Mail Art Calls

These are really cool, so I guess I post them up too.

For pure mail art goodness, click here.

It Has Arrived…The Sawyers Viewmaster Film Cutter

Yes, this is the reason why I have to part with my posters. This cutter will help me create my own Viewmaster reels.

Let you all know more about this work some time later. Some cleaning up to do now, this equipment is at least 50 years old.

For pure mail art goodness, click here.

Mail Art: Incoming Mail For March

Yes, there are more artworks coming in! I also received many mail art calls. Lots of interesting prints and postcards.

Bernhard Zilling, Germany 

This is a really wonderful package from the artist.

Envelope (front and back)

A painting

Letter on the back of the painting

Photograph (front) and note (back)

Photograph (front) and note (back)

Schoko Casana Rosso, Germany

This one is about a boat trip. Beautiful print.

 

Judith Colton Skolnick, USA

For pure mail art goodness, click here.

Hot Off The Press!

The Grand Conqueror Of All Burgers In The Universe (TGCOABITU), Vote Him In Your Next Elections!

Ready to sign and number!

Before the final linework.

The final print!

For pure mail art goodness, click here.

Screenprinting: The Washout After The Exposure

The washout. It’s really just scrubbing and spraying water.  But the selection of materials can be very important to prevent any casualty to your screens. A very noobie mistake is to use rough sponges, if you scrub too hard, you can actually tear the screen. Use a big fat soft sponge like mine (for washing car) and gently scrub the back and front of the screen to dissolve the unexposed emulsion. I usually use a little detergent as well, to reduce friction between sponge and the screen mesh, to clean the screen at the same time, and the white soap foam that seeps through gives a rough indication to the portion that has been washed out, so you will not miss out any portion of the screen.

You need a hose and a spray gun, not a pressure washer (it will blast away the yet stable emulsion), just any regular garden spray gun with decent pressure. Of course, a space you can get wet, for example, a washroom like mine.

Screenprinting: How We Coat Screens

That’s right, we coat our screens in the studio as well, usually right before dinner. Coat them, keep them in a light-proof cabinet, and we have dinner while they dry. Very often, I will expose them right after drying, but if there is an artist talk or an event going on nearby that I’m curious about, I will leave the screens in the cabinet overnight and expose them the next day.

The photos appear a lot brighter here, but the room is actually dark with yellow lights.

Coating the screen. As you move up, tilt the angle of the coater towards yourself. This will gradually reduce the contact of the emulsion to the screen, then you can take away the coater when you reach the top. It has to be a swift movement, one nice scooping motion! If you do it slowly, the emulsion will be thicker and you will have problems later, chances are you will get an under-exposure, because it will take a longer time to burn the screens. You can always scrape the excess emulsion away to make the coatings neater.

Emulsion and light-proof box. We also store the box in another dark coloured bag.