OUGD504 / STUDIO BRIEF 02 / SCREEN PRINTING

In order to show the logo on a physical product, I decided to screen print the design onto tote bags. Initially considering natural coloured bags, however I began to deliberate using black bags simply because they don't channel the same 'natural' 'eco' look that I wanted to avoid. Black looks slick, sophisticated and fashionable.

Since I was printing on black bags, it was essential to explore the options regarding inks. I wanted the white to really stand out on the black material. After asking for advice at the Vernon Street print room, I was directed to the Blenheim print room where there is a bigger variety of opaque inks. If I was to use normal ink, the white would appear more grey and the neon green would be a brown colour. I ended up choosing a very opaque white ink and mixing fluorescent pigment to create the neon green colour. 

I was required to use a textile screen for this process. I found it quite challenging as I had to make sure the registration was as accurate as possible since I was printing two colours.

As seen above, I printed a total of two bags incase of error. One of the white prints went perfectly, yet one had a 'ghost' shadow, due to the bag possibly getting stuck on the screen during the second coat. It is not too noticeable however, but not a perfect finish I would expect. On the second colour, one went fairly well yet the other was not aligned correctly. It is a shame that both of my tote bags have imperfections, nonetheless, I learned a lot more about screen printing during this process and gained more experience of printing onto textiles.