You Can do Yudu

New site

2010-01-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hi,
We have moved our site to
Here!

This will allow us to have better layout and control. I hope you come take a look!
Michelle

3 Color Print

2010-01-10T14:13:00.000-08:00

Below are some pics of a 3 color image I just did. It didn’t require any real registration basically I just laid the three images over each other and printed them.

The first pic shows a printout of how I wanted them laid out and the colors I wanted to use. At first I had the black camera at the top but it looked too heavy up there so I moved them around till I liked what I saw and printed it out.

Next I printed black images of each camera on Ink Jet transparencies. I then laid them out on the YUDU in their positions and made note where they were in relation to each other. I then burned each screen I was going to use placing each positive in its noted position as I went.

I printed each one starting with the darkest one, that’s the second pic I had several platens lined up and I did all the black SLRs to start with. I removed that screen and washed it clean of ink while I let the black ink dry.

I then printed the red TLR, the third pic, finally the yellow View camera, the fourth pic. All these prints are made on lightweight duck and will be mounted on sign board.

The last pic shows back ground colors I airbrushed on the duck to provide some contrast for the images, The back ground colors are transparent light blue and transparent grey. I did 2 pulls of yellow ink, after the first pull I raised the screen and hit the ink with a hair drier the pulled a second coat of yellow.

As I said earlier there’s no real registration to this image, in time I will tackle that. Meanwhile I’ll have fun doing this.

Cya, Al

Yudu mix it up!

2010-01-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone I thought I would share a print that I did all by myself. Of course I used one of al’s already burned screens but the camera looks awesome and at least I printed it myself :D.

As you can see I've got a nice baby blue ink color. I knew I wanted blue but I didn't want to do the blue yudo ink that we had so I thought I'd go ahead and mix my own. I put a nice size bead of both the white yudo ink and the blue on a little throw away plate we had and used a little spatula to mix it up. Then I used the spatula to smear the ink above the image and it was ready to go.

The hardest part of doing this is making sure you have enough of the ink mixed. I always need more than I think I do. This time it wasn't really a problem because I was only lighting up the blue but I want to start making my own colors and that’s where I'm going to have to make sure I have enough.

I also wanted to try out something that Michelle has been doing a lot of lately, printing two colors on an image. This time I mixed some red ink with a little of the white to tone it down and put it onto the screen with the blue.

I really like the way the colors mix.

So I’ve got a lot of ideas for a new project with my own image next time and can’t wait to start testing it out. Now I only have to learn how to burn my own screen and I’m set :).

-Marie

Yudu vintage paper

2010-01-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

I love vintage designs. When I saw this image on at www.percyandbloom.com/the-vintage-moth.com I really wanted to make a journal cover.

Check out the download images available at the Vintage Moth for personal use. Abagail Mooney finds vintage images and provides free downloads. She also has some beautiful images for sale.

Al sized the image for me in Photoshop because it was very tiny and we wanted to retain as much of the image as possible. To resize, go to image sizing. In the drop down menu make sure to check both boxes for constrain proportions and resample image. Go to the document size area and click on the width dropdown menu and choose precent. Change the width to 110% and resize. Continue this process until image is the size you want. Al repeated the process 15 times at least, but it kept the image from being pixelated. The resampling adds new pixels rather than just making pixels bigger.

We burned on the same screen as one of Al's projects and used 6 minute exposure time to keep the detail.

I used Yudu gunmetal as my base color for several prints. I then added a bit of yellow for a few prints and then added red.I scanned these images to try and get the best detail. There is a beautiful metalic shine that really isn't visible in these pictures.

I plan on making booklet journals with our deep throat stapler to take to work to use for notes. I may print some text using our printer to further personalize my journal. It was a very fun, easy and satisfying project for today.

It is getting easier to flood the screen with ink and pull the ink. For the first time I didn't pull so hard that I gooped up the image.

I hope you are having fun screen printing!

This image has a little red added:

This image has a little of the yellow:

This is Yudu gunmetal:

Quick Yudu hints and tips 2

2010-01-07T22:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some tips that may help:

1. To get more detail in your designs, reduce the time that you expose the screen.
We have found that fine lines show up much better after we tried this suggestion
from http://www.yuduforums.com

2. When printing an image and flooding the screen with too much ink, use paper
towels to clean excess ink and be able to continue printing without washing
screen.

3. You can get a more even coverage of ink on your project by upgrading to a
Yudu squeegee pro or a professional squeegee.

4. Make sure to use a cheaper less sticky packing tape or blue painters tape to
avoid damaging your screen.

5. We have two different labeled sponges for screen care, one for ink removal and
one marked for removing emulsion.

Missed the first hints and tips? click here!

Special offer from Permaset Ink

2010-01-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

If you would like to try Permaset ink yourself they are offering our readers a 10% discount at the checkout.

To redeem your coupon you can just type in ‘yudu’ at checkout.
www.buypermasetinks.com

Want to know more?

Can it be set in the dryer?

Mixing Yudu colors-3 color experiment

2010-01-05T19:34:00.001-08:00

I have wanted to try more than one color on my Yudu, but I am not quite ready for dealing with registration marks. My solution was to try laying down three colors on the screen at one time. I knew from what others had done that the colors may mix,but I like that effect.

I chose duct cloth to screen on because I think my design would make interesting fabric. I laid down blue to represent the sky, brown to the right near the horses head and a little red in between. It is very hard to see in the photo, despite many attempts, but there is a nice subtle color change between the blue brown and red.

You can see that the red was too heavy on the top of one print. Another attempt, I again pressed to hard and the color bled out from the edges. I did get two very nice prints that I may make a coin purse out of in the future.

I am looking forward to doing more experimenting with this method because it was quick and gave a look I really liked!

Michelle

Low heat set ink- can it be set in the dryer?

2010-01-05T18:34:00.000-08:00

I did a little research and found that Permaset has a much lower heat setting temperature than YUDU ink. It can be set at 180 degrees for 2 to 3 min., 140 degrees for 5 to 6 min. and 120 degrees for 8 to 9 min. This means I can heat set tees in our dryer after the ink has thoroughly air dried.

I tested my drier and it get gets up to 153 degrees. So my guess is 4 to 5 min is all we'll need. I did not like the idea of spending a lot of time over my ironing board so I can't wait for my order of Permaset due to come in any day.

We plan on doing a test to compare inks and durability after heat setting when we receive the ink. Stay tuned for the results.

Here are some places that you can buy Permaset ink:

300 ml ((about 10oz) $9.49 1 liter(about 33 0z) $20.79
Estimated $6.95 shipping

A 300ml is about 10oz)$8.37 1 liter is(about 33 0z)$18.37
estimated shipping $7.95

Cya, Al

YUDU and the FLU

2010-01-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

I’ve had the Swine Flu for the past 12 days. It has all but stopped me from doing anything on the YUDU. I have managed to print something on one of the better days but for the life of I can’t think of what it is. I also came up with an idea using images of three cameras. The pic will be posted below. Last Friday I did manage to help my wife get started on one of her projects. Yesterday I was feeling pretty good so I thought to myself I’ll do the three cameras project. I even got the material ready for printing. All I needed to do was reclaim 3 screens, coat them with emulsion, burn them and off I go. Alas!!!! That was not to be….. I went to bed about 11 pm. Read my book for about 45 min. Turned out the lights and laid there for about 2 ½ hours. This Flu has aggravated an old back and leg injury’s I got long ago. Got up played an online game for a while and went back to bed at 4 am. I woke up at 9:30 with a blazing headache and I knew this day was lost, I spent most of the day in bed!!! Dang!!!! So much for my project, oh well tomorrow is another day. I guess you can’t YUDU if you have the flu!!!!
Cya, AL

Cya, AL

Why Yudu hate me?

2010-01-04T18:23:00.000-08:00

Since, I have started looking up information about the Yudu I have been surprised by some of the hatred that is being expressed towards this handy craft machine.

No one was mad when I bought an acrylic paint set with instruction on how to become a painter. They didn’t yell at me in videos because I bought a book on how to make jewelry. In fact, the last time I bought yarn and a pattern to make a scarf everyone said “what a good idea!”

No one believed that I was going to put all the talented painters, jewelry makers or knitters out of business because I bought materials and instructions!

I love our Yudu because I have always wanted to screen print. I could have used embroidery hoops, made my own screens from reclaimed wood and material and cut freezer paper into my own t-shirt designs-but I didn’t. I like how our Yudu sits in the same space as our scanner used to sit and has the ability to hold the screens we need and provides a stable platform to screen our designs. I didn’t have to use my woeful carpenter skills to make something work.

I may grow and want to try other ways of screen printing in my future; in fact I am sure I will. The Yudu provides me with a good basic start.

So let me enjoy my Yudu. If you are that worried that I am going to put you out of business then maybe you should work on your artistic skills!

Feel free to comment and leave your opinion!

Easy Platens- Make your own!

2010-01-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

I got this idea from a post I read sometime in the past, a gal used corrugated plastic signboard for her platens. Sometimes when you have more ideas than money, as we often do around here, you use what you have. I had a few pieces of heavy cardboard that I use as backing on my easel when airbrushing, it’s the same double ply cardboard that our YUDUs came packed in. I needed several platens for an upcoming project and I been house bound for the last 10 days with the swine flu, so I decided to use the cardboard. We used it to print on some cardstock and it worked nicely. I don’t expect these to last forever but they work in a pinch.
As you can see in the 1st pic below I traced an outline of the YUDU platen, but so far I have only cut it to length. I cut the holes a bit smaller and pushed them down the platen pegs so as to make tight fit. Also you need to notch the top where the screen holder/frame hinges are.

The 2nd pic shows how we printed card stock. Rather than use adhesive on cardboard (my guess is that some of the cardboard would come up with the card stock or some of the cardstock would stay stuck to the cardboard), I used blue painters tape to line up the stock where it needed to be and taped the corners down.

The 3rd pic shows a piece of light weight duck that I will be printing on soonish.

Cya, Al

Where we shopped...Liquid Emulsion

2010-01-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

We have started using liquid emulsion and are really happy with the results. We chose Speedball Diazo photo emulsion because of the ease of use. We purchased a kit that included 7oz photo emulsion, 7oz photo emulsion remover and 2oz of sensitizer.

Here are the prices and places we found:

http://www.dickblick.com
Speedball Diazo photo emulsion kit for $19.13 and $6.95 in shipping.

http://www.artsupply.com
DIAZO Photo Emulsion Kit for $19.52 kit and $9.62 in shipping

http://www.misterart.com
diazo photo emulsion kit Item # 3554559 $22.31

http://www.amazon.com
Speedball Diazo Photo Emulsion Kit for Screen Printing $20.96 and $8.19 shipping

We chose Dick Blick and we have used our kit to cover 3 screens and think we have at least 3 to 4 more screens to cover. It has been mixed for two weeks and makes a nice sharp image. Even with shipping we are paying less than $4.00 per screen.

It was very easy to use.

Michelle

Laying down Yudu ink- New project part 3

2010-01-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

Time to print! I have chosen chocolate brown Yudu ink for my first design.

I started to lay down my bead of ink above my image. It seemed like there was more than enough ink after two passes but Al told me to keep going! By the time I finished adding the ink it seemed like I had way too much ink on my screen. I was sure it was going to push through the screen and ruin my paper.

Next, I lifted the screen slightly and pulled the squeegee across to flood my design with ink. Then, I set down the screen onto the paper and used the squeegee to pull ink across the screen again.

I lifted the screen and a perfect sharp image had printed on my card stock. I felt a real sense of satisfaction. I loved this image and printed it on green, white and beige cardstock.

Flushed with success, I continued with my next image. I flooded the screen pulled across the image and this is what I saw.

What happened! I had used too much pressure and too sharp of an angle with the squeegee and the ink came out under the edges and coated the underside of the screen. Now what? We used paper towels and gently wiped the underside of the screen until it was clean, then we reflooded the image. The next pass provided a pretty good image. I was controlling the pressure better and the angle of my squeegee.

Sometimes, I lifted the screen and the paper did not have any ink at all! I had to add additional ink and flood the screen again to continue. This is what it would look like when I didn't have enough ink.

I loved the experience and think that the first design is a keeper. I think I would like to see it printed on material. I have a much better idea of what I like and have a better feel for holding the squeegee. I am screen printing!

You can do Yudu Liquid Emulsion -New project part 2

2010-01-01T21:50:00.000-08:00

The first 4 emulsion sheets we received with our Yudu went fast. With three of us in the house designing images we knew we needed to find a less expensive option fast!
Al did research and we had already decided to go with liquid emulsion by the time I got to my first screen.

I had read horror stories about liquid emulsion, and being the messy crafter that I am, was sure that a disaster was in the making. Al set me up at the kitchen counter with the scoop coater that he had made out of aluminum angle and newspapers on the counter.
We carefully poured in the emulsion to the scoop. It surprisingly did not smell very strong at all and was a green color. We turned off lights, and kept direct sunlight from screen but we did not need to coat in darkroom conditions.

Starting a half inch from the bottom of the screen, tip scoop coater so that it is as level as possible and all the liquid is evenly touching the screen.

Slowly pull the scoop up the screen continuing to keep the scoop and liquid as level and even as possible.

Start tipping up the scoop as you get closer to the top to allow the emulsion to flow back into the scoop.

It gave a very smooth coat, even though it was my first attempt at liquid emulsion. I added another coat using the same process on the emulsion side. On the well side, I added on coat. It didn’t drip.

I then carefully placed it in the Yudu chamber and dried it for two cycles of 8 minutes and finished it up with the hairdryer.

We reclaimed the liquid emulsion in the scoop and put it back into bottle.

It was so easy and I didn’t end up covered in the emulsion as I thought I would. I am the crafter that is always wearing the paint on arms, shirt and usually the tip of my nose. It was nice to have Al’s help since he is a genius with figuring things out and he had already done a lot of testing on angle, pressure and quantity and knew what to do.
Once dry, I lined up transparencies and placed screen on top with emulsion side down. We exposed the screen 8 minutes since I did not have very detailed images. I pulled out the screen and I could see the image in a light yellow. At our kitchen sink, I gently washed off the unexposed emulsion with cold water and a sponge. I was surprised to see how sharp the image came out! We dried screen thoroughly with 3 cycles of the Yudu and then a short time with the hair- dryer.

Michelle

Squeegee Back Stop

2010-01-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

When changing either tees, cards and paper my biggest fear was the squeegee sliding off the screen when lifting the screen frame. I found that placing the squeegee off to the side on an old plate was a waste of movement and ink. So I thought the pros have a squeegee rest right on their machine, why can’t we have the same thing.
I found a piece of 1” X 1” aluminum angle and taped it to the back as you can see in the pics below. I could have used 2 sided tape but I felt that masking tape would add friction and help hold the squeegee in place.
The last pic shows that you can open the screen frame almost all the way and the squeegee stays put.

Cya, Al

New project today! Part 1

2010-01-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

I am going to go step by step through my first paper project. So far, I have prepared two images for my screen and made the transparencies. Here is the image I worked on today.

I also am printing the image of the horse I made last week on the same screen. Here are my transparencies:

My next project is to coat a screen with liquid emulsion!

Making Ink Jet Transparencies

2009-12-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

My old printer was not designed for printing on transparencies but it did it. No problems and it did it for years. But as with all good things they get old and break down. It is a HP 7660 Photosmart printer. It started making noises and having problems loading paper and transparency film, while it still worked it’s days are numbered.

I started to search around for another inkjet photo printer. I found the Epson Artisan 800 and read all the specs about it. It printed on all sorts of paper; I thought it would print on inkjet transparencies also even though the specs did not say it would. After all it’s for Artisan’s!!!! Wrong!!!!!

The day it came I set it up on the wireless network and started test prints. It printed very good photos, and other types of images on card stock and fancy papers. But when it came to vellum it rejected it with notice that the printer was out of paper, please reload and press OK….. AAAaaarrrrrgggggg. But I thought maybe this is a fluke knowing the printer has plenty of vellum I pressed OK and it did it again. Dang!!!! I pressed OK again this time it picked two sheets of vellum and it printed the image I wanted. Hmmmm..... this gave me a clue I needed later. But before I do anything I better test Transparency film out too. Same results as the single sheets of vellum. Not good!!!!!

It’s time to call Epson support and see what’s up with this machine. I called and a short time later I was able to describe my problem to a tech. He looked up some info and told me that this machine does not print on vellum or transparencies. I asked if there was a work-around for that problem. He said no and it’s not a problem as the machine was not designed to print on those types paper. DANG!!!! I thought. After I got offline with Epson support I thought about it for a bit. I remembered that not all printers can print those types of medium. They have some kind of sensor to detect if paper is present and some vellum and all transparencies are not detected and rejected.

I remembered that the new printer did print on vellum when it picked up 2 sheets. I thought to myself I’ll make my own work-around. I got a piece of plain copy paper and an inkjet transparency, I taped the piece of paper the back of the transparency did the same to a piece of vellum. I ran them though the printer and they printed fine every time. After doing little more research I found that there are not many Inkjet printers that say they print on Transparencies. I got lucky with the Photosmart and made a work-around with the Artisan. When I move up to a wide format printer I’ll do a bunch more research before I buy.

Cya, Al

What to do for ink?

2009-12-28T22:16:00.000-08:00

We have had good results with our Yudu inks. We started with 2 of the 3oz bottles that came with our kit and we purchased 2 of the 3 packs. Here is the problem-it goes fast!

Our local craft stores had limited choices so we have began researching different brands of ink that would be compatible with our Yudu. We found that water-based textile ink is the best choice for beginners. Soap and water is all that is needed for clean up and it can be heat set with an iron.

I found three main brands that were readily available online from art supply stores:

Jacquard screen printing ink
I found the average price was 4 oz for $4.35 and 16 oz $11.37.

Speedball water-based textile screen printing ink
The average price I found for an 8 oz bottle was $5.74 and 32oz for $16.99.

Permaset Aqua fabric ink
The 300ml (about 10oz) for $8.37 and 1 liter (about 33oz) for $18.37.

We found that even with shipping, we saved quite a bit and had a wide choice of colors. Our first shipment of Permaset Aqua fabric ink will be in next week. We also want to try Speedball as we have read on the forums that they have worked well with the Yudu.

Michelle

HELP! WE NEED SHIRTS....

2009-12-27T20:32:00.000-08:00

We have been printing on everything we can think of, but WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF STUFF TO PRINT ON!

When we first started printing with our Yudu, we used coupons and bought some items at Michaels. We paid $9 for a cute tote bag and got 2 shirts for $5 on sale. At this rate we are going to run out of supply funds. Our friends want shirts and we have so many ideas!

We have been doing a little research on resources for items to print on. Here are two places we have looked at and how they compare.

Shirtcamp.com
http://www.shirtchamp.com
There are no minimum size orders for Shirt Camp, but they do charge a $10 handling fee for orders under $75.

Shipping is fast for me in Oregon with 3 days being usual according to their site.
UPS charges for my 10pc order of tote bags would be $14.95, but with these 10 items I would need to pay a $10 handling fee.

T-Shirt
100% cotton pre-shrunk 6.1 oz t-shirt by Anvil 976. Large size white $1.65 each

Tote bag
100% cotton 10 oz heavyweight canvas tote. Toppers 0801 Size: 10.5”x 14” x 5” 24” handles $2.50 each

BlankApparel.com
http://www.blankapparel.com
There are not minimum orders for Blank Apparel and no handling fee.
Your price goes down with the quantity of items that you order. They also group together your different items to give a discount also.

The shipping was fast for Oregon with one day transit.
UPS charges for an order of 10 tote bags would be $12.45

T-Shirt
100% heavyweight cotton, 5.4 oz., preshrunk Anvil Large size white $1.98

Tote bag
8 oz. cotton. Self-fabric handles. Harvard Square Size: 15” x 14” ½” x 1”
$2.03 each

In conclusion, online is the way to go for us. At this time my choice is going to go with BlankApparel.com. I like the flexibility of being able to mix totes, aprons, T-shirts and other products and receive a discount for buying 12 items without worrying about a $75 minimum order. In the future, if friends’ demands for shirts keep growing I may go with Shirtcamp.com to get the higher quality for about the same price.

What about inks? click here!

See what we did for emulsion here!

Projects to do on the Yudu

2009-12-26T22:03:00.000-08:00

We caught what we think is the flu and so our projects didn't go as far as we would like. Here are some designs we have in process:

Allen took these photos of items we have around the house and transformed them into these images. We are looking forward to burning them and seeing what they look like.

Want to know how you can transform your pictures? Click Here!

Yudu mistakes and you learn more- Tips to share

2009-12-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

We recently did a project and learned a lot from our first failure. Marie made this design in Photoshop 7 using brushes and included the title of her favorite song.

The first time we screened the design it flooded from the edges of the design and was completely ruined. We quickly washed the tote in cold water to remove the ink. Here is what we learned:

Blocky images are harder to flood with ink when pulling the design as a beginner. It is harder to make an even coat with the larger space.

If the image is too close to the edge of the emulsion on the screen the ink squeezes out the sides and bleeds and ruins the sharp edges. We have started to watch how close our designs are to the edge of the screen. Even taping the design can not prevent this from happening if it is too close to the edge.

To keep the tote flat while printing we cut a piece of thick strong cardboard and stuffed it into the tote. Then we screened it in the Yudu as usual.

We redid the screen and rescreened the tote. Here is our finished product. Sometimes we learn valuable lessons from our mistakes!

Some projects in the works!

2009-12-25T10:48:00.000-08:00

An image ready to be burned. It is on vellum.

Here is an image on a transperancy.

This is the image screened onto cardstock.

Here is one of our first images on a t-shirt

Try this image!

2009-12-25T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, how are all your screenprinting projects going?

I'm pretty excited for mine. We just got a new printer with a built in scanner on top. Now I can scan in all of my sketches and start screenprinting them onto what ever I want.

I've been fooling around all morning with a few of my drawings, so I thought that I would share with you my first sketch turned into yudo design.

Keep in mind I haven't burned a screen with this design so I don't quite know if the tips of the beak and feet will turn out but feel free to use it for any of your yudo projects!

Here is a link to a larger image to the picture above:
-{bird}-

I'd love to hear about some of your finished project or designs, so leave a comment! and feel free to ask questions if you have any problems.

I'll be updating every once in a while with new designs that you can use in the future too, so make sure to come back and check :)

-Marie

Quick Yudu hints and tips

2009-12-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few tips we have learned so far:

If your emulsion starts to tear- it is probably too wet. Use a hairdryer to dry the emulsion where it is trying to tear or let it set longer in the drying chamber.

To speed drying time before printing a new color of ink- Lift the screen very carefully and use the hairdryer to dry the ink to prepare for a new color.

Save money and put 4 to 5 images on each screen for multiple uses. To use one image just tape off the area that you aren’t screening.

In your image editor set your RGB values to 0 to ensure your image comes out as black as possible.

To get a darker image when using your photo printer make sure to use photo not black cartridge only. This lays down more ink for a darker image that burns better.

Yudo mistakes and learn more, click here to see what we learned.

Yudu Perfectionism?

2009-12-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

There it was sitting on the counter daring me to use it! This is what we had anxiously been waiting for and been researching.

I couldn’t think of what to do-my perfectionism was holding me back . Making a T shirt seems too permanent for a first creation and buying a design too expensive. After all wasn’t the whole purpose of it was so I could express my creativity and create designs.

Then it hit me-paper was the answer! I love little notebooks and cards and with the 220 mesh screen I could print designs and even if they weren’t perfect I could make a cover for one of my notebooks.

I started going through images and looking for images that would be good for a first project. I knew from watching Al that there would be a learning curve for me in pulling the ink across the design and I wanted something simple.

While browsing, I found that the images that I really like are silhouettes. I saw several that gave me an idea for my design and I saved others for ideas for future projects.

I downloaded Gimp after finding it by googling it. It was very easy to download and use. I saved my image and made a few little changes. Below is my image.

Now I am ready to make a print of my image and burn my first screen.

Image Manipulation

2009-12-23T18:50:00.000-08:00

The purpose of this post is to explain how to convert a photo or other image into a positive image, an important first step in the screen printing process.

To start with I’m going to use the image editor “Gimp”. It can be downloaded for free and is a very effective photo image editor. Up to now I have been using Photoshop 7, but it is old so may not be available to everyone.

It is very important to choose/make images with as plain a background as you can get. A background with all one color is best, if at all possible. This makes editing out the background noise a lot easier.

First open Gimp and import the image that you want to work on. I save the image to a new name, that way I can use the original later elsewhere if needed. Go up to the menubar and select image, then in the dropdown menu select “Mode”. In this menu select grayscale. Grayscale will remove the color information and make it easier to convert your file to a burnable image.

Then go back to the menubar and select Filters, in the dropdown menu. Click on Artistic and go over to Photocopy and choose it. A box will pop up that will give you a preview and four adjustments, this window will allow you to drag the preview to a section of the image so you can see what you are doing. Then you can play with the four adjustments till you get the image that you like. The ones I adjust most often are ‘Mask radius’, ‘Percent black’ and ‘Percent white’. Once I’m happy with the image I’ll click OK and then save the image.

Sometimes I’ll go to “Colors” on the Menubar and select Brightness-Contrast in the dropdown and make further adjustments as I see fit. If somewhere in the process I don’t like what I see I’ll go to edit and click on undo till I get back to a point where I’m happy and start again.

This is a very simple tutorial and it assumes you know something about editing images in an editor.

The next post will cover printing the image with an ink jet printer.

Cya, Al

Having difficulty, post a comment and I will try to help.

An Artist is most critical of their own work

2009-12-23T18:18:00.000-08:00

My next project was printing on a tank top for my wife with the text “Living the Dream” the title of her blog.

Again, I started to peel the emulsion sheet backing before it was completely dry, but this time I was ready for it to try and tear. I stopped myself just in the nick of time. I plugged in the hair dryer and finished drying the emulsion.

After I burned the screen I pulled the tank top onto the platen, squeezed out a nice bead of white ink onto the screen, flooded the image. I did one pass with the squeegee and carefully lifted the screen to look at the printed image, it looked weak/thin, and the white did not cover. I was expecting that this could happen so I was ready with my hairdryer and I flash dried the ink and made another pass with the squeegee. This time I had good coverage.

The issue was the material; it is ribbed 100% cotton. When I applied the ink, it flowed down between the ribs and out past the edge of the image just a bit. To me it gave a slight saw tooth effect. Not what I was after, but not objectionable either as the girls liked it.

Here is a thought I want to share. The project I just described underscores the saying “an artist is most critical of their own work”. When I noticed the saw toothed edges it seemed as though they jumped right at me, the girls didn’t even notice until I pointed it out. Even then they didn’t mind nor has anyone else who looked at the image since then. Don’t be so quick to condemn your work.

Cya, Al

Let us know about your experiences and challenges with different types of material and what works for you or didn't!

How we started with YUDU

2009-12-19T19:18:00.000-08:00

My wife and daughter saw the YUDU infomercial on TV. I knew that Marie is interested in screen printing so I thought let’s do some research on the net and see what we come up with.

The next day we ordered the same kit on the infomercial from COSTCO but for $60 cheaper. Five days later it showed up. We unpacked it looked at all the info. Then it just sat for a week!

We knew we had a finite amount of stuff and replacement emulsion sheets were going to be expensive. So we didn’t just want to burn screens willy-nilly.

Finally, I came up with a logo for the RC club I belong to and I found a picture of a car that I like. I got on Photoshop and made positives of each.

Next, I put the emulsion sheet on a 110 screen. For the first time doing it, I didn't think it was too hard I just followed the instructions.

When drying the emulsion make sure it is very dry. If you get impatient you will run into problems.

When I did my first screen, the emulsion wasn’t completely dry in the middle. When I pulled the plastic backing, the emulsion stuck to the plastic backing in the middle of the screen and I got a small tear in the emulsion. I stopped what I was doing, dampened the area of the tear and pressed it back into the screen. And put it back into the dryer. This time, I made sure it was dry before I finished pulling off the plastic backing. I washed out the uncured emulsion and I was happy with the results.

After I dried the screen, I pulled out a tee shirt from my drawer and printed my first tee! I had burned two images into my first screen as I wanted to get the most out of those expensive emulsion sheets.

After I taped off the part of the image that I didn’t want to use and edges, I printed the back of my fist tee.

Next, I cleaned the screen and taped off the first image I used and went on to print the front of the tee. Unfortunately, I have already reclaimed the screen so I cannot show how I burned the images into the emulsion. Below is a picture of the front and back of the tee. I set the ink by pressing the tee for about 3 minutes with the iron set on cotton.

We are just beginner screen printers and we have found lots of good info on the net on the subject. This blog is set up to help with your/our journey into the craft and I can see it evolving into something more, but we have to start somewhere.

I have kept notes on each project and found ways to make things a little easier. I have also found ways to cut costs on supplies. These will be posted here in the near future.

Cya then, Al

This is the logo on the back of my first shirt

This is car image on the front.