Garage Split Topic that got messed up

[Wildcard]

I use the toilet as a drying room with L brackets on the wall that hold the frames horizontal above the bowl. It's a small room so it's easy to dehumidify or dry with heater, and it's got no windows so screens are safe there for a few days or a week.
Bit weird taking a piss with a frame right there in my eye line, but it works well enough.
Not sure how your house is set up, but a small bathroom or shower just outside your garage might be the answer.

[tonyt79]

In November I upgraded to a larger space with a lot more room to work. Last week the a/c went out completely and the landlord wanted me to pay for it. We agreed to disagree and he released me from my lease.
 Now I am currently set up in my garage. Luckily it is a 3 car with a/c and heat. My plan is to reduce the amount of jobs I bring in and only catalog screens for now. Still have to get a few things out and get my exposure unit and screens in. I kind of like the set up for now.


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[Prince Art]

I only said that so he realizes it's not exactly rocket science to get from spots to halftones, but he will need one of these: PS, Corel, or Illy to graduate a color and of course....a RIP, which Ghost is still free and it does work.

Actually, a RIP is not necessary if you have Photoshop. I still do everything manually, convert to Bitmap & choose halftone settings from there; and I've got my printer settings dialed in to get a very rich black. I even sep & output CMYK this way. (I probably need to change to a RIP for efficiency's sake; but the point is you don't have to have one.)

FWIW, I did use GhostRIP in the past (when working from Corel), and yes, it worked & was free. (Albeit cumbersome & lacking some features. But still did the job.)

I use the toilet as a drying room ...
Not sure how your house is set up, but a small bathroom or shower just outside your garage might be the answer.

My first coat & washout area was the shower. I built a small, collapsible drying rack that I'd put in there, along with a dehumidifier. As soon as they were dry, they went into cardboard boxes for storage (coated) or went to print. (Reclaim was done outside w/ a different setup. Reclaimed emulsion does not belong in house plumbing!)

[sbrown]

Hey Prince thanks for the input. Ive been learning how to manually output my own RIPS via Photoshop as well, but I was under the impression that a proper RIP gave you more control over dot gain, etc. such as AccuRIP Black Pearl??.... anyways, for basic halftones, especially 1 color Photoshop is more than enough I believe also... I just need to learn the ins and outs of how to output that way properly... plus, thats far ahead in the future. Not quite ready for that anyways.

So right now, for the time being until I can build a dry cab I believe I am going to attempt to drape a few UHAUL blankets over my rack and let them air dry in the garage without a fan blowing on them..... I figure if i can coat them in the morning in the ballpark of 9am then I might have a chance at a fully dried screen by around 10-12pm hopefully...

Also for exposure, i bought a fairly thick piece of glass previously for sandwiching my positives so I think that combined with maybe some $2 plastic clamps from the hardware store on all four corners might help a "tiny bit" at least until I can build an exposure jig.

For my first project I wanted to attempt a simple 2 color image for son. I know I should more than likely be beginning with 1 color but Im up for the challenge.
This is what the design looks like:


I figure I will have to choke the image back for an underbase, so...
Plate 1 - White Underbase
Plate 2 - Red



Not sure if i can just hit/flash/hit for the white since or if I really need another screen just for the white over the underbase, but that doesnt make much sense to me to do it that way??...
Tips??

[Frog]

The best way to do this job is with three screens, though it's often hard to justify this with less than 24 or so pieces (at least when you're trying to make money)
White underbase, under everything and, as you said choked back at least on the red part. p-f-p, doesn't need to be solid or opaque, just kinda' white.
red print (you may need to flash this or not depending lots of things like how tight your highlight white screen is, how much you flashed your underbase,  and if you are using a red that prints wet on wet.Last, the top white. Will your press hold tight enough registration to do this?

1. Now, if this was me, and the run was really small (as I assume this is), I might cheat one of three ways, all only requiring two screens.
You could p-f-p-f the white, and lay your red over a solid underbase.

2. p-f-p an opaque red with no underbase

3. p-f-p-f  the white, print the red and flash it. Place a small piece of paper (I like baking parchment especially if the red is sticky) on the red 01, and print the top white. Remove the paper from the screen carefully so as not to smear.

I also have to ask why the stuff looks like a poor trace with scalloped edges. Is that by design?
 

[sbrown]

This is just something to get my feet wet and I thought it'd be fun for a first go at it. It's for my kid, and I'm not concerned about other variables right now other than trying to render decent results. If possible I'd like to pass on the underbase but I assume it's necessary on something like a royal blue shirt color. I'm ok with it looking vintage and I prefer a soft hand, but if the design is going to look totally muted to the point where you can't even see it then an underbase is obviously necessary.

And yeah... the look of the design is intentional. I wanted it to look sort of  sketched/hand drawn rather then a perfect vector design as it's for my kid. It's a filter in illustrator called roughen.

[Frog]

This is just something to get my feet wet and I thought it'd be fun for a first go at it. It's for my kid, and I'm not concerned about other variables right now other than trying to render decent results. If possible I'd like to pass on the underbase but I assume it's necessary on something like a royal blue shirt color. I'm ok with it looking vintage and I prefer a soft hand, but if the design is going to look totally muted to the point where you can't even see it then an underbase is obviously necessary.

And yeah... the look of the design is intentional. I wanted it to look sort of  sketched/hand drawn rather then a perfect vector design as it's for my kid. It's a filter in illustrator called roughen.

We've never asked what inks you use, and what screen meshes you have.

[sbrown]

Good question...

I have:
4 110 mesh (wood) screens that came with the kit, plus...
2 156 mesh metal screens, and
2 200 mesh metal screens, that I purchased later on

These are all brand new and unused, however they've sat in the rack in the garage for several years (so hopefully they're still in good shape?)... the tension still seems good as far as I can tell.

The inks I have are also the ones that came with the kit. They're all International Coatings Plastisols.

[Frog]

The 110 should see very limited use. I only use mine on certain fleece jobs. Years ago, they were common for white and other opaque inks before inks and equipment got better and the market demanded a softer hand.
Your underbase, and probably your top white will probably use the 156's and the red the 200.

What inks do you have?

[sbrown]

Sorry, I forgot to list the inks. I updated my response.

*I know I'm looking like a "textbook newbie" right now, lol. But this is all I got at the moment. From what I've read this old IC stuff is not so awesome. I have some curable reducer as well which I was considering giving a try since this stuff is supposed to be terribly thick and hard to work with.

[Frog]

 From what I've read this old IC stuff is not so awesome.

How old? If really many years, the biggest problem may be that they are not  compliant with the laws for children's clothing. (at least 5 and under)
What have you heard is not so awesome about it? I've used various IC inks for 20 years.

[sbrown]

Frog, I bought the kit almost 5 years ago. The inks have been stored in my garage as they appear in the pic for the entire duration. Hopefully the summer seasons did not actually cure any of them! Lol

I just heard the IC white is hard to work with but people say all kinds of stuff on the Internet. I'll take it with a grain of salt until I take a stab at it myself.

[Frog]

five years ago is probably the newer formulations, but it may also say on the label if it is phthalate free or compliant. You could always contact IC and give them lot numbers if needed.
Only really matters is you ever intend to do the little kid stuff.

[sbrown]

I see, thanks for all the info Frog. They actually all have a "phthalate compliant" logo on the labels, so I guess its fine?

[sbrown]

Frog, a word about "soft hand"... I really want to achieve a soft hand with my prints right out the gate as a preference to how I like my own shirts to feel. Should I stray away from attempting such a thing in the beginning or is that an attainable goal? Would I need to add a curable reducer in order to achieve a true soft hand, or would simply using a high mesh count and viscous ink work just the same?