Adventures in Screenprinting - Episode 4: DISASTER!

well, it was bound to happen. I was bound to get tripped up somewhere. I covered my screens with the photo emulsion on Wednesday. I set them up in a box laying horizontally, as per the instructions. I made sure the box was light-tight, no light was getting in this sucker. I let them dry overnight and then took one out at a time to try and burn the stencil onto the screen with my exposure unit. Well, I must have done something wrong because not one of the screens worked. Not one. I carefully followed all instructions (and since this isn't really the first time I've done this, I kinda knew what to expect) but, no, when I went to wash them out, the stenciled part would not wash out - it was as if the entire screen got exposed (although I could see the stencil in the emulsion) So, not sure what happened - maybe they did get exposed prematurely, maybe I am using the wrong photo emulsion, maybe I put it on too thick, maybe my transparencies are not opaque enough (I did use a big piece of glass to make sure they were touching the screen, so contact isn't an issue).

So, I'm going to try another type of photo emulsion. I'm going with Speedball - I've used it in the past, and it's worked out fine for me. I'm using speedball ink, so what the heck, right?

I was afraid of the reclaimation of the screens. Thought that wouldn't work out either- but, it seems to be OK. I just removed the emulsion, and the screens are back to pristine white. So, that makes me happy - atleast that worked out, and I can try again this weekend.

So, any suggestions???