Do-It-Yourself!
How-to instructions are one of the best things about the internet. I stumbled upon a wonderful site the other day that has a whole Do-It-Yourself section. It’s called No Media Kings. A lot of it revolves around writing and book promotion, but there’s two sections that might be of interest to Whip Up readers:
1. How to silkscreen posters and shirts, which has a really clear step-by-step guide to the gentle art of silkscreen printing. I’m not a screenprinter, but I may be after reading this. It’s demystified the process a lot.
2. Do It Yourself Book Press, with good clear instructions on how to make casebound (hardback) books and perfect-bound (softback) books. To be honest, as an aspiring bookbinder, I recognise that the methods in this section aren’t Teh Right Way, and that there is a lot more to know if you want to be a Real Bookbinder, but I’d rather see you all make beautiful books this way than never try for fear of not being Kosher.
I’ll hopefully post a lot more about book-making methods, both traditional and experimental… but this is a quick start, and I hope it helps some of you to have a go!
July 28th, 2006 at 8:12 am
That is a very nice tutorial. Silkscreening is fun!
In my experience, I’ve found the emulsion drying time and the exposure time to be longer than what she describes, and I think there’s generally quite a bit of variability there. I also found out (the hard way) that some transparencies block UV light, so that what you get after a regular exposure is a giant 8.5 x 11 rectangle. Good for lecturers, bad for crafters. These transparencies will eventually work, but need to be exposed much longer. (I think I left mine on all afternoon.)
July 28th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Great to see something about book binding - I have been thinking of doing a book binding course as an evening class. I was inspired after seeing a video at the book of kells exhibition when I was in Dublin last winter. I might have a go now I have seen this tutorial!
July 28th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Great link - thanks so much - can’t wait to read it all.
Kristin
July 29th, 2006 at 2:46 am
Oh that silkscreen tutorial is the best!