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This week we were talking about a seminar that is taking place in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday 23rd March. Of course the group loved the idea of the bus leaving at 7.15am....It will be worth it though.

We were thinking of how we would present our own group, and seeing as they make t-shirt graphics, were really interested in making these for the day. We were looking at making some posters, having information available about cyber-bullying, and having small items we could distribute such as key rings, mouse pads and maybe the posters if we make enough.

We are getting and 8x8 stand and maybe a 6x3 table to fill......and a very limited time to do it!

An example of screen printing my one of our group, on cardboard. At this stage were still in the stages of working on an exhibition. This is made more difficult by the fact that we are only with the group once a week. Every week there are more or less people in, so re-capping takes some time. That said we are actually really strong as a group, we all get on well together, and enjoy working in each others company.

Idea's as they grew and fell!

 We were expecting more people to be in, a few students were out of the country and had let us know, but I think its important that people from the student side of the group would let us know if their not coming in. Especially with the nature of the group, it's important that we can be relied upon to come it. That said, although there wasn't that many of us this morning but the group had started some more brain storming before I came in.

I think this was more successful than other days. Maybe because we are secure in the topic we choose, maybe because we have a very limited time to get work done before the 23rd, or maybe because we have been at this project for so long that we actually really want to see something come from it. In that respect, the seminar is good catalysts for getting work done.

We are going to print on hats, banners, t-shirts, mouse pads. bookmarks, the works!

We were really impressed with this. A member of the group did this during the week. I really like the typography and the idea of 'stay together".

Our lecturer mentioned the idea of working with some of the symbols and icons already found on boxes. Il look at these during the week, perhaps for some poster designs.

A mock up design for t-shirts and posters. 

I actually really like how the image bled out, It created it's own typography!

One of the vinyl templates for the t-shirts.

Maybe my usb people from the last post would work for an umbrella design!?

Screen printing

As promised, a photo blog of screen printing! For this design, I cut my template out of newsprint paper and acrylic paint

Seal the sides of the screen with gum-tape. Do this on both sides of the screen.

To apply the tape, cut the strip to the length you need and wet it. For this we just put a sponge into a small tube of water, and ran the tape along the sponge. But if you want to lick the tape, go ahead! Power to you! (But I really wouldn't advise it....)

One side taped up.....

The other side gets the same treatment.

This is the medium. In this studio we use this for sticking the template to the screen and we mix down the acrylic paint for printing with it.

Go along the design with the medium. No this dries quickly, so be as fast as you can. Get as many parts of the design border as you can. Also put a dab of medium on the corners of the page so it will stay on the screen.

You might be able to see the silk screen mesh in the picture above.

The template should be stuck to the side of the screen facing what you are printing on. It makes sense really, if it was stuck on the side of the screen facing you, the squeegee would wipe the template off your screen!

Pour some paint mixed with medium (half and half) along the top of the screen.

The screen should be raised above the page slightly, flood the screen. You dont need too much pressure  yet.

Bring the screen down to meet the page, and flood the screen again with more pressure.

Lift the screen and check your design.

*If the design bled out a bit, you might be flooding the screen to slowly*

Let each layer dry before adding the next.

Getting the next screen ready.

This is where I was after three layers.

I could have left it at this stage, so I decided to document it and then move on

The green used template and the red, just after flooding and printing. Newprint paper tends to fall apart easily, but if your quick, you will get more than just one print from it.

This is my finished print.

I based the design on usb and circuit board designs, which became people. It based on the idea of a group of people, but It like anything else, if you look at it too long you get other little narratives.....like are the figures on the right excluding the figure on the right?

Let's have an exhibition!

Now that we were all to grips with the process of printing, it was full steam ahead and we starting brainstorming ideas that our group could build on. At this point, we were completely sure that we could handle the idea of a full scale exhibition, and the general mood was very daring. We looked at many different themes and issues that we could work from. For example:

• Graphic design,
• Pop Art,
• Cyber bullying-both sides of the story,
• Slogans,
• Storyboards,
• The Strawberry festival,
• Old stories and histories associated with Wexford, i.e Selskar Abbey, Loftus Hall and the Old Jail.
• The idea of printing on cardboard boxes and stacking these.
• Street Art
• Printing on Mirrors

Also, seeing as we have only a limited number of screens, we were looking at the idea of making our own table top screen printers.

This video is a good basic overview!

From the moment cyber bullying, Members of the group all seemed very enthusiastic to run with that idea. Cyber Bullying is a major problem among many age groups right now, especially with the rise in popularity of sites like Faceboook, Bebo and the fact that many children from a young age seem to have mobile phones days. Everyone will have heard of the horrible cases of young people being targets for this kind of abuse, after all, the internet is impersonal. It allows people to make remarks and insults, and hide once they turn off their compter screens. They don't have to look their victims in the eye or see the damage they can cause. As for the victims, seeing as the internet is both impersonal and public, the bully can take on a life of its own and so many people can join in, see comments made, and add their own. Some members of the group who had otherwise been quite up until now made lots of suggestions of slogan, logos and imagery we could use. One member of the group, (who has also become a great printmaking tutor), suggested that we print on cardboard boxes. Then use these to create an installation. 

now this was a brilliant suggestion! A very new venture for a group that generally prints on T-shirts, posters, caps and mouse pads of course we can still incorporate these at different stages of the project.

Coordinators of the group also suggested lots of different ideas. This is a creative, and they are at their best when they can design themselves. Once they have that solid idea, theres no stopping them!

These are some of the ideas,quotes and concepts suggested:

"When you tear cardboard apart, it can be stuck together again. People are not so easy"

"When i'm bullied I feel boxed in"

"Can you think outside the box and end cyber bullying"

"Boxes are fragile, so are people"

"It's boxing day everyday when I'm being bullied"

"I'm a real person don't put me in a box"

The idea of pushing people into a box, or blocking someone in. This came back to our discussion about how impersonal but public the internet and social media. We we thinking about the idea of highlighting that there is someone at the other end of the screen, someone who's feelings are hurt.

Maybe there are too many box references....

These two videos I found interesting, seeing as he prints on a large scale by hand, and he prints on discs. I also liked the finished poster, especially the highlights in yellow. We are thinking of colors and materials now so its something to keep in mind.