New Business Project

Alpha Ink, has a new Business project. The project involves creating labels for Gamma Limp, Four C's Cleaning Supplies Company. It’s a company that has new cleaning products coming out soon. Some of the products are:

• Dish washing soap.
• Laundry detergent.
• Multi-surface cleaner.
• Orange degreaser.
• Hand soap.
• Glass cleaner.

The company has to create about seven labels front and back for the product's bottle. We are expecting to be done in about a week. The creative process involves picking the right colors for the labels and creating a label that resembles what the company is about. Here is the idea I’m going to go with.

Gammalimp front label

Gammalimps back label



It's finally here

The last week of spring semester is finally here. I can’t wait to have a break from school. Even though is a short break since I already signed up for summer classes I am sure I will enjoy it. The last week of school has been hectic, but I always keep everything in control. All my classes are in order and I’m expecting good grades on all of them. This has been one of the most productive semesters at the U of U since I recently quit my job and decided to go to school full time, and the transition felt great, since I have more time to really concentrate on what is important, my education. I have learned a lot from my classes and in particular I enjoyed learning a lot about designing websites in my Writing for New Media class. Oh yeah and Blogger is a new thing I’m sure I will keep using. Well I hope all of you students keep going forward in your own pursuit of happiness and I hope I will see you around the U.

Scrawny Johnny wants to learn about triathlons

Ok here's the informational web game I created. It took me a while and actually needed more time. Im planning on going back and working some things. I am also planning to make it a little bit more informational, I only specified the info about the three sports involved in a triathlon. Hope you like it!

My business

Me and my brother own a t-shirt printing business.  We started about 2 years ago. Its name is AlphaInk. We enjoy doing this  as a hobby, but it has grown to give us back some money. We silk screen t-shirts, hats, business cards, water bottles, mugs etc... We are in the process of buying a embroidery machine, so we can expand our cliental. Me and my brother contribute differently towards our business. I design and print the t-shirts, he finds the different companies that would like our services and he puts the money. We work on our printing business when we have spare time, but right now it has been hard, since Im going to school full-time and he works and goes to school full-time. We had a few clients that have ordered t-shirts from us. This clients are usually friends that have their own business. One of the main ones is a sushi restaurant own by Curt. The name of the restaurant is called Simply Sushi. Curt ordered 100 t-shirts for his business. He ordered white long sleeve t-shirts with the Simply Sushi logo in the middle and in the back part the Simply Sushi fish. The process that involves creating this type of t-shirt with two colors is the same process I have described recently on my blog, but using two different screens for the two color. Me and my brother will continue on. Hopefully one day it will grow to be something more.

You only have to TRI

This is the link to my website about Triathlons. If you are a beginner Triathlete this website is for you. Info, gear and tips about this great multi-sport event.

fourth step

Now that you have the screen ready with the design we can finally create our t-shirt  forcing one colour of fabric dye or paint through the unblocked areas of the fabric to the T-shirt.

You will need:

• T-shirt
• Squeegee
• Fabric dye or paint
• Screen ready with design

1. First, lay the t-shirt down on a flat surface.
2. Lay the screen on top of the t-shirt. Center your design on the t-shirt.
3. Secure the screen to the table somehow so it doesn't move around.
4. Pour some ink at the top of the screen (away from you). 
5. With the squeegee slowly bring the ink across the image (dont put a lot of pressure) so is evenly inked.
6. Second time bring the ink across one more time but this time apply a lot of pressure (all in one motion).
7. Once you have the design printed in the t-shirt let it dry under a lamp or sun.

Third Step

Ok now that you got your screen with the dry photo emulsion and you have your design/artwork on a transperancy you are ready to burn the screen. That means we need to expose the silk screen emulsion to light.
You will need:

1. A piece of glass that fits on your screen.
2. Black cloth.
3. A lamp with a 150W clear incandescent bulb or a BBA No.1 Photoflood bulb.

-Now place black cloth on top of the table. This will prevent the light to reflect back and ruin the exposure of the design to the silk screen.
-Set your artwork on the screen with a sheet of glass over it. The glass will keep your design in place during the burning.
-Place the screen with the design and the piece of glass on top of the cloth.
-Put the exposure light about 1 foot above the screen.
-Expose the screen for about 10 to 12 min.
-When done take the screen to a sink or tub and spray with water. Preferably mist. Rinse it off until you can see your design through the screen.
-Let it dry for a few minutes.
This steps are crucial. It will be the toughest part of screen printing. Hopefully after a few tries you will get it.

Second step

Preparing a Positive:
While waiting for step one, create  a design for printing.
Preparing a positive, means that the exposing silk screen needs a design that is black on a transparent paper. There is different ways to do so, but we are gona use the easiest way.
Materials:

• Black marker.
• Clear tape.
• Blank Transparency paper

Tape the blank transparency paper to the table where your working at with clear tape. Choose any design that you want to print on a t-shirt. Once you have picked the design draw the design/drawing in the blank transparency using the black marker. If your artistic abilities are not so great, you can print the design/drawing from the computer. Place it behind the transparency and trace the design/drawing.

Remember for this step the design/artwork has to be all black. All the clear areas of the positive allow ultra violet light to pass trhough it. All the dark areas of the positive block the ultra violet light and leave the photo reactant emulsion on the background unharden.  All of the soft areas left unharden when sprayed with water will rinse out, leaving a hole in the mesh were ink can pass through.

First step

First of, you need a dark place with enough elbow room to work in. A table waist high in a dark room will do. The reason why the room has to be dark is because we are going to apply the photo emulsion to the silk screen, and the photo emulsion is sensitive to light. (Although some emulsions are safe against sun light.) 
The materials you will need to use with the next steps are: 

• Silk screen. 
• Photo emulsion.
• Squeegee.
• Towels.
• Red photo dark-room light.

Ok, Ready? here we go:

1. Place some towels on top of the table so you dont damage it with paint or emulsion.
2. Wet the silk screen using the squeegee by spreading the emulsion on both sides, make sure you are doing this with no light present, also make sure the whole thing is wet, with no spots missed.  Since you cant use normal light to check if you got the screen fully wet, use a red photo-darkroom light.
3. Let it dry in a complete dark room over night.

Materials required for screen printing.

You will need these materials:
1-Mesh screen: Depending on where your appliying your design(t-shirts, napkins, hats etc...) and the size of the design the mesh may vary.
2-Squeegee: The squeegee has to match the size of the screen, I mean not bigger than screen, if not the process will be harder.
2-Emulsion: Theres a lot of different emulsions out there the one I recomend is photo emulsion sold in any art store.
3-Clear tape: To secure your art to the screen.
4-Dark room: A dark closet or room with enough space.
5-Lamp: Any type will do. Bulbs has to be of more than 100w.
6-Water sprayer: This is to rinse the extra emulsion from your screen.
The nice thing about all this is that is at a low cost to you. Average price ranges from $31.99-$77.97(speedball starting kit in Amazon.com)