A beginner’s guide to screen printing, by a complete beginner.

[This is a wrap up of a screen printing course I took with The Print Club London. It’s mainly so I can remember what to do next time I give it a go, but I hope you find it helpful too!]

I got my start in graphic design as a digital designer, working for the website arm of a magazine in London. On the job, I picked up the basics of print design, largely by shadowing a colleague.

I quickly realised how satisfying working in print can be. When I could actually hold my designs in my hands, I found that I felt much more of a connection to my work, and I began to appreciate the finer details. There’s something quite therapeutic about spawning something tangible, over designing a webpage that you can only share on screen.

During my time at this publishing company, I visited the print factory where the magazines were made, and learnt more about different printing techniques. But one method that I’ve always wanted to try is screen printing. I have at least four screen prints on the walls in my home, and I absolutely adore the styles that are possible using this very simple technique. So last week I called in a belated Christmas present from my wife Laura and took a two-day screen printing course at The Print Club, London.

Day 1

The first day was spent learning the basics of screen printing, a little history, and learning how to set up our pre-prepared artwork files ready for printing on day two.

I spent quite a long time deciding on what artwork to prepare for the course. We would be printing using two colours, and I was told to bring a laptop with a photoshop design and my two colours already separated.

My wife Laura is famous among our friends for accidentally swapping out the wrong word in a sentence, or getting phrases ever-so-slightly wrong, but close enough so that you understand what she means. Some of her highlights include…

“The Harlem Witch Trials.”

“I’m just so asphyxiated by that picture on the wall…