Wednesday, February 27, 2008:

1PM:  I burnt the Redwood Dart League name screens today.  I burnt the first this morning with poor results.  My guess is, the emulsion wasn't dried enough.  I coated it last night around 10pm.  When I got done coating it I knew that it wasn't good.  It was too thick, I messed up trying to fix thick spots and drips and ended up with too thick of a deposit of emulsion on the screen.  It dried for approximately 12 hours, because I burnt it around noon or later the next day.  So it dried 12-14 hours.  But I believe that the emulsion was too thick, and didn't dry enough.  Also, it was maybe slightly underexposed, BECAUSE it was too thick of a coat.  The emulsion began bubbling during wash out and the quality of the edges was poor at best.  It was saw-toothed and jagged and stringy, just pulling off of the screen.  I thought about making it work with a lot of block out work but decided against, because it would be such a jagged, unclear print.   The emulsion was too thick as well as stubborn to get off during washout because I believe that the screen was flashed (exposed to light) during the drying early this morning when the bathroom door was open in the early morning. 

4PM:  I burnt the second names screen later during the day, with a 110 I had in the cupboard that I had coated the same time I coated the second back print screen.  It had been in the cupboard approx. 3 days at most.  It was a 110, with a good coat.  Nice dry.  The screen may have been flashed, but not to the extent that the first one was.  The image washed out alright.  Developed in water for 1-2 minutes, then washed for around 5, then started applying some slight pressure with the hose.  The image came out fairly easily, although the quality of the edges wasn't wonderful.  It's still way better than the first one.  I actually used my Air Duster to blow out the emulsion from around the image area when it was dripping wet to avoid scumming (dripping, wet, unexposed emulsion).  This seemed to work well; it blew out along the edges of the image, but the edges are still somewhat jagged.  I'm thinking that drying with paper towels after degreasing may have compromised the ability of the emulsi8on to adhere to the screen fabric, or the screen was slightly underexposed.  I burnt for approx. 5 min. 10 sec.  I think mayhaps I should up the time to 5.5 minutes.  Esp. on 110's when there is more emulsion to dry/cure.  The screen is usable.  The Veneziano Electric transfers are even alright.  Not amazing detail, but it's almost like the screen was flashed or there were problems with humidity during drying.  But upon reading up on it, I've found heat is better, but high humidity isn't.  But my darkroom IS the bathroom, though.  It's going to be more humid than any other room because of all of the water.

I printed the back of the shirt yesterday.  The screen with the dartboard and "Redwood Inn 2008 Dart League" printed out very well.  Nice print, with one stroke of the ink.  Black ink on red t-shirts.  I cured the ink until it heated to approximately 320-350oF.  It seemed better at the lower end; red shirts change color so bad and seem semi-near-scorching when cured above 360o for not long at all. 

9PM:  I received the money for the West Branch Spanish Club tonight from Kate.   I will be depositing it tomorrow long with the check I got for the Girl Story shirts, which are coming up.  I will hopefully being ordering ink for that soon (green).  I also need to order the hoodies for this job and the t-shirts for Girl Story Monday at the latest. 

Tonight I have yet to reclaim 3 screens (wood, 126, 110, 110).  I am going to reclaim, degrease, dry, and then coat.  I should maybe just degrease one and coat it, I should only need one more wooden one, either a 100 or 125, for the remaining name screen for the Redwood Dart shirts.  I also was going to degrease and coat screens for the Spanish hoodies, but I am going to use the aluminum 156's, because it's a multicolor, and they register better.   I still need the artwork finished, but it's almost done, and I would have them coated and ready for when that was done.  So I think I am going to coat a 110 wood, and two aluminums tonight. 

11PM:  I reclaimed 3 110's and degreased them all, as well as two 156's. 

12AM:  Coated 4 SCREENS, (2)156 ALUMINUM and (2) WOOD, one 110, and one 125.

I guess we'll try again in the morning for another names screen burn.  I'm hoping on a good one so I can print tomorrow, to deliver Friday.  And the other two aluminum ones I'll save for the Spanish hoodies.  That leaves me with maybe an extra wooden screen, if I don't need it for a shitty burn tomorrow.  We can only hope.  It's a process.  So many variables.  I feel like a scientist, hence this log.  It's replacing my trusty Composition Book log.  Typing is quicker than writing.  And I need to figure stuff.  So since I'm typing it out anyway, I figured why not blog it once in awhile.  This is what I do.

TOMORROW:  Order GREEN INK; Print REDWOOD NAME TRANSFERS; Print VENEZIANO ELECTRIC Hats; TAX PREP; Spanish Art; MAIL OUT