After experimenting in Photoshop and creating 4 A3 digital prints, I was inspired to turn these into screen prints. I hadn't been in the print workshop for a while, the last time being in 2nd Year, so to come back and create some screen prints for me felt like a challenge to see how much I had remembered!
I had initially decided to do a CMYK print as I wanted the main two colours perfect, rather than using whatever red or yellow ink we had. I felt that getting the colour spot on was important to make the piece seem accurate. Some of the layers did not expose as well and both me and Sonja agreed that not much if anything would print through it, but I tried none the less. I really made sure that the layers were correct before printing them, and was impressed in how much I had remembered and taught myself in terms of preparing the exposure films before printing. I then got the screen exposed and started mixing my inks.
The last time I was in the screen print workshop, my biggest issue was getting the ink the correct consistency so it wouldn't dry too quickly and clog up the screen. This time I made sure to add Screen Print medium or Extender to add longevity to the ink and reduce the possibility of the ink drying into the screen. I then started to tape up my exposed stencils and got myself set up on my usual machine. I did try with the third exposure that didn't come through as strongly as the other exposures, just to see what would come out, but I wasn't expecting much to happen.
I was worried that I would make a mistake during the printing process, but I managed to create 12 screen prints in about 3-4 hours, which impressed me greatly. I did do a practice run on some newspaper just to make sure that my ink was thin enough and it was. I then proceeded to print onto 12 sheets of cartridge paper that I had cut to size. All of the prints were approx. A3 in size. I printed the red layer first, then the yellow layer. I think these looked really effective as screen prints in comparison to the digital prints. I think the hand made element of these pieces and the process that had to happen to create them makes them more final pieces than the digital prints.
Overall I think these worked really well, and has made it much more difficult to decide what to display for the Degree Show. I think I am now more drawn to having a wall space than a floor space, and I think if I were to display these prints, it would have to be just these prints. After much consideration I felt that having all the elements of the work place, plus my fleeces and my screen prints would be too much, and would distract from my original goal of highlight my experiences in a negative workplace and how this is still a common issue in today's society. I think my Degree Show piece needs to be much more simplified and to the point and I think to do that I need to choose between the desk idea or a wall space for my prints.
I may also try and incorporate some of my fleeces as I still think these are just as impactful as these screen prints, but I need to continue to create some digital collages and experiment with some wall space to see what works best. This I think is my next step forward, to work with what I have to create the best possible outcome for my work in the Degree Show.