Earlier this week I went into the one69a studio at Islington Mill in Manchester to test screenprint the Publishers Club zine covers!
Islington Mill is a beautiful old building with a seriously cool community of artists and creatives {yes I was ready to move in!} and there is always something going on… workshops, events, even yoga!
I met up with Mark {here he is above looking wistfully out a window…} who is not just an awesome screenprinter he is also a very generous host. He showed me around the building and introduced me to lots of different people – and after a quick coffee and chat we got down to some screenprinting!
I took a few photos while I was there to show the process we went through from finished artwork, burning the screens and then to the actual test printing of the zines. Hope you enjoy!
THE ONE69A STUDIO:
First let me show you their amazing studio space! It’s one large room shared by a group of people including one69a, a furniture craftsman, graphic designer/illustrator and fashion designer.
FINAL ARTWORK:
We are extremely lucky for our first Publishers Club zine to have 4 amazing cover artists: Lesley Barnes, Simon Wild, Stephen Chan and Daren Newman. As we didn’t have time to test them all we decided to use the artwork of Daren Newman as it had the finest detail and would be the more difficult to print.
TRANSFERRING THE ARTWORK ONTO THE SCREEN:
Once the artwork was printed onto acetate we then had to burn the artwork onto the screen.
BURNING THE SCREEN:
Usually there is a vacuum seal that would help keep the acetate flat for a clean transfer of the image but it’s broken so this is Mark’s high tech way to keep the acetate flat. Love it!
WASHING THE SCREEN:
This is the part I like! Once the screen is burnt the transferred image magically appears once the emulsion is washed away.
CHECKING THE TRANSFERRED IMAGE:
Mark checking how the transfer went…
Success!
SCREEN PRINTING:
Once the transfer had been completed it was then time to see how the images went once transferred onto paper {and the zine!}
THE FINAL RESULT!
Doesn’t this look amazing! We were really happy with how the image transferred. It even picked up the fine detail of the line work from Daren’s illustration and looked like the cover had been hand inked. After this test I can’t wait to see how the other covers turn out once printed.
THE PUBLISHERS CLUB X INKYGOODNESS EVENT!
Don’t forget our event is on tomorrow {eek! very exciting!} and we will be releasing our first Publishers Club collaborative zine – Totummy!
The Publishers Club and one69a will be set up in the basement at Cord Bar in Manchester so come down and have a go at screen printing your very own zine cover! We will also be screenprinting t-shirts, tote bags and prints. It’s going to be so much fun!
Saturday 12th March, 1-7pm,
Cord Bar, 8 Doresy Street (off Tib Street), Manchester
