, you will need to find one of your cleanest print. When you have found one, bring it back to your scanner and scan it onto your computer. With the your print scanned in now open it in photoshop to clean it up even more. Open you scan in photoshop and then duplicate your background layer. This is so that you always have a Mastercopy of your scan in your file. Once you have made a copy of the layer you can start cleaning up your design print. Instead of using the erase tool, create a mask layer and then with your paint brush tool start painting. You will want to use Black to delete parts of the image and White will restore parts that you have taken away


Assuming that you have cleaned up your print as much as you want you will then create two new documents one in Photoshop and another in Indesign. You will use indesign to package your design, and any different fonts that you will be using in your poster. With your new Photoshop document open, click on the cleaned up print and holding Control click it. Then click choose duplicate layer, and choose destination>document... and then the file you will be working on for your poster. Having just imported the scan in to your new document you are ready to add different effects. Depending on the look you are going for at the end of your poster you can play around with many different filters in photoshop, also under the layers panel you will find many different options, these options allow for each different layer to act differently when compiled together. Often times when I design I will add different textures to my document. To me this adds another layer of interest. Basically you can go in any direction with your poster. It

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is just a matter of what you want you know how to do and how well you are can use what you know to make something. Don’t get discouraged when you feel like your design isn’t good enough, simply look at different examples either around your Mall, Town, or just browse the internet. You will beable to find great inspiration that ill help in the final design of your Poster. Now that you have finished up the majority of the graphic work using photoshop, you can now import it into your indesign document and add text. Indesign offeres the ability to type your messege and then with it all selected scroll through your font list and it will change your text to fit each different type family. Indesign also offers the ability to package your document so that when it is time to get your poster printed you can simply 12 | Silkscreen Printing

just hand them a cd/dvd with your information on it. So figure out which you want your message to say and then find a font that will not only work well with your poster but also will help in complementing your poster also. Once you are saticfide with the look of your poster you are ready to prepare it to get printed. To make sure that your file is going to beable to be read by your printer you will need to first, Package your entire poster. This will grab your photoshop file and any font that you used in your poster. You can also Choose File> Export> Adobe PDF. This will help when the printer begins making prints of your poster, so that he can make sure that the prints corrolate to what he sees in front of him. Now All you have to do is take your file to get printed and then hang it were ever you want.


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“A Great STEP by STEP Tutorial” NEW YORK TIMES “Was able to Teach me Something New and Creative” Amanda Naleway “ Creative, Spontanious, BRIGHT, Resourceful” Sean Mc Divit

This is meant to help you the reader on learning how to do something new. Not a lot of people have been able to do silk screening but it is something in which everyone should be able to partake in. SILKSCREEN offer’s more opportunities than that of your regular printing. With Silkscreen printing you have the obility to print not only on paper, but also on shirts, jackets, bags and much more. This can be a hobby or could also turn into a little buisness for yourself. With the wide spread opportunities that are available in silkscreen printing everyone has an chance to exspress thereself on different mediums. So pick up this book and Learn how to do something new and impress your friends. The Best part about Silkscreen Printing is how clean it looks when it is compared to other forms of printing. It is also easy to learn and something that I would show to others.

EDDISON PYRAMID A division of Fenton Publication Group

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US $9.50 ISBN 823-2-92832-012-3


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