Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Licence to Print Money - Screenprint Process

The first time that I tired to screen print, I made the mistake of turning the image the wrong way and so it it revered the image. Therefore, I had to strip the screen again and start all over.

Experiments: 
(Images below are in order from the main image)


























I tried out different stock for my design as I knew I wanted it to be a cream colour and for it also to be textured. The cream colour idea is because I thought it would be a suitable neutral colour that would work well with the gold as the red and gold may appear to vibrant on a white. I chose not to use a dark colour as Chinese people don't particularly like dark colours as they associate it with negativity and evil. The cream colour gives an effect if an old-style stained paper which would tie into my idea of a traditional themed banknote.

Having found different paper stock in cream, I used all G.F. Smith stock for the banknote. I then experimented with different textures and see how the design looked. The ones I particularly like were 'Takeo Yomoshi', 'Colorplan - Natural - Silkweave' and 'Takeo Tassel' as these felt the most luxurious and fit best for the design. I wanted the 'Colorplan - Natural - Silkweave' to turn out well but it didn't as I hadn't aligned it properly so it doesn't fit. This particular stock looks like cotton which is very interesting as looks like the design is printed onto fabric instead of paper stock.

All the designs that had been screen printed hadn't printed particularly well as I'm unsure as to why it wasn't printing fully on one of the octagon shapes. I had to hand paint the white areas which were meant to be red but this didn't turn out right as it wasn't smooth so I decided not to consider them as final designs for the exhibition.

Final design


The one that I had chosen for the exhibition is used with the 'Takeo Yomoshi' stock. I printed two of these designs out as I had 2 sheets and I made sure that one turned out perfectly. This is the stock that initially wanted for the exhibition from the start. This stock feels the most textured and the most high quality. The paper feels recycled or compressed to make the texture feel grainy which is why it would work best for the design as it gives a old-style feel. The stock also makes the rat design and the words look like it has been hand-written on by ink which gives a really nice and realistic effect. 

Overall, I am extremely satisfied with how the final design turned out as it looks individually made, yet it also feels satisfying to touch. The design appears dainty and intricate which makes it seem more pure.

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