Screen Printing on Plywood

In the quest of expanding on some recent techniques I learned at Highpoint Center for Printmaking, I've been wanting to go beyond printing on paper and work with materials that are a bit more architectural - like plywood! Interestingly enough, the one thing that I have noticed is that despite the material and thickness differences, printing on wood actually behaves quite similar to paper with the added bonus of the wood grain as a part of the piece. 

Still using the Iceland image, since it was already burned, the top image shows a watercolor print, the second down is a graphite print, and last but not least is an opaque print. Most of the plywood (with the exception of stray unknown pieces) that I've been printing on is Baltic Birch. 

Unleashing my inner hidden woodworker, I made one sample panel for a more involved four screen print with the help of my fathers tools and his garage. First we took two pieces of plywood and cut them down to size, with the flat side for screen printing, and the frame side meant to sit flat against the wall and accommodate the hanging hardware. Next we glued them together with standard interior grade elmer's wood glue.  They dried overnight, and the next morning we planed down the edges so they aligned flat. The final step involved taking the rough piece to a wood worker with a router or table saw.  The ply's in plywood are one of the inherent characteristics that show how it is constructed, so I wanted to have the edges of the piece beveled, exposing the ply's like a reverse frame. 

Lessons Learned:

01. To avoid an excessive amount of planing, cut the two pieces of plywood at the same time

02. Don't shop at Home Depot or Menard's.  Finding quality plywood there is impossible. Go to a specialty wood store.

Time to expose the screens!

Iceland Sketchbook

All ready (at least the sketchbook is ready) for the Iceland trip.

I searched through pretty much every sketchbook at Wet Paint to find one that both had suitable watercolor sketching paper, but also a good printable cover and came up with this Hand Book sketchbook by global art materials. Not perfect, but pretty close for now. My ideal sketchbook would allow for flat full spreads (which this one does), have hot pressed watercolor paper (can't find a single sketchbook that has this), and have a good screen printable cover (which this has).  I'll admit the linen cover made me a bit nervous, but after securing the book in place and four passes of ink, the image still came out quite clear.

No new sketchbook would be complete without color guides! Admittedly, in addition to the new sketchbook I also purchased a set of 12 Holbein Watercolors, which I am planning on taking with. Thus, doing double duty, this also made for a good reason to test out mixing some colors, and trying out the paper in this book.

Back at screen printing, here is a quick run-down of the process... Above is the vector silhouette of the country of Iceland that I drew in Adobe Illustrator, printed on acetate film, and exposed.

With a fully exposed, washed, and dried screen and this set up I was ready to print. 

Because of the thickness of the sketchbook, and the normal depth that using clamps allows, we added an extra piece of wood between the table and where the clamps are attached.  Of course, then a bit more support is also needed for the bottom of the screen as well. I only had one chance to get this print "right," otherwise I'd have to buy another sketchbook, so I taped down some guides to hold the book in place while I pressed the ink through the screen. Since it took four passes to get the complete image, it's a good thing the book stayed in place!

Bell Museum with Metro Sketchers

Back at the Bell.  With too much to catch up on at home I wasn't able to stay too long (perhaps a good thing for practicing sketching on site), but was able to hatch out portraits of these Dall's Sheep. As I was sketching away, immersed in my own world a museum-goer made the comment, "it must be easier since they are standing still."  With a quick laugh and a "yes, of course" on my part she moved on.  Though we have yet to see a Dall Sheep on a backpacking trip (they reside in the high mountain ranges from British Columbia to the arctic) we have quite often come across the shy big horned sheep.  Their sense of sound must be significantly more attuned than ours as we spot them 500+ feet away and they quickly scamper on and out of our sight.  Yes, I could never sketch these animals in real life ("now hold still, turn to the right, and put one hoof forward"), but sketching this museum is a nice close second.  Though if any wild animals would like to sit and look pretty for a sketching session, I am of course in!