PRINT EXPERIMENTATION ON DIFFERENT

SURFACES WITH DIFFERENT MEDIUM

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 ABSTRACT

Printing itself is as old as man, and it has been used to achieve

great things in the advertising industry. Printing is one of the

medium which information is passed to the audience and in that

case, it could stand out as a major means of advertising. Prints

couldn’t result in so many forms with the use of too many different

approaches, one could use monoprints, the screen – prints, the line

prints, the wood print, machine print etc. In this report, the printing

itself has been tested on different surfaces and different materials too

and using different printing methods. This report created an

opportunity of having the knowledge of the results of different types

of prints on different types of surfaces especially using different

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printing methods or technique. One has to understand from this

report the best/easy way to approach printing and the best surface

and materials to use. This report shows the materials and technique

used in achieving all the tests carried out this project and it will also

resolve the best material surface and method used to obtain the best

print.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page

Certification

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Preface

Table of contents

List of illustration

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background history

1.2 Statement of the problem

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1.3 Aims and objectives

1.4 Scope of the project

1.5 Limitation

1.6 Delimitation

1.7 Definition of technologies

CHAPTER TWO

1.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.2 Advantages and disadvantages

CHAPTER THREE

PROJECT EXECUTION

3.1 medium/media

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3.2 materials and tools used

3.3 project development

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1 PROJECT ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 CONCLUSIONS

Bibliography

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

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 The only viable means by which any manufacturer or producer

could effectively project and maintain the standard of his products or

services’ patronage and awareness is by effective and continous

awareness or advertisement.

This awareness is what stimulates the attention of the public and

then gets them attracted to your products or services. This awareness

does not only tell the public that the products and services are there

but it provides arranged information of the benefits any consumer of

such goods or services is bond to receive. Advertising however gives

the public the knowledge of the advantages and the disirable qualities

of products or services available to them.

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 It could be said that the sole aim of advertising is to persuade,

convice and attract the attention of the public to a particular product

and this in turn leads to patronage.

In awareness creation for products or services, considerations

should be given to the “target audience”, that is the category of

people that the products are meant for, the location of the people, the

peopl’s belief, their culture and customs. When these points are

properly considered then the awarenes could be centered effectively.

There are so many ways of advertising, amongs the numerous

ways are through the electronic media and the print media. With

these layout, we can find out that complete effective advertsing

involves a high degree of creativity.

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 As we shall be discussing the printing aspect of advertising, it will

be fine to let people know that for any good print of information for

advertising or awareness, te print must process some lay down

qualities.

(a) It must be able to inform: it should be capable of telling the

viewer about the product, creating the awareness to the viewer

about the existence.

(b) It must be able to educate: it should be able to educate the

viewer of what benefit the product could be to the

user/consumer and where the advertised products could be

found or located. It must also be capable of convincing the

public that the said product ‘A’ is better than products ‘B’, ‘C’

and so on.

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(c) It must be entertaining: this is refered to the aestethic value of

the entire advert package, the way

The artist has managed to arrange his printed advert, this aspect is

very important because the way the printed advert looks may as well

influence the patronage of the products/services positively or

negatively, the motivation an individual by looking at a poster may

gear up his feelings and the action may lead to the purchase of the

product advertised and consequently creating demand for that

product.

1.1 BACKGROUND HISTORY

Printing especially the screen printing process was invented in

the seventeeth (17th) century by some ya – ya – zon. But the process

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of printing with silk screen became popular in the mid 20th century

when the artist began to exploit the process in a number of ways and

techniques. And today it has become the most versatile of all known

printing processes in advertising. Screen printing is a stencil process

whereby ink is forced by the pressure of a squeegee, through the

open areas of a stencil attached to a stretched fine meshed fabric. It

will always print easily on any flat surface paper, plastic or glass

screen are semi liquid, strongly coloured and opaque to give a

maximum colour value.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Most Business enterprises and their likes has failed and lost

focuses as a result of poor rendation of advertisiment, this means that

the power of advertising an dpromotional strategies is being

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neglected, so many enterprises has hit the rock due to the present

trend of bad economy this is the situation where an enterprise cannot

afford to give all that it takes to reach to the required standard in

advertising and it is through this advertising principles that the

growth of the business is founded upon.

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This project report is basically focussed on testing printing on

different surfaces and materials using different methods of printing

techniques like the screen prints, Block prints and stencil print. This

is meant to find out their effects on different kinds of papers and

fabric. One oath to know that there must be a very significant

difference between a print through scree on a fabric and a screen

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print on a paper, this is the same with block prints and stencil. All the

same, the type of ink used in achieving a good print using screen

method cannot be the same with the ink which achieve a good print

using block print or stencil method.

Another aim is to provide knowledge to people concerned with

advertising the best approach to printing, this will enable people to

know the like of the result of what they wish to achieve even before

they engage in the said work.

In general this is attempted to make work easy for any advertiser

and students of arts in this institution. Just the way there is colour

chart for paint industries and companies, the project intend to have a

chart/album for easy approach and study.

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1.4 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

On the course of print making, there are different kinds of ink for

different kinds of materials no matter the printing method or

approach adopted. When one choses to print on rubber, plastics or

glasses he has no need using textile/ test fast ink, rather the use of

PVC, is suitable for the mentioned materials.

Tests could be carried out on numerous items or materials but I

have limited my test just on few common material;s on which daily

activities rest upon. Such as

(1) Papers of different sorts,

(2) Rubber / synthetic materials

(3) Textile materials of different sorts.

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 However, this test could go further on materials such like plastic,

metal, glasses, wood, and leather and even on ceramic wares, these

materials yield positively to prints especially when the best printing

method is used with the best ink for each of the items.

1.5 LIMITATION

There were inherent limitations posed to me in the course of

researching for this project report, they include the poor equipment

of the school libraries with the books that should aid students of arts

such like the book on prints and print making.

Time was another hindereance which really held me back from

going as further as I wished to research for this printing tests.

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 Money is almost the major vehicle which drives us along with the

activity of life and insurficient procession of money may always

result to dwindling result. I had financial shortcommings during the

period of carry out this assignment and that made me not to go as far

as I had wished.

1.6 DELIMITATION

I delimited the subject matter (printing tests on different

materials) to enhance my direct focus on the very relivant materials.

Along the line so many relivant points and materials could have

come in as the project topic but they were all left out for their

unusefuness such as the kinds of colours used, and all the materials

involved in carrying out the project.

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1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMINOLOGIES

1. Silk Screen – cloth made of fine silk and specially used for

screen printing, it is the material that colours pass through to

perform the print.

2. Squeegee – This is a thin flat rubber with a wood handley used

in forcing or pressing down colours through the silk mesh.

3. Dark room – This is a room with a very low or with lowest

intensity of light that is suitable and use in exposing materials

sensitive to light like films,

4. Frames – This is a wooden bar joint together to form square or

rectangular shape fit to carry the silk mesh.

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5. Registration – This is the impact on materials as images in the

position they supposed to fall upon.

6. PVC – An oil – based printing ink suitable for prints on

synthetic materials.

7. Texfast – Water – based textile ink suitable for textile materials

like cotton.

8. Kerosine – It is a petroleum product which is highly

inflammable and it is a bond breaker, used in disolving printing

ink.

9. Printing – The act of reproducing an already made desing

manually or mechanically with the use of chemicals and ink.

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 10. Roller – This is a rubber moulded bar shape, used in

spreading the printing ink evenly on the surface of the material

carrying the negative image.

11. Gurges – gurges are sharp metals cut to different sizes and

shapes with handles, it is used in cutting out the unwanted areas

of a wood or lino – leum during print making.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Another name for serigraphic printing process is screen printing.

Screen printing which has today become the most versatile of all

known printing processes, was taken seriously in the early 60’s by

the Pop artists, its flexibility and ability to incorporate all kinds of

existing images in design makes it more attactive.

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 The credit for improvement and perfection of screen printing

should be honourably given to the Japanese for their incesant and

untiring experimental exercises. Silk screen printing makes it

possible to reproduce multiple coloured desing of any number easily

and cheap too; a separate screen will normally be made for each

colour just as in the relief or planographic methods.

My preview of this information was drawn from books published

by some reliable authors that specialize in this field. Such books are

such like “A complete Guide to print making”. By Stephen Russ;

“Silk Screen Techniques for the Artist”, by Francis Carr; “Artists

manual for silk screen printing”, by Harry shokler; “Advertising”, by

Winston Fletcher.

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 According to Bamber Gascoign in his book, the screen was an

extension of idealism replacing the individual hairs with a complete

and pre – existing mesh of very fine strands which made possible the

new technology of screen printing in the early years of our century.

At first, the material was silk and its uses were limited to the

production of packaging materials and cheap advertisements. More

recently, man made materials have been adopted for the screen, such

as terylene mesh, and a wide range of techniques have been adopted

for achieving the design on the stencil. Screen process is best suited

for production on flat body areas while preserving all the richness of

colours and solidity. Screen process is widely used for printing of

posters, displays, fabrics modern signs, packages, on glass, plastics,

metal signs etc.

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2.2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Screen printing usually have a distrinct approach and appearance

because of the thick film of ink. Though, this an advantage for most

screen printed products. Because of the thick film of ink, screen

printing can ever print white on black, as well as printing metallic

and flourescent colours in much better effects than other processes.

They are also cheap to produce and are more economical than the

other processes. Other obvious advantages are the wide range of

materials on which printing can be done. It is difficult to achieve a

fine detail and the mechanical characteristic of the process makes it

difficult to match the high speed of other processes.

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 CHAPTER THREE

EXECUTION

MEDIUM/MEDIA

According to Stephen Russ in his book, he state that the essential

tools necessarily required by a screen printer are printing table, the

screen and a squeegee. He as well suggested that more than more

than one screen is much more convenient especially when doing

prints involving many colours.

Also, for the black prints, soft wood or linolium is best suitable,

with printers. Printing ink, this ink is best used alongside with

kerosine which makes it to have a very thin film for easy lubrication

on the surface of the wood or lino design.

FRAME:

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 The best wood for the screen frames is the western cedar or

hemlock spruce and Douglas fir. They are prefared because of their

peculiar quality in the straight ness, absence of knots and no

tendency for warpage. In making the frames, it’s necessary to

consider the most useful and proper size. Frames are constructed

from 11/2 “x1” (38mm x 25mm) plainwood, the corners can be

joined as:-

a) Tongue joints

b) Overlapping joints

c) They are further strenghtened after gluing by countersunk

screw, the construction must be firm. Each frame is then

positioned on a flat bed and hinged with split hinges.

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 This enables one to remove the pin to change the frame. For tight

registration an adjeustment purposes, the frame could be attached not

directly to the table but to an adjustable hings bar. Screen mesh

material is available in cotton, natural silk, nylon and polyester fibre.

COTTON:-

This is the most expensive and least strong of all the mesh

materials, but will not stand –up to repeated washings. This is

because it has a very poor dimensional stability. It tightens up when

wet and slacks as it dries and this will always make it almost

impossible to make decent print.

Natural silk is a strong, elastic and hard – wearing fibre. It keeps

it’s tension reasonably well even after many washings. It is very

good natured and will take and hold all types of stencil.

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 Nylon is as a continuos monofilament thread, it has the tensile

strength of stool, a surface as smooth as glass rod, it is elastic,

resistant to abrasion, non – absorbent and easy to clean. Because of

it’s polished surface it gives a very poor encouragement to most

kinds of stencil and in particular to photostencils based on galatine.

The polyester fibre is as a continuos monofilament thread, just as

in Nylon. It is immensely strong, elastic, hardwearing, non –

absorbent and easy to clean.

We have sent that each of these fibres has it’s own peculiar

characteristic properties and an understanding of the different types

of mesh begins with an understanding of the fibres from which they

are made.

STRETCHING THE SCREEN

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 Outa rectangle piece of mesh, of about 4” (10cm) wide and longer

than the France stretch and staple a narrow edge over the frame.

1) Secure the opposite edge, ensuring that the screen is kept tight and

square.

2) Repeat on the two adjacent sides.

SQUEEGEE:

This is a bar of wood or metal cut to fit the short side of the frame

and it carries a blade of hard rubber.

To construct a squeegee, cut a groove in a block of wood; (a) large

enough to grip a strip of rubber.To construct a squeegee, cut a groove

in a block of wood; (a) large enough to a grip a stip of rubber or a

soft polyurethene.

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(a) Glue in position and screw through to hold the rubber firmly

on the wood. Stick a small block of wood on the side of the

squeegee to help support it when it is resting after printing.

(b) Stencil making: There are three majoir method of transfering

designs stencil or linages to the screen in reading for printing.

They are hand-made stencilling, photographic stencilling and

printing method.

1) Hand made stencil is always safer and best when worked

from a master drawing the simplest type of hand-made

stencilling is made from tracing paper.

2) Photographic stencil can be obtianed with a very simple

equipment sun is used as a screen of light and the screen

coated with gelatine applied by brush. In making

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 photographic stencils, the positive side is laid face down on a

sheet of sensitized material and exposed on the bench top

under the mecury vapour camp. During exposure, the light

passes through the original copy and falls on the sensitized

sheet. The action of light hardens the sensitized material

where it can get it, but these area protected by black will not

be hardened and will be dissolvedand washed away during

rinsing material required for photographic stencil:

1) A roll of temporary support. Aclear sheet.

2) A roll of auto type universal red gelatine coated paper

3) Potassium wax polish

4) Small squeegee, sponge, small rubber, cleans cotton rage and

clean papers.

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 It must be emphasized that photographic stencil cannot accept a

range of greys, the original must either be black or clear. And it

requires special skill and highly sophiticated darkroom equipments.

The free hand painting method of stencilling is gotten by the use

of brush, glue or lacquer in making designs on screen but the major

disadvantage is that it lack sharpness and same minute details.

MATERIALS AND TOOLS USED

The material and tools need used in the execution of this

project are:

1) papers of different sorts

2) silk cloth

3) frame

4) stappler

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5) Gum strip

6) Glue

7) Tracing paper

8) Pencils

9) Rotring pen and ink

10) Roller

11) Gurges

12) Linoleom

13) Cutter

14) Squeegee

15) Kerosine

16) Retarder

17) Light box

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18) Dark room

19) Pair of compssses

20) Nails

21) Screws

22) Harmmer

23) Water

24) Textfast

25) Carboard papers

26) Brushes

27) Po;lyvinl Chloride (PVC)

28) Masting film

29) Enermel paint

30) Water colour

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31) Printing Ink

32) Car paint

33) Cloths of different kinds

34) Synthetic material

3.2 PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

Having constructed my frames from a plain wood using mitred

method and with split pin linges to enable me remove the pin to

change the frame. I choose to one mesh and stapple a narrow edge

over the frame with the intention of using different kinds of colours.

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 I then went into the dark room armed with my gelatine solution

and using the photographic or photo-chemical method of tranfering

image on the mesh by direct method.

1) The screen is first degreased to ensure that the photo-sensitive

emulsion or gelation solution and thoroughly dried. The

prepared positive film is then placed with its emulsion side face

down onto the screen and a sheet of glass is placed over then to

ensure that both surface

2) Working in subdued light coast the screen with a light sensitive

emlsion or gelation solution and throughly dried. The prepared

positive film is then placed wth its emulsion side face down

onto the screen and a sheet of glass is placed over then to

ensure that both surfaces are in contact.

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3) The screen is then exposed to ultraviatlent light after first

experimenting with exposure to discover the sensitivity of the

emulsion.

4) After expoure, the screen is washed in warm water to remove

the protected by a hardned layer of emulsion.

5) The screen is then dried and examined for any possible tiny

openings which will be filled with a coat of filler if there is any

When this was ready, my linoleum was readily in a good shape of

kind of design that will be printed and tested with different kinds of

paints on different kinds of papers just like the screen mesh.

I also got my stencil design ready as this project is all about

experimenting on prints. The linoleum is gotten in a good sharp by

firstly lightest print, the second round removal is done, this is to

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prevent darker colors from penetrating to the areas that are not

needed. The removal is a continous process until the first print is

made but this case; printing from the first print only could serve the

purpose of the project.

CHAPTER FOUR

PROJECT ANALYSIS

A good integration of various creative element and approcaches were

used in the execution of this project. The approach taken are both

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functional descriptive and aesthetics. Function:- The tactful

explanation into screen printing will:-

1) Enable graphic art student to have additional information and

guideline towards achiveing a good prints and knowing the best

Ink for printing on different materials.

2) It will equip the students of the fore knowledge of material

3) It will also help to know that it is possible to reproduce multiple

coloured design of any number easily

4) You can print slipry materials, textile, paper of different kind

and sythetic materials through screen.

Descriptive:- This approach was used this project in the rich choice

of illusration and photographic method of describing the whole

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element and techiques involved in the preparation of screen printing /

block printing.

Aesthetics: The items which resulted from prints could serve as well

decoration; it could also serve as an album

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION

Printing is a very intersting activity especially the screen

printing which is the best way one can use to achieve any type of

printing on any kind surface that printing can be done on which other

printing process like the letter press, gravure, lithograph or

planography cannot print on.

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 Screen printing helps to reproduced multiple coloured designs

of any number easily and is is best suited for productions colour and

solididy with much better effect then other processes. Also, they are

cheap to produce and are more economical than with other printing

process.

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 REFERENCES

Anthony Kinsly, (1968); Introducing screen printing

Balsford London – 1967; Watson Cuptill New York.

Bamber Gascoign, (1958); How to Identify prints.

Francis Carr, (1961); A Guide to screen process printing

Studio Vista London.

Harry Shokler, (1946); Artists Manuel for silk screen print

Publishing Ltd. London.

Rosemary Simmons, Printing in Easy steps

Winston fletcher, (1979); Avertising Hodder and stongton London.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Onyeneke A . O. (1987) The Dead among the Living: masquerade

in Igbo society Enugu: (Holy Ghost congregation, province of

Nigeria and Asele Institute, Wind Nigeria)

Douglas, F. and (1972) African Arts and Leadership

Cole, M. H. Regent of university of wisoonin press.

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Horton, R. (1960) the code as Guests: An aspect of Kalabari

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Enekwe, O. O. (1981) ‘MYTH, Ritual and Drama in Igbo Land in

Drama and theatre in Nigeria” In Nigeria magazine (Lagos: federal

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Wildman horraine Balmith: (1989). Sculpture: A studio Guide

(New Jersey).

Rich Jack C. 91947) The materials and methods of sculpture:

Oxford University presses New York.

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Wilbert, Venhelst (1988) Sculpture Tools. Material and

Techniques New Jersey.

Ikete J. J. (Ed) (1992) Okpatu Today:

A handbook of 2nd Okpatu cultural day celebration.

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