Entry tags:
Laser cutting and screen printing, oh my
Time to turn my 3D printer into a laser cutter! But what to cut? A while back I got an image from Laura Kampf's shop as a download. It's not available anymore, but can be seen here on a garment. The image has two layers. One says 'Makers love Equality', the other is a heart. I turned the two image layers into SVGs, and then put them through Luban as separate cuts. There is a guide to cutting different materials on the Snapmaker site. Following that I ordered 120gsm A4 paper (that I cut down to squares), and after experimentation settled on these settings;
material thickness: 0.2mm
2 passes
depth 0.1mm
fixed power 50%
jog speed 1500mm/m
work speed 600mm/m
Next step is using my new stencil with an old screen printing rig I acquired many years ago but never got around to using. The heart is in the background behind the text, so it gets printed first. I layered everything; fabric on the bottom, laser cut stencil, screen mesh, and on top of the mesh I used painters tape to mark off the edges of the area (to prevent paint over-spilling).
I mixed screen printing for textiles medium with acrylic colour in a 1:1 ratio. And used the squeegee to spread the paint.
Then lifted the screen away. The paint took much better to the paper than the fabric. But I'm new at this so that's okay. Then I removed the stencil from the fabric and left it to dry.
Once dry, I repeat everything with the text stencil, carefully placing the floating middle bits of paper in the right places, and trapping them beneath the screen.
The white paint came out much better (maybe because it was the same brand as the textile medium?). But to make sure it was as solid as possible I also stippled through the screen with a paintbrush. (I didn't have to remove the stencil this time because it stuck itself to the back of the screen.)
Once dry I heat set the whole lot, by pressing from the back of the fabric with an iron. The colours bled a little, the red coming through the white a bit more. I haven't washed it yet, so I've yet to see how well the print holds up. What am I going to do with this? I was thinking of cutting it out as a square and using it as a patch, but we'll see. Okay, what next?
material thickness: 0.2mm
2 passes
depth 0.1mm
fixed power 50%
jog speed 1500mm/m
work speed 600mm/m
Snapmaker laser cutting paper
Photo by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chebe
Next step is using my new stencil with an old screen printing rig I acquired many years ago but never got around to using. The heart is in the background behind the text, so it gets printed first. I layered everything; fabric on the bottom, laser cut stencil, screen mesh, and on top of the mesh I used painters tape to mark off the edges of the area (to prevent paint over-spilling).
Screen set up ready for printing with heart stencil
Photo by chebe
I mixed screen printing for textiles medium with acrylic colour in a 1:1 ratio. And used the squeegee to spread the paint.
Screen with a pull of red paint
Photo by chebe
Then lifted the screen away. The paint took much better to the paper than the fabric. But I'm new at this so that's okay. Then I removed the stencil from the fabric and left it to dry.
Screen opened with fresh print
Photo by chebe
Once dry, I repeat everything with the text stencil, carefully placing the floating middle bits of paper in the right places, and trapping them beneath the screen.
Screen set up ready for printing with text stencil
Photo by chebe
The white paint came out much better (maybe because it was the same brand as the textile medium?). But to make sure it was as solid as possible I also stippled through the screen with a paintbrush. (I didn't have to remove the stencil this time because it stuck itself to the back of the screen.)
Screen open with fresh two-colour print
Photo by chebe
Once dry I heat set the whole lot, by pressing from the back of the fabric with an iron. The colours bled a little, the red coming through the white a bit more. I haven't washed it yet, so I've yet to see how well the print holds up. What am I going to do with this? I was thinking of cutting it out as a square and using it as a patch, but we'll see. Okay, what next?