Studio Brief 02 - Screenprint tests

In the first attempt to screen print the designs, there was a major mistake which ruined the process. Too much emulsion was poured onto the screen prior to exposing. This made it difficult for designs to completely come through during washing. Furthermore because of the difficulty, more scrubbing was done which inevitably scrubbed off the designs. This wasn't helped by the fact that because the design was so intricate, the emulsion was thin and delicate. Therefore a redo of the whole process was done to rectify the issue. 

The designs were also altered to a better resolution exposure. Rather than showing more of the patterns caused by deforestation, more focused areas of the patterns are shown. Furthermore the designs were made bigger than the intended note size, these are in 16cm x 9cm. 

The emulsion this time around was ensured to be applied thinly which is evidenced by the screen's lighter shade of green and As a result much of the design's details can be seen. 

Despite the success of achieving the level of detail in exposing, the printed outcomes did not reflect that. A lot of the prints became smudged during the printing process. Even when the screen was flooded prior to printing and had several pulls, the details of the design still bled. 

As shown here, there were multiple tests done to get an accurate print prior to printing on the chosen stock.  Ultimately this problem can be narrowed to the complexity of the design or the process of which I conducted to set up the screen. Most likely however it is the complexity of the design that brings down the quality of the prints. A slight misprint, and the details will not be accurately depicted. A simpler, more effective design should have been used to communicate the theme of deforestation. The design should have also revolved around the limitations of print and the ability of that process to produce details. Despite this, the entire process was a good gauge to see which stock worked best with the colour scheme and conveying the image of a recycled note. 

The two more successful stocks of the seven were of Lood Lusk and the Himalayan Washi Mitsumat. The lighter shade of these two allowed for a greater contrast against the dark ink which best display the details when the print was done accurately.  

Even though it best resembled what one would think of a recycled stock, the usability is questionable. The print quality is not consistent across the note and when printed on the other side, the inks blend into one another visually, lowering the quality. 

In terms of colour, the simple black colour scheme which is meant to highlight how the note reduces it impact on the environment, does not engage the reader visually on any level. Given the nature of the exhibition, the note design is should lean towards resembling artwork rather than a commercial note, thus a colour scheme that creates depth and compliments the stock should be chosen.