You're like a little kid again you're just
painting inside the lines right
Hey everybody welcome to my personal studio today we're gonna be doing a project
called silk screening it's such a great
process because you can do repeat pulls
of the same image it's kind of hard to
describe but let me show you what I mean
You know I absolutely love skulls and
here I have a an image of a skull which
I have on the silk screen I have these
professionally made and then I can do
repeat images of this same skull I do it
on artwork I do it on t-shirts and all
kinds of things but a little more simple
I've done this word dream I placed this
on a silkscreen and you can see here I
just have the word dream but I flipped
the screen around and I started to
create sort of just interesting sort of
almost geometric sort of shapes but it's
just this word dream is on my silkscreen
and it's really simple to do we're gonna
do a different process over here one of
One of the probably easiest references that
that you'll probably know is the art of
Andy Warhol so you know that Campbell's
soup cans that he did or the pictures of
Marilyn or Elvis Presley with the gun
all those were all silk screens right so
he would have these massive silk screens
made so we're gonna be doing the same
process but we're gonna really dumb it
down we're gonna really make it simple
the things that we will need though are
these silk screens you can get these at
fine art supply stores they come
pre-stretched basically it it's silk on
on a wooden frame so we're gonna
need that for the screen the other thing
we're going to need are these squeegees
now this is a silkscreen squeegee which
is very very important again not really
that expensive but you can't use your
shower squeegee it's just not going to
work the next thing we can just get a
multitude of coloured inks these are
special things and if you look on it it
says screen printing ink so make sure
you that you can't use you know your
regular acrylic or any type of other
anchor or latex paint or something like
that it's gonna be too thin there's a
certain viscosity to this paint and it's
really sort of it's almost like sour
cream it's just so beautiful and you'll
see when we start to pull the ink how
nicely it works and then a few other
things the masking tape and things of
that nature and then there's a thing
called screen filler which we'll get to in a
second. Let's get to the image that we're
gonna do for me I'm gonna start with
something really cool today I have this
this image I've other sort of like this
fishbone kind of thing I think it's kind
of wacky it's kind of quirky you know I
think this would look really cool in a
t-shirt and we're gonna do this I just
got this off the internet you can get
gazillion images what we want is
something as you can see here something
really simple just with sort of big
thick heavy lines I wouldn't get
anything too intricate and too
complicated because I think these sort
of like solid images sort of work best
and they're gonna be really simple and
fun so from here guys we have our image
laid flat on the table we're gonna get
our silkscreen we're gonna place it on
top and then from here we're gonna get a
permanent marker and trace it out at
this point here when we're doing it
don't move the screen around you know if
you want you can tape the screen to the
table so it remains still and then with
your marker trace the lines like a
colouring book can't be easier
And with this stage here I mean you
don't have to be perfect
right again I like it because this image
is kind of like loose it's a bit of an
interpretation of a of a fish scale you
know if you want you don't have to use a
photocopy if you're so inclined you
could write your name spell a word do
some sort of funky saying you know a
little inspirational quote but the main
thing is that you want to just first
draw it out with this permanent marker
so that we can see where our screen
fluids gonna go and you can see I'm not
being perfect with this right the thing
with a lot of a lot of work that I like
to do I don't like to be so perfect and
precise about it I kind of think when
you are working and you are doing this I
like things to be a bit quirky and wacky
also I like to experiment a lot and
sometimes you know just things would
have happened and when they happened on
like wow that's really cool and then
push it further that's sort of where you
start to experiment and just sort of
explore new avenues and new things
so from here guys that's what it looks
like right that's simple so from here we
can put this image aside and now we have
our screen so we know exactly what we're
gonna do so here comes the the
interesting part from here what we want
to do guys we just want to raise our
screen up just a small amount and then
with our screen filler right it's a
specialty product called screen filler
we're going to paint out the negative
parts of the screen so when we do screen
all the negative space so everything
that's white as you can see we're gonna
put the screen filler in so that means
that no ink will be able to pass through
so we'll have a positive image like the
black as you see here so it's really
kind of simple let me grab some brushes
and we can get underway
So for this project you want to use them
or you want to have some really soft
brushes okay so in this case I would
sort of invest in a bit of a better
brush you don't want to have really
stiff brushes the screen filler is is
quite thick and you want it to go on
very heavy and thick so here we go yeah
so you can see here that the screen
filler it's almost like this clay colour
and when we paint it on its gonna
completely block the screen now with
this you're gonna need a few coats you
can see when we're putting it on here so
basically it's just clogging the screen
and for this part here this is where you
want to be a little more exact once the
screen filler hits into the screen it's
there I mean it can be washed out after
the fact but you don't want to start
washing out your screen now so just sort
of maybe start with some smaller brushes
and then fill in with larger brushes
after the great thing with with this
kind of stuff is that you kind of get
you get to create one-of-a-kind pieces
and you know often for myself you know
when I'm out either in stores or at
trade shows or something of that nature
I'm seeing all this great stuff and you
get inspired by it and you sort of think
well either how can I be inspired by
that recreate it or interpret it in in
my own way and then again you know what
it's all about just going to the art
supply store I do that quite a bit and
just see what's new on the market and
then get inspired think well that's cool
I could use this right maybe I could do
that with something and don't be afraid
just to sort of mess around right again
we can never be too precious about what
we're doing because if you are then
you're just really always going to be
disappointed by what you do
these projects like this that are a
little more sort of time-consuming it's
almost like meditation right some people
sort of do yoga you know some people can
actually sit there and meditate
I can't meditate because if I were to
sit there in a meditative pose I would
just drive myself crazy and want to do
something like this
I kind of like this the slow pace of
this and you have to really think about
what you're doing but at the same time
you don't have to but you have to be
conscious enough of what you're doing
that you don't to be worrying about work
and what your next mortgage payment is
or that your car needs new repairs or
the ceiling in the kitchen is cracking
and from a leak which is my situation
right now so you know I mean so you just
kind of just sit here and you just kind
of get lost in it for me it's almost
like um when I paint a room like
literally physically roller in a room I
love painting because when you're doing
that you're just doing a repeat motion
and you're you kind of get lost in it if
that makes sense when we're painting
with the block of fluid first I'd like
to go in the interior and sort of get
that going now we don't have to paint
out the entire screen you'll kind of see
once I get the most of the fish done
will sort of paint sort of maybe a few
inches outside the fish and then with
the rest of the screen we can just use
masking tape to sort of block it out so
no need to worry about you know painting
the whole screen out that's just gonna
be a huge effort but for now the best
thing I always like to do is work the
inside out that way your hand doesn't
get in there and start smudging around
because you really want to be quite
conscious about what you're painting and
quite deliberate about it because if we
like I said if we get the blocking fluid
inside of these areas here it's gonna
really mess us up so be somewhat
delicate about it but not overly fussy
so with this process here as you can see
I'm painting it on and the block fluid
dries relatively quickly I don't want to
do at least two coats of this you'll see
as we go further on you can see if she
here even when I'm painting see these
different colors that sort of lighter
color is where we don't want to be but
we want this screen to be blocked so
it's completely opaque so we're
absolutely sure that no ink will press
through and go onto the the paper or the
fabric below so after you've put your
block of fluid on and if you start
silk-screening and you notice that some
of the ink is pressing through and it's
sort of bleeding under by all means you
can wash the ink out and you can reapply
this filler and again put another
generous coat on exactly as you did and
that should completely sell the problem
but that's why I like doing it really
well the first time so that you don't
run into problems down the road if you
want to remove this screen filler and
say use a screen for something else
there is a another product on the market
that cleans this this off
this actually is water-based so you
don't worry about getting on your hands
what not but once it drives on the
screen it becomes permanent in that
sense because you'll see when we start
screening
we'll be washing our screen out with
water to change the colors but the
screen filler this block fluid will not
wash out okay so from here I have the
the kind of the overall sort of fish
done now I'm gonna get a wider brush and
again like I said you really want to
have some really nice soft bristle
brushes okay so again these aren't
overly expensive but they're not really
stiff because you can see here with this
nice wider brush I'm gonna be painting
on sort of the thicker areas and then
sort of going all around the fish and
this is where you want to lay on that
nice generous coat right and from here
a few inches we don't like I said we
don't have paint out the entire screen
but I'm going to say we need to paint
out at least two they're leaving about
maybe two inches around the screen and
that'll be taped off with masking tape
okay so these screen is pretty well
prepped to where I need it to be and
from here we can kind of speed up the
drying process a bit with the hairdryer
again you don't want it to be on really
really high heat just sort of a medium
heat and again this will just sort of
like because I'm very impatient I mean
anytime I can get to speed things along
I like that and just get your hairdryer
so the screen is completely dry right
now and a great way to really test it is
to hold it up to the light and you
really want to be completely opaque you
don't want to see any any light shining
through I would even go outside and hold
out the sunlight again you really want
to make sure that there are no holes in
there otherwise I may have to go back at
the blocking fluid and might as well do
it right the first time so from here now
we need to block off the the rest of the
screen with masking tape like I said
before so here we can get this wide tape
and put it down this again just ensures
that no ink will be getting onto our
unto our artwork put that down now we do
that all the way around the entire piece
also what we need to do is right where
the screen meets the wood with masking
tape we need to create as you can see
here a little bit of a well okay so the
front part of our screen is now complete
then we have to flip it over and tape
the back as well this just again is a
double insurance just to make sure that
no ink will get on for artwork it's
better to be really safe than sorry
okay wow so screen is now complete okay
so at this stage we can go and we could
start silk screening or I have two other
screens here as well so what we're going
to do is we're gonna tape them off and
those will be at or almost act as
background colors okay and for this one
I'm gonna do something really really
simple I'm just gonna get masking tape
and I'm gonna use mathematical tape as
my shape so again I'm gonna be
completely random with this so here's my
shape where I want the ink to go through
in a solid way so what I'm gonna do is
having the tape out the rest of this
screen like I just did to the other one
and the same thing with these screens as
well you want to again make sure
everything is taped out and we're gonna
create that little well like I said on
the side as well so everything is mashed
out properly even though this is just
one of the background screens again it's
better to be safe because now I have a
really good solid sort of exposed area
right here and I know that everything
else is really well protected that no
other ink is gonna spoiler our artwork
so we have this one done now I've got a
third screen because we're gonna do
another color so I'll go to colored
backgrounds and then the fish on top so
for this one I'm just going to do
another random shape
I would suggest probably going to a
dollar store somewhere inexpensive to
get your masking to you need a lot okay
so I think we've used all the masking
tape in the entire world we've got this
one shape that's gonna happen in one
color we have this other shape that's
gonna happen in another color and again
placement we don't know what's gonna
happen but we can kind of play around
with that and then we have our fish
that's gonna go on top of that so that's
how we're gonna sort of layer it up so
before we get to any of that I gotta
clear off the entire table put some
paper down and then we can start
screaming okay so we've got everything
here we've got our our screens standing
by our colors in our paper so for the
first thing we're gonna do is we're
gonna just use one of our screens and
we're gonna screen out the one color so
we're ready to go we're gonna load our
incan I like to load in a generous
amount right at the very top because
we're gonna be pulling towards us always
towards us never away and when you are
screening once you start you have to
follow through in a full motion if you
start and stop and do things like that
you'll sort that will transfer that
jiggly motion will transfer and you'll
get sort of lines through it which we
don't want we want it to look like it's
a big solid opaque opaque image so here
we go and when we reveal it see it's
like a perfect orange so from there
let's continue and do some more what we
need to do again is load up our screen
at the very top right I've got a lot
here so this is good and
positioning it on their paper and follow
through there we go number two I think
it's kind of Awesome if you say are
doing a project like this if you just do
something like this this is great I like
using my art and giving it to people as
gifts or if I'm doing something a lot of
times when I am painting or am screening
and I'm thinking about somebody or you
know thinking about me with something
they would like maybe in the colors that
they like I have good friends of mine
Marion and Andrew they love orange so I
would do this for them and just maybe
you can just kind of frame this I mean
this was kind of cool right sign it
frame it um say it's really famous who
knows but we're gonna layer our social
screening and for this I'm going to use
some sort of a bright bluish and I'm
gonna put a little bit of white screen
paint in there some screening fluid and
mix it up
I just want to mix sort of a lighter
blue because I'm kind of envisioning
maybe the fish is going to be in pink
maybe I'm going to offset it and black
you'll kind of see so I'm trying to
layer these colors together and let's
see what's gonna happen yeah there's an
awesome color okay so we're ready we
don't want to be distracted and also is
another thing because we have this other
piece here once we start to screen and
we pick it up and they go to another
piece there will be a lot of ink on this
so you don't really want to sort of pick
your screen up reposition it pick it up
reposition it because you may start to
get ink and spoil the piece that's
underneath so you can kind of see here
at the cool thing like I said it's
silkscreen so we'll be able to see and
you can move it around where we're gonna
deposit this blue color right so it'd
just be just in here so move it around
find a great spot
and let's have a look and see okay here
we go
okay so there's our first one see vivid
right we'll let this dry go to our next
one and for this one because each one I
want to be different I'm going to
position the screen differently on each
one and Ike I said once you lay it down
commit to laying it down and don't move
it around because they'll be incurred
Ernie that that may spoil the orange
piece underneath and again we're always
going to lay our ink at the top and
we're gonna pull straight down okay
and there's our next one number two and
here's number three
okay and there we go now comes the big
moment
now we're gonna screen our star and our
star is this really cool fish so again
for this because we've sort of laid down
our different colors that we have here
we can sort of and if you can kind of
see that you can you can kind of see a
little bit behind you know and then I
don't know just sort of see what you
think would be best although each one's
gonna be different you kind of want to
just play around and kind of see what
would work best and like I said once we
have this screen that we've done all
this work with this screen this screen
is going to stay like this and I can use
that a hundred times which is fantastic
we're gonna do the fish first off I
think in fuchsia okay we're gonna load
the ink in the back and we're ready
cool looks great what do you think okay
let's do another this sort of has a
really kind of cool retro vibe doesn't
it okay we're gonna load our ink in the
front and okay well that's really the
killers are awesome see what I mean by
the by all the work that we did for the
masking fluid so right now there's no
ink that's bleeding through so the fact
that we did all that work off the top
really sort of pays off in the end
okay yeah awesome
right and then where you could position
them every single one's gonna be
completely different
so from here guys we're gonna let these
three dry I'm gonna rinse out this
screen and we're gonna do it again I
think in black it'll be awesome
okay so I've cleaned my squeegee in this
case as well we cleaned all the ink out
of out of our screen here and then they
retake tit all so from here like I said
we have our pieces done we could easily
be finished here why not push it even
further so what we're gonna do I think
is maybe screen the fish butt off set it
in black and what I mean by that is you
can see here
can you see the fish behind we're gonna
sort of register it and then just
slightly offset it so what I do is I
line the fish up so you can see the pink
behind it so that's exactly where we
screened the pink and then we're just
gonna go and move it and what will
happen is it'll look like a drop shadow
or sort of a highlight but and this is
kind of interesting because we can sort
of play around with it I'm each on each
image okay we're good so once I've
positioned it like I said leave it we're
gonna load our ink into the top okay we
have our squeegee and we're good to go
we're gonna release it and see what I
mean as you can see the image how it
just sort of like pops and the fish
almost has a sort of interesting sort of
dimension to it and again every single
one's gonna be different because we
won't be able to register it perfectly
which is cool that's what I said it's
one of a kind and when you're doing this
you can kind of see through the screen
it's gonna be a bit difficult and then
once it's down leave it you can't move
it because there will be ink underneath
that and it'll just disrupt it and you
really don't want to mess around and
ruin all that work you just did
there we go
again they almost look similar but every
single one's gonna have just a tiny bit
of a subtle difference and this one
that's do completely different that's uh
let's bring the fish way up right now
and because it's my last one
I'm gonna do it again there see now I
did that got a few on here got some
splatters going here since I have this
already going keep it going
while we're at it might as well add some
orange
why not right now we're gonna let these
guys dry and I'm gonna wash out my
screen okay so we've got them they're
pretty well dry so you can really see
how easy silk-screening is and this
guy's really cool as well you don't mean
like you can splatter it we could
continue and push it further if we want
with other colors but I'm kind of liking
where this guy is right now I think he's
awesome so I hope this inspires your
inner Andy Warhol silkscreen like I said
it's really really simple
right all supplies at your art supply
store I'm gonna hang this puppy up and
and we'll see you soon in the studio
you
