Channeling Bob Wiley

“…baby steps get on the bus, baby steps down the aisle, baby steps…” –Bob Wiley, “What About Bob”

I like to think I’m a patient person. I mean, I like to think that, even if I know it’s not true. But I am a stubborn person, and I like to think that can substitute for patience in the right situations. I am doing my best to apply it in this whole screen printing adventure. Not only is it tricky to get things just right sometimes, not only is it messy, but you have to wait hours in between steps before determining if the last step was even successful!

So, anyway… The good news is that despite fears that I had botched my 16×20 screen prep again, it has turned out to be a salvageable effort. I think.

I definitely still need to work on my technique for applying photo emulsion, and I have checked out some videos to get what I think will be helpful tips. But this time the part that I messed up was the exposure process, which is supposed to be the easy part!

But I did a little test, and I think that the only real issues having to do with the screen itself–some rough edges and empty spots–can be touched up with screen filler. So that’s good.

Here are the two tests I did on my test spandex shirt sleeve. The first try–to the left–obviously needed more ink. The second try is still not covering the black too great. It might take more ink, or it might take a different kind of ink. This is just the fabric ink that came with the kit, but there are more opaque types designed for dark backgrounds, so I will give that a try as well. (I also need a good method to line up one print with the next. I have a theory, just need to try it out.)

I also want to try my first screen–the one with the chest emblem–on the spandex, just to be sure that the issue is the fabric/ink and not something about my second screen. But I am pretty sure it’s the fabric/ink.

Either way, I am definitely having to settle in for the long haul here. Like I said above, even when things go well with each step, there are several hours between each step, which in the context of sleep and a job means I’m usually lucky to get 2 steps done on a typical weekday!

But hey, maybe this will all help my stubbornness turn into actual patience!