Nearly one year has passed since my initial endeavor with my beloved Print Gocco PG-5. I’ve been at school, reading about circuits and thermodynamics and differential equations, and my darling Gocco has been sitting in its cute little box, waiting patiently for me to return home.

I’m here, Gocco! Let’s make some awesome prints!, I said.

Okay Sam, I love you!, it replied.

One whole tube of tangerine ink later, I’ve got billions of prints. I severely underestimated the number of papers I could print, so I just started printing everything in sight. I’ve got my screen in a ziploc in the fridge (someone said I could do that) so I won’t have to clean it off. I want to try printing on scrap wood next, we’ll see how that goes. Right now I’m lucky everything in my room is not covered in orange cameras. Or maybe I’m unlucky… because they’re pretty awesome.

Oh, and if you ever try to save leftover gocco ink in something other than the original containers? Keep them in the fridge! They mold like crazy.

(if you ever need help with gocco ink colors, i made some nifty gocco ink charts last year)

And yes, these are all shots of my creative space on this lovely Thursday evening.

Here’s the screen before I used that whole tube of ink on it. It’s an image without full blocks of color, so the ink per print is low, but to cover the whole screen took a whole tube regardless. I’ll be printing orange cameras for life! (i’m okay with that!)

Here’s my impromptu drying rack: a dish rack we almost got rid of a few days ago. It works wonderfully.

…I told you I made billions of little orange cameras. They’re so pretty…

These were my favorite prints of the night: the tangerine camera looks so cute on avocado green paper, and I made an orange camera printed moleskine!

Best part: I didn’t have to clean the screen. Yet. Cleaning gocco screens is by far the most (read: only) terrible part of the gocco production line. They weren’t meant to be reused, but what else are we supposed to do when they don’t make the things anymore? So sad. I love my Gocco. We’re very happy together.

return of the gocco is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

My dearest Gocco,

I would like to return to you,

to your smelly bulbs,

to your sticky, relentlessly finger-dyeing paints,

to your wonderful easy-but-difficult feeling,

and make some ampersands.

love,
samantha.

(click each image to see its creator!)

gocco goodness is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

I’ve always wanted a print gocco, because they seemed like such an easy way to make really awesome stuff… but I never realized just how easy it would be. Look at this, and try and convince yourself you don’t need one.

Now I’ve got to track one down… I heard rumors awhile back that they were going to stop making them… no no no…

(edit: 1.5 hours later… a gocco pg-5 has been successfully ebay’d. now i just have to wait for it to ship from japan… so… impatient…)

gocco envy is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

I must say that screenprinting is one of the most stressful arts I choose to dabble in. The entire time my mind whizzes through “oh no oh no i moved it wet paint! ah!” Of course, I lift the screen and everything’s fine and lovely and crisp and smooth and it’s all worthwhile.

I printed five shirts today with this lovely shade of blue… it’s almost turquoise, the second picture is more accurate color-wise.

I can feel my 14-year-old self telling me how awesome I am right now. Seriously, five years ago screenprinting seemed impossible, something I’d never try. Now I can do it, and it’s delightful in its hectic manner, and I just feel so cool.

whale tees! is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Yesterday was just so blatantly gross outside that I needed to rebel against it by making something extraordinarily awesome. Something out of my ordinary, something to say, “ha, sun! i can be creative without you around!”

So I pulled my box of screenprinting goodies off my shelf, wiped the dust from my frame, and began stapling. I ran out of staples halfway through, but after an hour long staple quest and an exasperated lunch break I was back in business.

My design features a whale (shocking, i know) spouting hearts. The whale will sit at the bottom corner of the tee, with the largest heart ending up at the top center of the tee, not far below the neckline. I did a few test prints today on brown paper and am excited but nervous about printing the real t-shirts, an event that may take place tomorrow morning after church.

Before Christmas I screenprinted 100 shirts, front and back, as commissioned by a friend for his band. My facilities (dorm room and bathroom closet) were not optimal, and with schoolwork and finals approaching, it was nerve wracking, to put it lightly. Somehow I’ve managed to dive back in, and I’m thinking the more relaxed summer atmosphere will make this the enjoyable art I had imagined it to be long ago.

For the band’s screens, since the designs were text-based from the computer, I used the photo emulsion method outlined in the tutorials below. When using a design out of my head, though, I find it easier to draw on paper than on the computer and so I usually use the screen filler method. My dad and grandpa made the screens for me, and for the screen fabric I just picked up some basic silk acetate off the clearance rack.

want to learn to screenprint?
These are a few of the resources I used and found extremely handy.
· Silk Screen Printing Instructions – a copy of the manual that comes with Speedball Printing Kits
· Screen Printing – Cheap, Dirty, and At Home
· How to Silkscreen Posters and Shirts

It’s a great way to produce a lot of something without losing the handmade quality. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to help you out!

screenprinting and such is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog