Bitter Sweet

We started the day feeling really confident and pumped. We made a quick trip to the art supply store and bought a kit complete with all the supplies we needed: a screen, emulsion (photosensitive), emulsion remover, and a squeegee. And then it was pretty much downhill from there.

When we opened the kit, the instruction might as well have been in Chinese because they did not make any sense to us. We decided to wing it.

To spare you all the gory details we basically ended up spending an hour in a laundry room, that was pitch black might we add, only to find that we had completed the process wrong and would have to start over.

But our good luck doesn't end there. When we tried to remove the emulsion from the screen, it wouldn't come off! One bottle of emulsion remover, half a bottle of Windex, a quarter of Tide detergent, one bottle of nail polish remover, some vinegar, and two bottles of dish detergent later (hey, we were desperate) the emulsion still hadn't come off completely. But we reduced it to a faint stain.

At that point we were pretty down but we are not giving up! We are giving it another go this week. Maybe this time we will follow the instructions better (or actually read them). Wish us luck...again!

Here are some picture documenting this "tragic" event. On the bright side, we learned a way NOT to silkscreen.


1. "The Sweatshop."
2. Making the stencil.
3. Waiting for the stencil to burn onto the screen.
4. Still waiting... (from above).
5. Still hasn't burned through... (from below).
6. Okay, crazy...
7. Cleaning the screen.
8. Lookin' good Ale, lookin' good.
9. Scrubbing away.

Hopefully when you check back with us we will have pictures of our design printed on a t-shirt.

Tootles,
Alex, Mamie & Ale