Now the third color

Drawing fluid for the third color

Here is a photo of the third stencil that I am making for this reduction print. With the original design under the translucent screen, I painted everything that was to be the third color. I went right over the leaf forms in the corners and the center of the blossoms. I carefully painted the lines separating the petals and painted the area around the center.

I decided that black ink would be the right color for this step. When I printed the black on all of the background colors - I was so excited that I forgot to photograph this step. I'm sorry.

Four colors have been printed

Here is a print of the third color alone.

The Second Color

 The second color printed

The photo on the left shows the first and second colors printed. I had to let the yellow that is over the green dry and print them again to get the intense yellow that I wanted. Yellow is very translucent and will not easily cover a dark color. I printed all of the rest in two shades of an orange/tan. It looks completely different over the yellow from those printed on blue. I printed a few without the first color onto fawn Stonehenge paper.

The two photos below show how I created the second stencil within the same stencil that I used to print the first.

Drawing fluid on screen for second color

Stencil for second color

A Different Idea - For Me!

First stencil with image underneath

I have decided to try something different. When I am designing a print, I always have a good idea of just what the color scheme should be. I am thinking of another reduction print; the design will be almost abstract. I will try printing it in different colors.

 

First color printed

I can't seem to get away from representative images. The design on the left is of a blossom and its leaves, a nice dark and light composition, almost like a quilt pattern. I pasted up four of the images with the lighter blossoms in the center. Then I took  drawing fluid and painted the complete square. I left a good quarter of an inch all around the image. After the drawing fluid was dry I spread screen filler over the entire screen, let it dry and washed out the drawing fluid. Then I painted just a tiny dab of filler on the spots in the small ring around the center of the blossoms. After this was thoroughly dry, I mixed some ink and started printing. The first color that I printed was a medium green. I printed 20 of these on Stonehenge 100% rag paper that I had cut to size with my paper cutter. Some of it is white and some is Fawn. Then, I had to clean all of the ink from the screen and let it dry again before I could print the other colors. Luckily it is dry and hot outside - I took the clean screen outside, onto the deck to dry. Then I mixed a turquoise-blue color. I use a lot of the Dick Blick Inks. In the past, I always used Speedball - but I find the the Blick inks work just as well. I do revert to Speedball for transparent base, overprint varnish and wonderful iridescent colors like the purple that is shown here.

The Finished Print

Two reds, black and green printed

Here is the finished print. The colors in my scan don't do it justice. The reds are more red and the green is lighter when you see it in person.

Green printed alone

I painted screen drawing fluid onto the same screen that I had been using for the three other colors; light red, dark red and black. The drawing fluid was painted wherever I wanted to have green. This included the lines connecting the dark red squares and the stem and a little on the amaryllis.

When that was dry, I spread filler again over the screen, let it dry, washed out the drawing fluid and printed green as shown. This is a good way to make a print using just one screen. The registration needs to be set up just once and you can see the blocked areas on the screen and work from them. This is the method that I will be teaching in the Power House in October. I provide the screen  (and all of the other materials) for each student and eight screen are all that I can manage to bring with me. For more information about this class or to register click here.

 

Printing Black

The photo on the left shows drawing fluid that has been painted onto the screen for the black stencil. You can see pencil lines on the screen for the dark red squares that will be on the finished print. You are able to see the screen filler that I had painted on the screen for the dark red stencil in the earlier post.
After I completed the drawing fluid, checked it for pin holes and let it dry, I spread screen filler over the image - let that dry - washed out the drawing fluid - let it dry and I was ready to print with black Speedball Textile screen printing ink. It will cover both reds completely.

Black printed over reds

The photo on the left shows black ink printed over the two reds. If you click on the photo you will see it more clearly. The darker red shows in in the four squares and the lighter red is around the edge of the image.

The photo below is of black printed alone.

This will be a true reduction print - often called a suicide print - because you can never go back once you have started printing. Reduction refers to the fact that the stencil gets smaller each time you work on it. The next post will show the finished print with four colors. Two reds, black and green.

Black alone

The next step

A darker red has been printed

After cleaning the ink from the screen and letting it dry. Then, with my original sketch underneath, I painted screen filler directly on the screen wherever I wanted to keep the image light red. The white areas were already blocked out by the first stencil. I painted a small line of filler around the rectangular image so that it would be the lighter red..
I mixed process magenta and just a drop or two of black with red Speedball Screen Printing Textile Ink to get a rich darker red that will contrast with the lighter red. The result was the photo above.

Then each print was printed with this second red.
I was pleased with the result.

All have been printed two times

Steps in making a reduction print

original sketch

The first step was to make a sketch of the image that I wanted to print. This will be the actual size of the finished print. I scanned my sketch and centered and glue sticked  it onto a sheet of print paper (Stonehenge, 100% rag, in ivory, cut to 7 x 9 inches). This will go nicely into an 8 x 10 frame.

I placed the sketch on my screen bed and set registration guides. Then with the transparent screen lowered over the sketch, I painted the complete block of the print area with screen drawing fluid. That is a  water soluble fluid that acts as a resist to the blockout. A strip of mat board under the screen keeps the screen separated from the sketch.
I painted around the areas that would stay the paper color. Everything that is blue will be printed.

I rounded the corners of my print.

Registration is of primary importance in multicolored printing.

1.     It is not hard to achieve almost perfect registration by having the original image to be printed on a sheet of print paper that you have cut for the edition. It could be drawn right on the print paper or mounted onto a sheet of print paper with a glue stick.

2.     The image should appear about in the center of the screen.

3.     Tape the print paper onto the screen bed with a couple of pieces of masking tape.

4.     You will need three rectangles of cardboard for registration guides. The cardboard should be a just little thicker than the print paper. Cereal boxes and other packaging could be used.

5.     Use glue stick to cover one side of the cardboard guides.

6.     Place the guides onto the screen bed so that they butt up to the print paper at the ends of the longer side of the print paper.

7.     Put masking tape over the guides – not too close to the paper. You don’t want the tape to extend where the guide and the paper meet.

8.     Be sure that there is glue under the guide at the edge where it butts up to the paper so that the paper will not slide under when setting it in place for printing.

Every time that you put a sheet of print paper into the guides it will be in the right place for good registration.

This works for reduction printing with one screen and for prints made with multiple screens.

First color printed

I chose a light red for the first color. I mixed transparent base with red fabric screen printing ink directly from the jar.

Every piece of print paper was printed with this color. I will show you how I completed my print in future posts. 

I choose to make a reduction print as this will be what I will be teaching at the Power House in October. For more information about the class, click here.