Our Very First Poster & Lessons in Printmaking
The first step of printing the bike poster design was determining where the first layer would line up on the paper. When things are aligned or positioned in a specific way in printmaking, it's called registration. We registered our design and printed on 100# French Paper (in Whitewash from their Construction line), from the French family paper mill in Michigan. Their paper is great for printmaking because it has a beautiful, smooth finish, and it comes in great colors that last forever.
Once we figured out where the yellow should be printed on the paper, the next step was to line up the paper with the screen. To print, ink is poured onto one side of the screen and pushed across with a squeegee, filling the open areas of the stencil with ink. This is called flooding. The squeegee is then pulled back, and the pressure against the paper deposits the ink and makes a print.
In printmaking, light colors always get printed before dark colors. For this design yellow went first, then red, blue, and black.
Sometimes during the printing process, things fall out of alignment. This design required a lot of precision, so we often had to check and adjust the registration using a sheet of clear mylar taped to the table.
The final layer was a bit tricky and required lots of re-adjustment and test proofs. Before printing on the awesome, fancy paper, the design is proofed on cheap newsprint. Who wants to waste the good stuff, right? Here's a video of the first proof on the black layer. Yikes.
Printmaking is a labor of love, and the results have us smitten. Get yourself one of the finished pieces here!
