Gee How Quaint

Gocco Thermal Imaging Machine of Possibilities and Great Delight

 

The word around town is...Gocco accessories are dying out.  Word around town is... some changes need to be made in the Gocco printing processes.  And the other word around town is... busy little beavers have been working behind the scenes, experimenting, having great successes and annoying failures in their ongoing endeavour to find solutions to the problem of dwindling supplies. 

My  big piece of advice goes a little like this:  Join the Gocco forum at Yahoo.  If you want to know, you will find it there.

I recently talked to my supplier of all things Gocco and I have been convinced that I should upgrade to the Thermal Imaging Machine of Possibilities and Great Delight.  As I use my Gocco skills for commercial use, I need something more robust...a little something that is going to be around for quite some time. 

The best online suppliers I have found are PrintAddict found at www.etsy and northwood studios.

Dear Gocco PG-11...

I had my eye on this little machine for quite some time.  Robust, square little contraption to fulfill all my Gocco printing needs, my life has been all but meaningless until you were delivered into my life via a nice delivery man from the Royal Mail.

Yesterday I had a play with my fancy Gocco printer and I am pleased to announce that all of my prints for the Men's Shoes Shoe Bag have come out clean and crisp with not even a small faded line.  (To see what I'm talking about, go to www.geehowquaint.com) Today I will try to come up with a fancy design for the Gocco demo I am giving at the Art Works Galleries in Newcastle on June 5th.  I hope to dazzle and amaze.

Speaking of dazzling and amazing...I took my tiny printed artworks to a framer yesterday.  I admit, I was a bit nervous, as there were all sorts of large art pieces hanging about the place.  When you show people your artwork, it is so stressful.  Will they hate it?  Perhaps you are the only one that recognises your genius.  Anyway, the nice man with the glasses behind the cluttered desk did not grimace or snort, which I take to be a positive sign in that he at least didn't think my prints were rubbish.

Gocco Printing is Fun!

Today was printing day.  Hurrah.  This printing event was not brought to you by silk screens and squiggeeees oh no, no, no.  Today was printing fun with Gocco.  This is my most favourite type of printing method.  I like simple, slick line designs and this method is perfect for letting me make fine line prints.

The kit:

I bought my kit over 5 years ago in Kansas City, and it's still working like a charm.  It must be incredibly durable as I have printed hundreds of metres of designs and everything still is in great condition.

Step 1

Draw your design using the special Riso pen.  If you do not use the correct pen (sold with kit, others can be bought on line) your design will not make an impression on the 'master' screen.

Step 2

Next, you will need to create a master of your drawing.  To do this, you simply lay your drawing onto the rubber pad in the machine, attach the light bulb contraption, squeeze the machine and presto, there is a mighty flash of light and magic has just happened.

Step 3

Now it's time to use your master.  Your master was created when the screen was exposed to the mighty flash of light.  Now, it is time to print. Simply squeeze ink in-between the two layers that create your screen, attache it to a big handled plastic stamper, and stamp stamp stamp those lovely designs all over the fabric.

  I realise these instructions are a bit rubbish, but hopefully the photos are enough to convince you that owning a Gocco Printing machine is surely a step in the right direction towards self fulfillment.  It is truly a delight to use.

Screen Printing...the sequel

Remember all those many weeks ago when we began to learn the fine art of silk screen printing?  Well, ladies and gentlepersons, here is the second part to that very lesson.

After the screen has been prepared (refer to May lesson), you need to ensure that the space in which you have to work within is a) large and b) tidy.  As I print from my home studio (translation: my living room floor) I cover the floor with a layer of paper, then on top of that paper, a layer of something that will not stick to the back of the fabric once I begin applying ink.  So far I have experimented with butcher paper, wax paper and even rubbish bags.  Some day, in the not so distant future, I will be contructing a printing table, built to purpose, so that I do not have to resort to such an unprofessional set up.  As for now, I make do.

For this project, I did not use the usual Speedball printing inks that I have spoken so highly of in the past.  Unfortunately, I did suffer a bit as the ink I used was not familiar to me and I found that it clogged up my screen something dreadful.  Perhaps it is best to stick to the brands you know.

With squeegy in hand, I applied the ink to the back of the screen then firmly pressed the squeegy from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen.  Very carefully I pulled the screen up from the fabric and repeated the process until I created something beautifully printed and patterned. 

Like this:

Now, I just need to decide what to make this lurvly fabric into.  Perhaps a trendy little shopper or another shoe bag, or maybe even a big book tote.  Hm...will let you know.

How to... do it at home

Dreadful.  Those long queues that waste so many prescious hours of your hard working day.  I hate them.  You hate them.  Really, they just should not make us wait in such long, zig-zagging queues as if we were lining up for an exciting roller coaster ride at Alton Towers on a Bank Holiday because at the end of it, you will usually find something tremendously disappointing.  Like, the price of stamps have gone up, the credit card machine isn't working, or the person on the other side of the perspex window is even grumpier than you are.

Wait in these tiresome queues no more, because now you can calculate and print postage at home!  This is so clever and something I just recently discovered.  Did you know you can buy your postage on line?  I don't just mean books of First or Second Class stamps, ladies and gentlemen, I mean postage for your large packet or wonky, bulky items. 

It's so easy and here are your steps:

1.  Find your kitchen scales.  You may find them behind the fondue set you received 5 years ago as a wedding gift, or possibly it is still in pristine condition waiting to be rediscovered in it's dust covered original packaging. Weigh your item plus all posting materials.  Obviously.

2.  Now, the Royal Mail website does not take weights on ounces.  So, I have found a super easy website to convert ounces to grams.  Go to CalculateMe to convert as needed.  May I suggest Christianity?  (Ha ha)

3.  Follow this link which will take you to the exact page you need to find on the Royal Mail website.

4.  The steps listed after you plug in your measurements are rather easy to follow.  You can even prepay a lump sum of, say, £10 so that you don't have to keep plugging in your credit card details every time you want to post something.

5.  I suggest that after trying to pay postage with this method, just take that little package to the post office anyway to ensure that you did everything properly.  It's a bit of a pain to do that, but at least you will know that all other packages you post in the future will make it to their intended.

Groovy.

Screen Printing 101

Here is my first formal lesson on How To Screen Print.  It is ever so easy and fun.  My bet is that once you see the easy basic steps, you will be screen printing fabric, curtains, skirts, socks, bedsheets, valances in no time!

Step 1: Buy a screen.  If you are lucky enough to live in London, go to the London Graphics Centre, near Covent Garden.  Or, you can try ebay.  There you will find special little ebay shops ready and waiting quite happily for you to make a purchase from them.  Generally, sellers are quite happy to answer questions so if you are not exactly sure of the size of screen you need, do not hesitate to ask.

Step 2:  Drawing an image. 

First, you will need to make a cup of coffee and set it beside your screen in an artistic sort of way, demonstrated here.  Next, you will need to find an image.  I have chosen the Gee How Quaint Florie design to use for part of this screen printing project.  You will need to place the drawing on a table, drawing facing upwards (because if it's upside down, you won't be able to see it.  I am sure you are very clever and knew that already).  Place the silk screen over the drawing, with the flat of the silk screen resting on top of the drawing.  Now you can happily trace your nifty little drawing with a pencil that is not very sharp.

Step 3  Drawing fluid. 

Now it is time to use the Drawing Fluid you have purchased from a supplier of screen printing materials.  I often use Speedball products, but if you have an affinity toward another producer of screen printing materials, please feel free to use your chosen alternative. 

Be sure to prop up your screen from the table.  I have used my Bright Eyes, Razorlight, Living Etc and Weapons of Mass Creation CDs to prop up my screen so that it is not lying directly on top of the table.  You can use your own CD selections for this step.  Don't feel you need to use the ones I have just listed, although they are all rather good. Now, simply paint over the lines you have drawn.  Remember, the areas you have covered with drawing fluid will actually be the areas that print.

Step 4  Adding Screen Filler

    After the drawing fluid has dried, cover all edges on the inside of your screen print with masking tape.  Once all of the edges are taped over, drizzle Screen Filler in a nice straight line on the top edge of the screen.  Next, use your squeegy (as seen delicated placed on the edge of the screen) and in a slightly firm but gentle motion, spread the Screen Filler evenly over the screen.  You do not want to cake and avoid big gloppy messes. 

After the screen filler dries, run the screen under a COLD tap.  This will wash away the drawing fluid, leaving gaps for your ink to squeeze through when you are ready to screen print.

You can also follow this link for full instruction on screen printing.