Mini Stickers!!

These mini stickers are fresh off the press today! While silk screening stickers may not seem the most prudent way to print them, it is at least the most fun. These stickers are 1.7" wide by 2.75" high. This allowed me to use an entire 8.5" x 11" sheet with no waste, getting 20 stickers per page! I printed two sets of 20, one in red and one in black for a total of 800 stickers!

I stepped up the setup at The Pull a few months back with the introduction of an exposure unit. So far I've been amazed at what a difference it makes in the level of detail I can pull off. This run was printed using a 230 mesh screen with a dual coat of emulsion, which was crucial for the very fine line and font details. As always, everything was printed using water based inks.

Anyways, if you're in PDX tomorrow come join CuriousDoodles and I at First Thursday! I'll be giving out stickers and showing of my new stuff. Hope to see you there!

Monsters V. Robots

I mentioned these prints in a previous post but have finally gotten them up into my etsy shop. Each one is hand silkscreened and chronicles the start of the Monster V. Robot wars that are sure to occur once they've finished wiping us out. Each illustration was printed only 10 times, creating 10 sets of the 4 prints, each signed and numbered on the back. You can buy them all together for $120 or pick and choose at $40 per panel.They come with an easy to affix wall hanger and each panel was treated with a light poly coat to protect the image. The plywood is FSC and the inks are non toxic and water based. Everything was hand made by me. You can order them from here.

Fresh off the Press! Tweet and Qwack cards!

I've been pretty busy the past two weeks, mostly printing stuff for other people, so it's been nice to have the press to myself the last couple of days, allowing me to get my "Tweet" and "Qwack" cards printed up! These will be available in my shop soon but if you happen to be in downtown portland for First Thursday art walk you can swing by to visit CuriousDoodles and I. We'll be between Kearny and Lovejoy on 13th from about 5pm till 9pm (weather permitting).

I'll also be showcasing a set of limited edition "Monsters v. Robots" wood panel prints tomorrow ( more on those later). So come visit and check out all the great artist and crafters. Thnx.

Reunion Shirts that Don't Suck

This is the second Reunion shirt to come out of The Pull this summer! Super low run ( only 15 shirts made along with a handful of posters) but a lot of fun to draw and print. This was originally design for an AA slate shirt, but do to the hastiness of the job we ended up using these heather gray shirts. While I still like the design, the line work doesn't pop as much as it could and part of me would love to see a second color. Click the image below for a closer look at the details of the illustration!

And speaking of reunion shirts that don't suck, check out this shirt CuriousDoodles recently printed at The Pull.

If anyone needs custom tee's designed/printed, let me know.

i Heart Art PDX - Promo Silkscreen Flyers

I Heart Art PDX is a unique collaboration between Etsy.com, PNCA, and the Museum of Contemporary Craft that's goal "...is to support and advocate for Portland’s vibrant community of makers by fostering dialogue, inspiring activity, and offering access to resources that are otherwise difficult to find."

I was approached by Isaac Watson on doing some promotional flyers for them to hand out during this weekends "Super Colossal Spring Sale" that Crafty Wonderland is hosting at the convention center. Given that I missed the registration deadline for the craft fair, I thought this would be a great way to get some exposure there for my press, The Pull, while helping out the I Heart Art PDX organization there.

Everything about this project was done pretty last minute and in the middle of another print job. I was supplied the logo artwork and ended up creating the lil' monster illustration and adjusting the flyer layout to fit all the elements in. Once the design was done I was able to get 300 flyers printed in about 9 hours. That's not the fastest I've done, but but given I was working on my own, and throwing in a flash dry between color hits, I think I did pretty well time wise.

If you want to get one, be sure to swing by Crafty Wonder Land this weekend and visit the I Heart Art PDX table. On the back of the flyer are dates for various workshops being hosted throughout the spring and summer.

When I finished up my print job and started cleanup, I cracked open a Full Sail "A Light-Bodied Nonetheless Hella Good Limited Edition Lager" and was greeted with a very satisfying message.

Multicolor Registration and Silkscreening

Color registration used to be my foe and involved lots of transparencies, single color at a time printing, tape, and a ton of time wasting.

After many methods, I've finally started using a registration board for lining up my color on the screens. This makes setting them up on press and getting reliable color placement super easy. I still use tape to mark were I lay my paper prints down at but laying all my colors at once instead of one at a time is a huge time saver.

I was first introduced to the registration board back when I took the Silkscreen Academy course from Ryonet. They offer a pre-made board for about $80 that's a bit fancy then what I needed. I got the idea to make my own when I visited Tilteed.com and saw theirs. You can make one like mine for about $12, plus some time.

If you are doing anything with multicolor you're gonna want to setup one up. I used a piece of 25" x 25" plexi glass that I picked up at our local Ace Hardware. Then I taped off a space of 24" x 20" ( my screens actual size), and marked in the center lines. On the back, I taped registration marks for various size prints.

With your board in place you want to print your artwork transparencies with registration marks, typically this option can be found in most Adobe softwares print window. You want to put some tape on your transparencies then line up the marks by eye. When all lined up, you simply drop your screen onto the transparency using the boarder lines.

Once done you're all set to expose...

I'm actually posting this while I wait for the above screen to dry! Be sure to join us Friday, Saturday or Sunday for more Silkscreen demos during our Black Friday 3 Day event!

A Sneak peak of things to come

This process video is a time lapse of me printing an updated version of my Binary Thank You Cards. This time in A2 format and later today, I go on the look out for appropriate envelopes. They'll be available in my etsy soon but also @ our BlackFriday Event. Come check them out, along with a ton of other goods!

If the above video doesn't work, please check it out here!