The tutorials that I've used as a guideline are mainly these:-
- SSGTH@RBBRMLK's screenprint tutorial
- Nomediaking's How to silkscreen by Shannon Gerard
- Bangkit's silk screen tutorial on silk screen printing
Step 1; Success!
I went on and bought some supplies for the printing at Bandar Baru Bangi, the shop's name is Khai Lien Supplier Sdn Bhd then I head to Cyberjaya's Master Art to buy a portable lightbox. The item list are as follows:-
- Squeegee
- 2 metal blocks
- Rubber Dye Basic Color (Black, White, Red, Yellow and Blue)
- Photo Emulsion (Pre-mixed with sentisizer)
- Portable Lightbox
- Clamps
I also needed a few t-shirts for testing, so I went ahead to MD Textile in Petaling Jaya and bought some for testing purposes. Afterwards I went ahead and printed my design in Seri Kembangan and bought some other essential stationaries such as tape and puncher.
Step 3; Failure...
When I got home, I had no idea on how to start printing t-shirts, but I've gone through several tutorials and discussion with others who have done it and I do believe I have the ability to make my own t-shirts myself. I also have old silk screen blocks that I bought a few years ago so I decided to test it on one of them first, but it was a total failure as the emulsion I've applied was too thick and the silk screen block were already too loose as it's not entirely 'fresh'. Plus it's wooden.
Lesson learnt: Emulsion need not be thick, as the thicker it gets, the harder, longer, more time it will take to burn the emulsion through and to wash them off later.
Step 4; Another Failure... But!!
Alright, so now I decided that the next time I apply the emulsion, I'm going to make sure that I'm only going to use the necessary amount, which is as little as possible. I actually succeeded in making the emulsion (it's on a metal block this time so the block was very tight) but after a few hours the emulsion still doesn't dry up. Being the impatient person that I am, I decided to just go ahead and place the block on top of the lightbox along with my design (to burn the emulsion so it becomes hard).
After an hour, it 'felt' dry enough so I went ahead and put it below the shower to wash off the 'unhardened' part of the screen so that the design will come out. At first I was quite surprised to see the design showing up slowly, but upon noticing the emulsion being super duper fragile, I got panicked and in the end, I accidentally rubbed off a part of the design which ruins it! Gosh! Silly Me!
Lesson learnt: Always give it some time. It takes shorter time for the emulsion to dry up, and it's always great to be extra careful. Basically the emulsion is washable as long as it's not exposed to direct light under a very long period of time. So let it dry! Let it dry! Let it... Gosh I'm tired.
Step 5; Test on another metal block and acquiring hairdryer.
Tuesday evening:
I started washing off the failed design-burning process on the block slowly so that I can re-use the block again later. Afterwards, I went on and apply the next metal block a coating of emulsion and boy it became much easier as I've done it just a few hours ago. I left it lying around until night so that I can burn the design on when it's fully dry.
Tuesday night:
I went back to the failed block and cleaned it thoroughly so that I can re-use it for other designs later. (while being half asleep after woken up at 8pm ha!) After finishing my religious obligations, I went ahead to Jaya Jusco Taman Equine to get some stuff (another squeegee that is actually a window scrapper, a hairdryer, some cups and plastic spoon for color mixing)
After I finished cleaning the first (failed) block, I went out with my ex-housemates to Mont Kiara. They picked me up, I'm not gonna say no to that!
Wednesday morning:
When I got home roughly around 3:30am, I went on and test the second (new) block, and boy it was dry! I was happy! So I proceed to the design-burning process and I let it sit for around 40 minutes before I wash it again.
This time, the washing went very awkwardly because it sounded so noisy (water beating on a thin screen from a high source) And all I could hope at that moment that none of my neighbours would be bothered by my activity (It was 4:30 am at that moment). Ah, the design wasn't perfectly cut, but it was 80% acceptable than the previous failed one (0% acceptance). I decided to at least 'touch up' a little bit, and work on the design using emulsion (paint) on the design as a 'way' to fix it. I have no idea it's so tedious and by the time this happens, my hands were trembling (due to lack of sleep I think)
P/S: I will use the hairdryer next time I want to dry the emulsion quickly. Stay tuned!
Lesson learnt: If you come back at 3:30 am, just go to bed.
Step 6; First t-shirt I printed myself!
Wednesday morning:
I decided to just go ahead and print the so-called 'fixed' design using emulsion, and print on a t-shirt straight away. And I did! I can proudly say right now that I know how to do screen printing. Though I'm no expert, but I've already conquered the first step in silkscreen-printingery!
So here's the completed one! Hope you like it!
Lesson Learnt: who says this industry is easy. It's fun, but it's not easy. But it's fun! Meh~
Anyway, in the span of +/- 2 days, that's what I've accomplished. Right now my arms are super tired and I need my sleep now but for the sake of learning and sharing, I decided to make this blog post first before I go to bed. Pictures and stuff will be updated after I wake up.
That's it, hope you guys enjoy this mini-adventure I went through, and learn something from it. Enjoice!
Matsuo, signing outta here!
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