Zielinski Shirts: Part 1

Remember how I showed you how to clean a screen last week and promised (I think I may have pinky promised) that I would show the rest of my business card making process later? I lied. For time and other reasons I didn't end up screen printing the cards, but they're still pretty cool. I'll try to do a quick demo on what I did do later in the week.

Anyway, all is not lost on the screen cleaning pursuit. I've been commissioned to screen print some t-shirts for the documentary Zielinski (website here) that's playing at the True/False Film Festival this weekend. I got the design from co-director (and instructor at my college) Chase Thompson today, so the process is about to begin!

Before that happens, please enjoy this trailer:

So, tonight's task was cleaning another screen. This is one I've been putting off for a long time. See, this is the screen I used for my first print and the ink I used turned out to be oil-based. Oil-based ink is okay, but it's a nightmare to clean up. As you might have heard, oil and water don't mix, so in order to clean it you have to use mineral spirits. I've had this screen sitting around with oil-based ink dried on it for months for one reason: I was scared of the mineral spirits. The bottle warns that it is toxic and you should have protection for your skin and very good ventilation. Since I didn't have these things while living in the dorms I left it alone. Now I have latex gloves, a hospital mask, and a bathroom with a vent. Let's get to it!

It's a good look for me!

Since I was gloved up and making a huge mess I wasn't able to get pictures of the scrubbing process, but I assure you, it's not particularly fun. The mask smells like hospital (surprise surprise) and some fumes still get in. I'll just say I'm going to avoid oil-based inks as much as possible.

I got one quick shot during my glove change.

When I finished I waited for the screen to dry while enjoying a delicious frosting and graham cracker snack.

Yum, yum, yum!

Once the screen was dry I spread a nice new coat of emulsion on it. I attempted to get a video of it my headbanding my phone to my forehead, but surprisingly enough, my forehead doesn't see what my eyes see. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

That's it for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with the burning process and the awesome exposure unit. I double pinky promise this time.

Thanks for reading,

Alie