As I mentioned in my last post, I was commissioned to make a tank themed lampshade. I  used Liquitex gel medium to adhere photocopies of my sketches to the lampshade.

But…

I love these tanks! I really really really wanted to do these on a tank top. Get it? A  tank top – pun intended. Cheesy – I know. I have some iron-on transfer paper kicking around so I made an iron-on transfer tank for myself.

But my other half insisted that screen printing would be much better & we do have a marketing plan. So I picked up a screen printing kit (a bit of an investment as I typically prefer DIY). 

Screen printing fine detail has a learning curve & it’s recommended that beginners start with easier (no fine detail) designs. But who has time for that?

I got it right on the 4th try. Not bad considering.

I photoshopped my sketch to increase the line size. To do this click on Filter – Other – Minimum. I set the minimum line thickness to 2 pixels, 3 pixels may have been even better. I printed this image onto tracing paper.

I used Diazo photo emulsion  &  exposed it in the morning sun. I don’t recommend using the sun – yes it works & is super quick. But it is hard to get the exposure just right.

I tend to learn best by trial & error. So it did take a while, but this morning finally – Screen Printing Success!

Now I’m anxiously waiting for the laundry to finish so I can print these onto an actual tank top!