Screen Printing with CSM student Josh Saunders

Screen printing with Josh Saunders (an illustration student at CSM) in the studio last week.  Here you can see one of his incredible fine line illustrative drawings....


A close up detail of the Acetate we printed, some of the lines were as
fine as 0.2mm

Josh had made a wooden frame and we stretched a very fine mesh on it,
the tension wasn't great but it coated and exposed almost perfectly.

Printing with acrylic mixed with screen printing medium.

Getting the number of pulls right was problematic because of the fine lines
- after a few trials we used a textile squeegee which had a half rounded edge.

A screen stretched under proper tension would have made things easier -
but it's always good to be reminded that you can achieve great things
with basic materials!

Detail showing the final print - nice work !

Acetate info

Answering a few questions we get asked about our acetate printing...

The thickness of the acetate is 130 Microns.

We print digitally onto the Acetate, this gives a good black print onto a ground that is slightly off transparent, the black is very opaque.

The width we can print is a maximum of 111cms or approx 43.5". We have printed around 3 metre lengths, so if you have a large scale project in mind - we're happy to print it if we think it's possible.

As you can see in the image below, the acetate is transparent enough to see through multiple layers, even though it does have a milky or slightly whitened tint away from transparent.

If you send us a file which needs adjustments - we will always consult you before you incur any further charges so that you may amend your own Artwork.

If you have any further questions - please call or email the studio.

We are not running print /digital workshops yet in the studio although this will be happening at a later date. Sam is however running one to one sessions to facilitate individual print and design projects, if this is of interest to you please email sam@sampickard.co.uk for more information or to discuss your project.

Digital and Print workshops at North Street Design Works.

Situated just off the main square in the North Devon market town of South Molton,
our studio is 1500 square feet in what was originally a coach builders.
Our print workshops & digital design courses are run in the studio.

Sam runs open access textile print sessions with tuition. These are on Fridays from 9pm - 1pm and 2pm - 5pm and Saturday mornings from 9.30am until 1.30pm. Run on a first come first served basis. Please telephone the studio on 01769 574550 or email sam@sampickard.co.uk in advance to discuss what you'd like to do and to ensure availability. We also run structured one day workshops for those who would prefer an introductory taster day.

The trend for screen-printing is on the increase and these sessions are intended to enable anyone and everyone to undertake their own textile print projects from the design stages if required, through to printed wallpapers, fabrics, scarves, cushions and any other personalised and original textiles for your home, friends and family.

Sam Pickard is an award winning textile designer with an extensive knowledge of and background in printed textile design, dye and print. She studied BA (hons) in printed textiles at Camberwell School of Art & Crafts, then spent one year in India studying Indian block printing techniques after winning a Royal Society of Arts designers in Industry award in her final year. After 5 years working as a print and dye technician at East London University, she set up her own studio practice in 1997 with a Crafts Council Development Award. In 2005, realising that the textile industry was beginning to develop new directions in digital printing and laser techniques, Sam embarked on an MA (gained with distinction) in textile design at Bath Spa University. In 2007 and 2010 respectively, Sam's "Rosemary Russet" fabric and laser etched "Squares" design for cork were short-listed for the British Design Awards.

Sam has worked as a visiting lecturer at Bath Spa University teaching digital design for textiles.


Our digital design classes in Adobe Creative Suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign will begin early this year and will be run by Pete Bishop on Apple Mac computers.

Pete Bishop has been a graphic designer and typographer for over 35 years. Starting work at Banks and Miles in the 1970s and after three years becoming freelance working for different agencies and consultancies including three years with Saatchi & Saatchi, three years with Sampson Tyrrell, three and a half years with Pineapple Design in Brussels.

Covering all aspects of graphic design at one time or another, but specialising in magazine design, packaging design and typography. He has also worked as a photographer.

Pete bought his first Mac in 1988 with Quark Xpress & Illustrator and in 1991, Photoshop. In the last ten years he has been teaching Graphics and is an Adobe Certified Instructor. A full programme of courses will be posted shortly, please telephone the studio on 01769 574550 or email peter@captivatecafe.co.uk

Screen Exposure / Part 2 - Expose, wash off and print

Once you've separated the colours in your artwork, your separations are
ready to put onto acetate and then onto screen. If the print is made up
of more than one colour you will need registration crosses on your artwork.
Here are some visuals of a print we were doing in the studio last week
to demonstrate the rest of the process.

The acetate as it was coming off the printer showing the colour separations.

Lining up the acetates on the screen before exposing them to UV or Metal
Halide light. The black printed areas block the light meaning that the screen
coating underneath doesn't harden. Here you can see the
registration crosses on the acetate.

Therefore after the screen has been exposed and the acetates are removed,
the screen is washed out and the black areas washed away leaving a clear
mesh (yellow) to print through. The rest of the emulsion coating (pink) has
hardened and the ink will not pass through.
The edges of the screen are then taped to seal any open mesh.

Once the screen is dry any small pinholes have to be touched up with emulsion,
the screen is again exposed to UV light and then is ready to be printed.
Here printing the first colour.

Grey ink onto linen, the registration crosses are printed onto masking tape to
register each print.





















Final print colour of four, checking the registration.



















Lifting the screen to see the print after the final colour is printed.





















The final (four colour) print onto linen.





















(We loved this owl so much we put it into production. See it at our on line shop
at madebyhandonline )