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Andy MacDougall

‘Getting By with a Little Help from My Friends…’

Live printing of a music show poster with input from an array of expert printers and supplier representatives.

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‘Getting By with a Little Help from My Friends…’

The poster design for Blue Wave in the Desert captured a 60’s Soul Revue style and showed off the reflective qualities of the holographic foil.

SOMEONE MADE THE POINT that although we are engaged in manufacturing, screen printing differs from most manufacturing operations. In many cases, this is because every time we set up a job something is different: Material. Dimensions. Artwork. Inks. Screens. Squeegees. Change one thing, and it can change everything.

A typical manufacturer sets up a production line, and the operator makes the same thing every day, every week. This may explain the difference between screen-printer brains and the rest of humanity.

In this Episode 24 of Ad, Art, or Alchemy, we’re going to dissect a recent print job where all those process components were different. The process we followed was instructive. It involved finding solutions to questions that I didn’t have answers for when we started. Oh, and just to make it interesting, we didn’t print it in a shop, with a safety net. No, we did it in front of thousands of attendees at the PRINTING United Expo in Las Vegas last September using equipment and inks this bozo had never used before.

I said “we” because it wasn’t just me that put the job together. It was a group of people, specialists, and a number of Academy of Screen & Digital Printing Technology (ASDPT) members who were willing to help get the job done. The process demonstrates some common problems — and solutions — when you are challenged to print things you’ve never tried before. And, more importantly, we had to access reliable resources within the screen-printing universe. I call it “Getting by with a little help from my friends.” Cue the Beatles …

Let’s start at the beginning. My pal from the Impressions Expo, Rick Roth from Ink Kitchen, wanted to put on a live music show, have some fun, and raise some funds for a good cause — the Musicmaker Foundation. Along with PRINTING United Expo and some great industry sponsors, the idea was to put on a mixer after opening day. So, we needed a gig poster At Impressions shows when we do our fundraising, we run water-based inks with a hand set-up on paper. Easy-peasy. With PRINTING United taking place in Vegas baby … we needed some serious glitter! Holographic foil from Exceptional Papers was perfect.

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‘Getting By with a Little Help from My Friends…’

Here are the test procedures in the Nazdar lab. First, the team printed through the recommended (355) mesh with the chosen ink. Second, they cured it under LED UV. The third and final test is taking a knife to slice through the ink, into the material that then is taped, and, finally, the tape is ripped off. If the ink doesn’t bond, it will come off.

We needed ink to stick on the foil. Water-based didn’t do the job. I had heard from other printers running UV on the hologram material that Nazdar 1600 was a go-to. Nazdar, the oldest name in screen-printing ink, runs a testing lab and an Academy member and my friend Bruce Ridge just happens to be director of technical service. Friend hook-up! We sent samples and determined that the UV dryer would be equipped with LED lamps. The testing lab at Nazdar took over, and we’ve got one of the technicians to participate on our podcast.

Corey Mathis has worked at Nazdar for 10 years, with a total of 30 years’ experience in offset, digital, and now screen printing. In the interview, he broke down the procedure they run to test any material with various inks. It’s called SAFE — Substrate, Application, Finishing, and End Use. This all is explained in our interview, and it makes a lot of sense, even with textiles or other applications.

A reminder that tech services at Nazdar do this: Find inks that stick on difficult materials.

Meanwhile, Ron Hayden — he puts the RH in RH Solutions (www.rhsolutionsllc.com) — confirmed the dryer size, which was a 12-inch machine, and the press we would use. One small problem was that the press could only print 12-inch areas. The posters were 12˝ x18˝ so this was a challenge.

My daughter Naomi, a designer who was visiting for the summer, happened to be in the kitchen as Rick was saying he still didn’t have any graphics and shipping deadlines were fast approaching. I asked her to help her ol’ dad out and she took my sketch with the design/print restrictions — two colors, each only 10˝ x12˝ max. Also, to make the top blue a split fountain, she had it nailed by the next day.

As many printers have discovered, we can’t screen print without a screen, and some other Academy members jumped in to help. Don Newman offered some roller frames, and Ray Greenwood took on the pre-press portion of the program. Ray is a process improvement consultant, and he knows his shit, as they say.

Have a listen to his methodology as he runs us through the considerations. What is the image? Halftone or stochastic? Mesh count to carry the detail and stencil coating — there’s a good method here for manually coating to an exact stencil thickness. He lost me on a few things, but in general he gave me some nice screens. Mark Coudray offered advice on the stochastic dot; Rick Mandel, president at Mandel Graphic Solutions made some great film; Dave Dennings from Kiwo provided the emulsion; and Josh at IGG Screenprinting helped out as well. It truly was a group expert effort.

‘Getting By with a Little Help from My Friends…’

We printed a split-fountain sky with color blending from dark to light blue and into a clear color. Here it is emerging from the dryer.

With the films and screens taken care of and the stock and inks arriving in time to be crated and shipped with the machines, I was off to the show. The screens were at the hotel when I got there. The RH Solutions’ crew and the guys from ATMA had the machines installed and working. It was time to find out about this UV dryer and see if we could print something. As mentioned earlier, my experience with UV mostly was theoretical. Who am I kidding? I’m a hack water-based poster printer. I barely had half a clue about working with UV inks.

So, this was going to be a bit of a steep learning curve. I was in luck though — American UV sent Wende Standefer instead of an operator manual. Have a listen to the podcast as she explains about the LED UV curing unit, and some of the considerations and advantages to this new way of curing.

‘Getting By with a Little Help from My Friends…’

American Ultraviolet loaned us a LED UV dryer, but more importantly, sent Wende Standefer to help us get set up, and help me deal with this new curing technology. She and Raphael (not shown) really knew their stuff.

LED curing, as opposed to tradition mercury vapor lamps, has some distinct advantages, but also requires specialized inks. We used Nazdar 2300, which has been formulated to cure at 395 nanometers — the output of the LED lamp. Right off the bat we got a good cure, and like Corey from Nazdar, one of the first things Wende did was take a finished print to the table and slice it up with an Exacto knife. Next, she taped down over the cuts and ripped it off. The ink bonded completely with no flakes at the edges of the cuts. We did have one little mishap, but Wende and Raphael took care of it before it got serious. I guess you’ll have to listen to find out.

So that’s basically all there was to it. Both colors printed well, the blend looked sharp and confused many who were looking for halftones. We had many people come by who had never printed before, and it was fun to show them how it all worked. The poster was dynamite, the music was awesome, and the trade show was a success. I love it when things work out. Thanks friends!

PHOTO GALLERY (6 IMAGES)

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Let’s Talk About It

Creating a More Diverse and Inclusive Screen Printing Industry

LET’S TALK About It: Part 3 discusses how four screen printers have employed people with disabilities, why you should consider doing the same, the resources that are available, and more. Watch the live webinar, held August 16, moderated by Adrienne Palmer, editor-in-chief, Screen Printing magazine, with panelists Ali Banholzer, Amber Massey, Ryan Moor, and Jed Seifert. The multi-part series is hosted exclusively by ROQ.US and U.N.I.T.E Together. Let’s Talk About It: Part 1 focused on Black, female screen printers and can be watched here; Part 2 focused on the LGBTQ+ community and can be watched here.

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