Trying Out the Yudu Screen-Printing System

Borrowed the Yudu Screen-Printing System from the Jo-Ann store to make some custom t-shirts that could be used for in-store demos and promote upcoming Cartoon Sketching trend classes. Two birds with one stone.
Creating a printing screen is fairly simple: the original art was drawn with Sakura Pigma Sensei pens, scanned in the computer, and then printed in black on the dull side of the Yudu blank transparency. This Cartoon Sketching Manga-Style design transparency was taped to the light table, so that it could be transferred to the green emulsion on the printing screen. The green emulsion sheet was attached to the pre-moistened screen, and it took 3 drying cycles to get it ready for light exposure.After 8 minutes of light exposure the green emulsion turned blue in the unmasked areas.
Found it more efficient to wash away the unexposed emulsion in the shower. The rinsing process still took a fairly long time even with the hand held shower sprayer.
The sponge was useful for removing the unexposed water soluble emulsion (green film sections) away from the printing screen.
After a couple of drying cycles, the printing screen was taped and ready for its first test.

Loading a blank t-shirt on its platen. My first T-shirt print. Bit disappointed that much of the fine detail from the original got lost in the process, but I guess it turned out ok for a first try.
Managed to print a second t-shirt without cleaning the screen and only some minor smudging in the upper right corner of the image.
This third printing on smooth bristol without cleaning the screen in between resulted in even more paint smudging . Thus cleaning the screen thoroughly after each printing seems essential for producing crisp images. This printing process required a a lot of water for rinsing the unexposed emulsion and the printing screen between prints. A simpler graphic design with less fine detail could probably be reproduced more accurately. While the Yudu system worked well enough and made the process of creating a printing screen simpler with its proprietary emulsion sheets, the unit itself is rather cumbersome with its rather large footprint and not very practical given the high cost of the starter kit and printing supplies. It was fun playing with it, but the search continues for a more practical and cost-effective alternative for printing custom t-shirts.

Screen Printing Lesson at The von Liebig Art Center

Not too shabby for my first attempt at paper stencil screen printing. I was quite excited to experience the screen printing process first hand. Gaining a better understanding of Andy Warhol's methods used to create his famous print portfolios series should give me a tad more confidence while conducting upcoming docent tours for school groups.
The first and more time-consuming step was to carefully tape the 4 sides of the screen with waterproof blue artist tape to define the printing area and create a double wide area for the paint reservoir at the top of the screen where it hinged with the base. The first color print was of the entire printing area: a blue rectangle and set to dry. The blue-stained screen was then removed from the base by pulling off the hinge pins first and washed at the sink. After drying the screen with a blow dryer, the screen printing assembly was put back together this time with a cut paper stencil placed right under the screen to print its pattern on the original blue rectangle print. I picked red and yellow for my second printing color and allowed them to mix right on the paper for a fiery orange effect.
The instructor, Kim Willis, had all the screen prints and printing supplies needed set up and well-organized to smoothly guide us through our first screen printing lesson. Check out The von Liebig Art Center's website for info on her upcoming workshops.
Big heavy on the printer's paint application. Had to blow dry it a bit before carrying it back home on my car.
Wet prints on drying rack.
The first 2 dried prints. Still have to go back to the Art Center to pick up the other 4 prints which I plan to enhance with some hand coloring, complementary designs, and silver paint accents. It should be fun.