How did the third layer of Chairman Mao finally come out?
Umm… I have to say that this third time round of attempting to print the third layer of Chairman Mao has finally payed off very well… I could not ask for a much better result with my new mixed version of photo emulsion and it really did do a good job within the detail image of the third shadow layer. The shadow layer is the third layer that goes on top of the main Chairman Mao’s face skin colour and I thought that the alignment of the layers has turned out as good as I could possibly get it.
Were there any problems at all during this printing process?
If I have to be majorly picky, I would say that either do your ink mixing on the day or be faced with re-mixing the pigment again within your mixed inks. Because I always have this problem every time I am ready to print and suddenly another colour starts showing through the already mixed colour. So I will remember to always make sure that my inks are well and truly mixed properly before starting to set up my printing process so that there is no delay. Lesson learned!
What did I feel about my third layer print?
Every time I do one layer on my Chairman Mao print I feel relieved and feel like I am taking one step forward to achieving a good print. This layer I thought had turned out very well for me because it looked clear, there was not any splodges ‘which is like a curse to me’ and also it was perfectly aligned with the other two layers.
I really felt that I achieved something good and I think that it only can get better and better now that I have managed to overturn my problems within printing though silk screens.
Reflecting back on the problems I had with this print
I did feel like I have just leaped over a month’s worth of obstacles to finally get this far and what a journey this has become… First I had the problem with getting hold of some larger acetate sheets for doing my large stencils for printing which I finally have now so that I can always do large prints. Then secondly, it was the Photo emulsion problem becoming out of date because some of it stuck to my prints when I tried printing on them and also the image was not exposed enough, resulting in splodges through the image.
This cost me money and time because of how long I have waited to do each layer and also costs money for the special fabriano paper. The photo emulsion does not last longer than 4-5 months but now have managed to finally resolve it by mixing my own version which has proved to become very successful along with many other future prints yet to make.
What is the next part for this print process?
Now by monday morning I need to get Glen Toner – the technician to print me out my forth Chairman Mao layer and ready to expose onto silkscreen. Hopefully this will turn out good the first time round with my new improved photo emulsion and should look crisp and dry enough to print through. This will be one of my tasks for next week at the utmost earliest that I can do.
Feel free to watch my short 3 minutes of commentary of my successful third layering of Chairman Mao
