Silk Screening Laptop Case

For my third medium I chose to use the silk screening method.

Steps for prepping a screen:

I started by selecting the image I wanted to use. My picture was a simple design of a chair I photographed in the corner of cement walls. I then transfered it to an acetate, allowing the sections that would be white to be clear and the blacks remain black.

The next step was to prep the screen. I took a large wooden screen and stretched and stapeled thin fabric onto it. This can be tricky because it would be very tight. You then take the screen and apply emulsion to it. With this step it is crucial that you apply the thinest layer you can.

Once the screen is evenly covered you place the screen in a dark cupboard or room for two days. In my case I placed it inside a cupboard. This allows for plenty drying time.

After two days you take the screen and acetate and place both on the light desk. This will expose the screen burning the image into the screen. I recommend 12 minutes for the exposure.

Next comes the tedious step. Washing. I spent a total of 40 minutes washing my screen, to ensure that it had been thoroughly washed, as you cannot wash once the screen has been used. After the screen has been washed it is ready to use!

Using the screen:

My first step was to tape the paper down onto the desk so that it wouldn't move while screening.

My screen has two screenings that can be done on top of one another to create a picture with more depth, so I did the first screening, followed by the second screening.





             This was the final result:

To make the screen into a product I decided to put it onto a laptop case. I repeated all of the steps above with an adjustment in the colour choice. I feel that the result really enhances the look of the laptop case giving it a lot more interest.

Some of the challenges I found whilst completing this process were difficulties in washing the screen after the exposure to light, lining up the two screenings (can be really challenging to get them to line up perfectly) and making sure the laptop case didn't move or smudge whilst screening.

Overall I enjoyed this alternative process and will continue to do many more silk screenings in the future.