Seoul Fry | Screen Printed Sundays (Again)
I came across Mini Print in Seoul when I was here last time round. The founders, Sam and Albert are some of the most amazing people I know here and run a beautiful space in Seongsu. They regularly organise monthly screen printing workshops. I'd previous taken a short 1-day class where we experimented with some basic shapes and colours during a but had been itching to do the more intensive one for ages.
I signed up for it this month and the process was quite the experience.
First, we needed an image or a drawing. I would have usually gone with something hand drawn. But one thing led to another and somehow I ended up with this.
I don't usually do digital artwork but I really liked the idea of representing the 'modern Indian goddess'. For this particular composition, I knew that I had to use this image of my sister from when she went bald. I was pretty happy with the image but had no clue how to screen print it.
Albert jumped in and helped me separate the colours and prepare the file for printing. And off we went.
Step 1
Prepare the prints to expose onto the screens. We separated that image into four colours - blue, gold, black and pink.
Step 2
Expose the prints onto the screens. Here we used this gigantic contraption that Albert built himself. I was amazed.
Step 3
Spray the screens with water so that emulsion of the exposed part washes away.
(Picture from the last time because I was doing the washing this time round)
Step 4
Bring out the paints!!!
We had to 'flood' the screen before printing every time. More than anything else, this was my favourite part. Just look at how beautiful that paint is. We were flooding screens for about 6 hours and it never got old.
#Step 5
The first layer we printed was the blue. I wanted to stop at this point since it looked so satisfying already.
#Step 6
Then came the gold. The gold was thrilling and every pass was an absolute pleasure.
Step 7
The universal fixer-upper: black. The black paint itself was beautiful but this is the part that I messed up the most.
Step 8
At this point, we'd been printing forever and over the course of a day, I had gained a deep respect for the work that Sam, Albert and other printmakers do. It's an exhausting art form that requires skill, creativity, patience, concentration and stamina. That last pass of the perfect pink colour was well worth it.
I loved my Sunday screenprinting. It was one of the most satisfying experiences I've had. I'm thinking of making this a series - using more images of everyday women from around the world and reimagining the traditional Indian goddess.
![Footer_manouche.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSiKb98EGkzErAztPkvQTyz2faVzvX3F5TmEcifhRSvty/Footer_manouche.png)
I definitely recommend starting with enough blank paper that you can save out at least one copy at each stage. Not only is it useful to track your process, but I've had more than one print where I've decided that the last layer was a mistake.
That's a great tip, @tcpolymath! Now that i think about it, it would have been nice to have certain copies with just one or two layers. I'll keep this in mind for next time.
Ah printmaking! So much fun!
I was just ruminating on my own screen printing/ printmaking life for this months writing. It's such a fun process.
Oooh! My own screen printing life is obviously one that is very short - 3 Sundays. So I'm looking forward to seeing what your printmaking life looks like. Especially with your artwork, it must be such a pleasure.
Wow, what an awesome experience and an amazing image that you ended up with after the process. I really like that it is personal and tells a story with the model for the screen print being your sister. I once tried some screen printing when I was in school.... but that is so long ago now that I can't remember it lol
Yeah, I was pretty nervous when I started out because I was not even sure it was possible to print. But Sam and Albert really helped me bring it to life.
I had the idea in my head and was trying to use my own image for the photoshop and was failing miserably. And suddenly my sister's bald head popped into mine and I had to call her immediately and demand that she send me this photo. I agree that the reason it's come out so well was because the subject is so personal.
I really enjoy screen printing. It's meditative.
Good to discover the process of screen printing. It must not be obvious when to stop, at each color it seems perfect. Great work
It really was like that, @heroldius! At every step i wanted to stop. But I'm glad i did all 4 colours!
I used to work for a commercial screen printer many years ago. I'm glad to see that the art of manual printing hasn't died out
Oh wow, that must have been totally different. I enjoy doing 20 of these as a personal project. I'm sure commercial printing is entirely different.
But yes, I'm all for hand printing!
Not at all, back in the 1980s, this is what commercial screen printing looked like. The light tables, colour separation, screen making via light exposure all look very familiar. These days, commercial printing is all digital.
We used Letraset for all lettering. No-one even knows what that is anymore and they can be grateful that they don't