73. After the Roycroft Summer Festival

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Western New York. The sun was shining and the temperature was in the 70s. The Festival was very well attended in spite of the road construction along 20A. It was so crowded in the Copper Shop that there were times when we could hardly move.

There were so many questions, I was happy to have Mary Schichtel with me to answer some of them. I didn't get anyone to take photos of me printing, but I took some of Mary printing her Christmas card. She designed a great little Arts and Crafts frog card. It would be printed in three colors. Here is a photo of her printing the first color; a light, bright green. After printing all of her cards with the first color she painted little holly leaves and part of the eyes on the screen with drawing fluid. Then she spread filler over all, washed out the drawing fluid, let it dry and then she printed with a darker green. Later, she went through the same process and printed small, red holly berries at the ends of the frogs feet.

first color

second color

72. First screen is done

In this photo I am spraying the blue drawing fluid with cold water. It dissolves leaving just the screen filler on the screen.

I will continue to spray until every bit of drawing fluid is gone and the screen is open wherever I want to print.

My first stencil has been made; all I have to do is let it dry and I am ready to print. I need to mix a color. I will use Speedball textile screen printing ink. It comes in all of the primary and some secondary colors. The red that I am thinking of will be darker and softer than the red right out of the jar. Sometimes, I just put a wet screen outside to dry.

I don't need to do that now. I'm not going to print with it until Saturday at the Summer Festival. It will be good and dry by then. I'll mix my ink and pack up everything that I will need for my demonstration. I hope that you can come to East Aurora and say hello. But, I will find someone to take photos of the printing process and I'll post them on this blog. It is impossible for me to photograph myself printing. I did take these photos with my left hand while holding the hose with the right.

ROYCROFT RENAISSANCE

SUMMER FESTIVAL

June 27 & 28, 10 - 5

I will be in the Copper Shop Gallery, across Grove St from the Roycroft Inn

71. Spreading the Screen Filler

After completing the drawing fluid, I hold the screen up to the light to see if there are any pin holes in the drawing fluid. I correct these, make sure that the screen is dry and get ready to spread the screen filler.

The screen is elevated above the table with four blocks, cans, etc. These are placed under the frame of the screen. I have a piece of mat board with a nice straight edge ready as well as an old iced tea spoon. The mat board is about 2" shorter than the inside of the frame and larger than my image.

I mix the filler very well and put about 2 teaspoons on the far side of my screen on an area that I had varnished when I made the screen. The mat board will be held at about a 45 degree angle and it will spread all of the filler across the entire image. It is important not to let the mat board bow - it needs to be kept straight. This has to be done in one pass. The drawing fluid is very water soluble and will smear if you go back over it when it is wet.

If you should run short of filler just dry the screen (you can use a hair dryer) turn it around and repeat the process.

Leave the screen in it's horizontal position so that it can dry completely. You can use a hair dryer to speed things up. After the screen is dry take it to your laundry sink or outside to a garden hose and wet both sides with cold water. Then increase the water pressure and spray away all of the drawing fluid.

70. Painting the drawing fluid onto the screen

With the design in register under the screen I will start outlining all of the areas that I want to print. I decided to use the RR mark and have painted around it. I have also painted around the small squares in the corners of the print. I use a watercolor brush and keep a container of water and a paper towel nearby to wash the brush.

I have small pieces of mat board separating the screen from the drawing so the fluid doesn't go through the screen onto the drawing - this will create pin holes in the drawing fluid and mess up my print.

In the photo on the right all of the drawing fluid has been painted onto the screen. I have filled in all of the areas that I outlined.

All of the blue areas will be able to be printed.

Everything that is white will be the color of the paper. I plan to print on brown paper.

My idea is to print the first color, maybe red or green. I will need to print more than I expect to have in my edition.

Then I will paint more drawing fluid wherever I want the second color be. Again I will spread screen filler over all, wash out the drawing fluid let it dry and I will be ready to print the second color.The second color will cover the print except for the chair cushion and a little of the first color as a border around the edge of the print.

I may add a third color - I'm not sure. The screen is ready for the next step.

69. My Chair - Summer Festival Demonstration

This will be a simple reduction print . I started with a drawing of one of my dining room chairs; it was made by the Buffalo Chair Works (Buffalo Chair works was originally Edwin Sikes and Co. It changed to Buffalo Chair works in 1875 and went out of business in 1919. It was located in Buffalo New York.)

I want my design to fill the printed area. I have decided to print this on a brown, recycled paper. The paper is 81/2" x 11". Instead of printing the chair I will print the background and the chair seat. The brown paper will be the color of the chair. I have glued my drawing onto an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of print paper. I have placed the Roycroft Renaissance mark on my drawing - I may print it - I may not.

Two registration tabs have been glued and taped at the lower right hand corner and one is on the right almost to the top. The print paper will butt right up against these tabs. They will act as stops when I place my paper against them.

With the drawing taped in place I can see it through the transparent screen. I will paint directly on the screen with Hunt Speedball screen drawing fluid. Everything that is to be any color will be painted with drawing fluid. Even though I will be printing at least two colors every area to be printed any color must be covered.

This can be confusing at first. Reduction prints get their name because you reduce the printed area for each new color. The first color will be underneath all successive colors; it will be the largest printed area. Then by painting drawing fluid into the open areas of the screen a stencil is created for the second color. The first color will show wherever you don't put any drawing fluid. Continue this process until you have all of the colors printed. Three colors is enough to get really interesting prints, but you can print as many colors as you want.

One thing to realize right at the beginning is that you can't go back and print more of the first color after you alter the screen for the second color! You will always be making a limited edition. Print lots of copies right at the beginning -- more than you think you want, because you'll probably ruin a few in later stages.

68. Roycroft Summer Festival, 2009

THE RAILROAD DOESN'T COME HERE ANY MORE,
BUT YOU CAN STILL COME TO THE SUMMER FESTIVAL

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, JUNE 27 AND 28, 10 AM - 5 PM
Main (Rt. 20A) and South Grove Sts., East Aurora, NY

I will be in the Copper Shop Gallery with a display of my work and I will be demonstrating the process of screen printing (my way). Mary Schichtel will be with me - we will be working on our prints and will be able to answer any questions that you have.

Last year I put my demonstration on this blog. Afterwards, I decided that it was too complicated, this year I have designed a simple reduction print in two or three colors that I will be developing during the Festival. I will post the preliminary steps in the next few days and the final print after the Festival.

I made this little print titled "Pennsylvania Railroad Station, East Aurora, NY" (5" x 8") in 1997. The design was selected to be a premium for patron members of the Roycrofters At Large Association. The edition was 250 - the first 150 were the premiums, the remainder were mine to market after one year. The print was made with two screens, one had the black background, lettering and detail and the other screen was used to print all of the colors.

67. The final print

I started this print on April 22, daffodils and tulips were everywhere.
It is now late May, Bleeding Hearts, Forget-me-nots, Lilacs and Columbines have taken over.

This was the most ambitious print I have made in a long time. The blogging has helped me to keep on track.

I was very concerned that the first screen wouldn't match up perfectly when I printed it over all of the other colors. I was very disapointed when I did print it, it matched up perfectly but the colors didn't look right to me.

The small photo on the right shows the original blue vase and the
final light green after I reprinted it.

The light green was too bright (see post 66) and so was the blue vase. After printing over them,
I was very pleased. The slight change in these colors made all of the difference in the print. Now I am going to mat and frame one for my dining room. I have just posted this print on my web site.