Squeegee Pressure. What’s Important to Know!

February 12, 2009

Too much of a ‘good thing’ can be, well, too much!

first-pull-of-the-pigmentI was recently on The Martha Stewart Show showing her how to silkscreen and we had an oops moment.  I didn’t mention it on air. I didn’t want to call attention to it because it was TV and really we had to keep moving! But I thought  I should call attention to it for my readers. What happens when you use too much pressure with the squeegee? Well, it turns out that too much is, well, too much. If you press down too hard with the squeegee you can actually STRETCH the screen fabric underneath and cause your image to distort. That will make your colours not meet up.  You might never notice it if you print just one colour but in a two colour print you’ll see the problem right away. Screen printing is part art and part craft. It’s easy to learn but it might take some time to get it just right. So if you are printing and your colours don’t match up once printed check to see if you might be pressing too hard. It’s an easy fix! Happy printing.

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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

cathy brown 02.12.09 at 7:28 pm

loved your methods on Martha Stewart show. I may be able to create a simple image and work my way up to the more sophisticated methods.

admin 02.12.09 at 8:59 pm

Good luck Cathy!- I’m here to help when you need it! Once I get settled from all this Martha Stewart busy-ness I have some great DIY posts to add to the blog! Keep checking in or subscribe to the feed. :)

Nancee 02.20.09 at 6:24 pm

Hi Michelle: I saw u on MS last week. I would love to learn about silk screening and try it out. Your art is so clever. I have been reading a lot of the articles on this site. Maybe this week I can buy some supplies and make a screen. Happy printing, creating and for being so inspiring.

admin 02.20.09 at 6:38 pm

Great to hear! Good luck!

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