When designing artwork for exposed screens it can be very difficult to figure out what level of detail you can include. Different mesh counts will be able to handle different levels of detail. The mesh number relates to how many threads there are per cm of mesh: 32T has 32 threads per cm, 120T has 120 threads per cm etc. Ideally, 43T mesh is used for printing onto fabric and 90T is used for printing onto paper. We’ve put together a quick test to see what detail can be achieved on our two most common meshes: 43T and 90T.  We are often asked which font sizes are appropriate for each mesh but this is tricky to answer as different fonts come out at varied sizes and some have thicker and thinner parts to the lettering. For this test we’ve used Calibri (a plain sans serif font) Time New Roman (a serif font) and Apple Chancery (a calligraphy style font with thinner strokes) in sizes 8 to 22. The same sheet of samples was exposed onto a 43T and 90T screen. Scroll down to see the results of our prints with these screens. For prints on fabric we have used Speedball Fabric Screen Printing Ink in black. For prints on paper we have used Speedball Acrylic Screen Printing Ink in black. These are both standard inks – opaque inks and metallic inks will be harder to force through the ink and block the mesh faster and are therefore more suited to higher mesh count and less fine detail.    Some of the areas have been halftoned through our rip software which turns grey areas into dots to give the illusion of tone.  43T Mesh onto Fabric We’re losing the detail on the font up until about size 14. The lettering on the right has been drawn with a 6px brush into Photoshop.    90T Mesh onto Fabric  90T mesh is not ideal for printing onto fabric as it puts down a lighter deposit of ink than a 43T. The prints can therefore appear paler and less bold. We’ve got more detail here on the smaller font sizes but it’s not printing very well on the weave of the cotton – this print has also smudged!   43T Mesh on Paper We’re still losing the detail up until font size 14. It’s putting down quite a heavy deposit of ink so it’s starting to blob a little in places with tiny detail.    90T Mesh on Paper We’ve managed to get most of the detail in the size 8 font here, although this small size may start to dry fast so quick printing is a must! 43T Mesh on Fabric This type of Font is a real problem on more open meshes as it has very thin areas that don’t expose well at all.  90T Mesh on Fabric We’ve got more detail but the font still isn’t great up until size 14. The 90T mesh also isn’t printing this evenly on the weave of the cloth. 43T Mesh on Paper On paper it’s easier to see the areas where the font is too fine for a 43T mesh. 90T Mesh on Paper It’s much clearer on a 90T mesh but we’re still missing the finest areas. 43T Mesh on Fabric This font hasn’t exposed properly until about size 16. 90T Mesh on Fabric The tiny serif lines are starting to show more but struggling to print on the fabric. 43T Mesh on Paper We’ve lost some of the serif detail which isn’t clear until size 14. 90T Mesh on Paper We’re getting good results from size 14 with legible results from size 12. These fine lines will dry ink quite quickly.  43T Mesh on Fabric Lines close together create vulnerable areas of emulsion and on more open meshes these areas will start to meld together. More may disappear as it’s printed and washed.  90T Mesh on Fabric We’ve got much clearer paces between the lines 43T Mesh on Paper 90T Mesh on Paper  43T Mesh on Fabric The lines that are 1 pixel, 2 pixels and 3 pixels wide don’t come out on the screen at all. The 4 pixel wide line is faint and patchy.  90T Mesh on Fabric We’ve got an extra line on this mesh – the 4 pixel line is clear and the 3 pixel line is faint and patchy.  43T Mesh on Paper 90T Mesh on Paper 43T Mesh on Fabric Here we’ve created a gradient halftone through our rip software. The 43T mesh has given a grid distortion making the tone uneven. 90T Mesh on Fabric On a 90T mesh the halftone is much more even with more detail as we go further down  43T Mesh on Paper 90T Mesh on Paper 43T Mesh on Fabric The grid pattern is prominent on this mesh give a moire effect. The palest grey halftone is barely there.    90T Mesh on Fabric The tone is much more even and we have much more detail on the palest tone.    43T Mesh on Paper 90T Mesh on Paper Order your own custom exposed screen here!

Hello! My name is Holly Nairn and I am a full time Art teacher in Hertfordshire, a job I absolutely love. I work under the name PaperInkDream and I currently live in Essex with my husband and my cocker spaniel Teddy. Apart from printmaking, I am cycling obsessed and love nothing more than a very long day out on a road bike in nice weather! I have long loved printmaking and this has become a bigger part of my life over the last few years. Especially since discovering the wonderful Handprinted community. Describe your printmaking process. My printmaking processes are still quite fluid as I do love to experiment – I am currently enjoying painting on screens with filler and printing large areas of pattern onto both fabric and paper – however I will always start with pen drawing. I have lots of small sketchbooks which to be honest sometimes just contain doodles or patterns but often form the seed of a new idea or motif.  I used to be very precious about these and would throw them out if I had a creative dry spell but now I make a point of keeping these and I feel this has really helped me come back to and pin point successful ideas and develop these rather than starting all over again.  Once I have drawn a series of ideas, keeping these really loose and fun, without any judgement, I might decide to develop a lino print, or a small screen print or even a mix of them both. I trace or draw directly onto speedball speedy carve and get to work! I use small A4 screens at home that are easy to clean and manage. How and where did you learn to print? I learned to print at school with a printmaker from Peterborough called John McGowan who was an incredible teacher and is still a meticulous genius with all things screen-printing. John introduced me to all types of printmaking and I was lucky enough to make some meaningfully developed work together. I still keep in touch with John and he advises me how best to screen print with larger groups or A level students as although my school is well equipped you have more limitations within a school day and John understands this having been a teacher himself. I then took a degree in illustration and became more proficient with screen-printing. Since becoming a teacher, I try to attend at least 1 course every year which ring fences creative time and helps me learn a little bit more. I now practise at home as I have the materials and confidence to go it alone but it was quite a long time before I really got going independently. The printmaking community around Handprinted and Instagram are absolutely amazing and so supportive which has been such a joy to discover. Why printmaking? Printmaking, for me, perfectly combines the loose and free feeling of drawing with the more controlled meditative aspects of planning, designing, and carving. I find this blend of freedom vs limitations endlessly exciting. I also find the quality of materials has such a huge impact with printmaking, just changing a tool or paper surface can completely change the outcome you had been expecting. Where do you work? I work at a school in Hertfordshire where I lead the Art department. We have a really strong culture of printmaking and drawing at my school and it is incredible to see what my students can create. I am always amazed at how a student can run with a simple idea far beyond what you had envisaged for them and produce something completely breath-taking. I always feel privileged to be part of the creative journey of my students and I definitely think being an Art teacher is the best job available in a secondary school.  I personally work on my own creative practise in my spare room at home. I used to work on the dining table but since we got our dog that became completely hopeless as he just chewed up rollers and paper and is generally a total nightmare around anything you definitely don’t want him to have – like printing ink!  Having a designated space (even though it’s tiny) has completely transformed my printmaking and I wish I had done this sooner (who needs a guest bedroom anyway…) I feel like a proper printmaker now and my portfolio has expanded so much along with my ability to experiment and try new things, leave things and then come back to them. It has also meant I can work on much larger projects; like my block printed quilts which combine my love of printmaking and patchwork. Describe a typical day in your studio. I will come to my studio (spare room) after work at about 6pm. I have very limited time in the week so need to make sure I make the most of it and tend to do things in order, draw, carve, print…I will repeat this each day and then I might have a break if I want to create new ideas in my sketchbook. The weekends are more productive and I will spend a whole day drawing and then the next day might get stuck into a larger linocut or print up some fabric to use later. How long have you been printmaking? I have been printmaking on and off for 20 years but independently and more seriously with a view to sell my work and create a personal portfolio for about 3 years. Teaching in schools has been my main priority but I have always tried to keep my own practise going. What inspires you?  I have the smallest garden in the world, it’s just a tiny patio but it inspires me so much. I have 10 different varieties of clematis growing which I love to photograph and draw when they are in bud, there’s something so beautiful about the regularity of the leaves and flowers. Nature inspires me, we live in an area surrounded by fields and hedges and I am very thankful for this oasis of calm and the opportunity to walk Teddy there. I will often take my sketchbook out or photograph things I see to inspire me later. I am also really inspired by other printmakers – especially those featured on Meet the Maker which is an incredible teaching resource. If we are feeling devoid of ideas at school we have a good look through until we find someone whose work we love. It is endlessly brilliant and inspiring for children so thank you so much Handprinted team for putting so much effort into this amazing resource. What is your favourite printmaking product?  I have to say my Flexicut and Pfeil tools are just absolutely gorgeous. I love using them so much and they were worth every penny. If you are considering the investment – GO FOR IT you won’t regret it! What have you made that you are most proud of? I think one of my most successful screen prints was the piece I made for my sister’s first wedding anniversary. I made it at East London Printmakers open access and I was so happy with how my pen design translated well into a screen print. It feels very ‘me’ and I had to plan carefully to ensure I had all the things I needed on the tube to take to the studio to get a run of about 20 prints in total. I even matched the pinks to her bridesmaid dresses too! I gave the best one to my sister to keep and she loved the print, it is one of the most meaningful and successful prints I have created.  Where can we see your work? Where do you sell?  I mainly share my work on Instagram but am also building a website paperinkdream.co.uk so check back soon to see the finished product! I also have a small selection on Etsy. I share work at a local Art exhibition too but my limited time means I can’t over commit but I definitely want to exhibit more and put myself out there as time goes on and I build my confidence. I love the feeling of making something that has made someone happy or is going to be a unique gift.  What will we be seeing from you next? I am going to design a lino cut alphabet next – it is something I teach as a scheme of work in my Art classes and I often think ‘I want to have a go at this myself’. My sister has also recently had a baby who is called Alfie so it will motivate me to get the letter ‘A’ done first! Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives? Keep a sketchbook! I have finally found out myself quite recently why this is so important, and this is even after telling all my students to do it all the time but not actually doing it myself. As soon as I made my sketchbook a part of my daily art practise things started to make more sense to me and I could start to see my own visual language. Make sure the sketchbook is for your eyes only – don’t make it with the intention of sharing. It needs to be completely 100% YOU in my opinion. If you end up sharing it then cool, but don’t make that the primary objective! Be joyful with your work, it’s a privilege to have the space in any human life to make art so embrace it fully and love the process, don’t worry about an end point or outcome until you really have to!  The best thing about printmaking – there is no printmaking police. Let loose and do what you want to! To see more of Holly, follow her on Instagram

Block printing onto fabric is such a fun way to create your own designs. Jigsaw printing allows you to carve just one block to print a multi-coloured design. By cutting our carved block into jigsaw pieces we can ink them up separately and print onto the fabric, knowing they'll slot back together perfectly. Choose a soft lino for this technique, as we need to be able to cut it up with a scalpel -  Softcut a great choice. Cut your block using lino cutting tools and then dissect it into chunks using a scalpel - each one will print a different colour. For details on how to carve a block for jigsaw linocut, read our blog post here. Read on for how to print your design. You could give new life to an old block by slicing up a block you've already made and finished with. Printing onto a slightly padded table surface will help get good ink coverage. Our table is covered with a dense blanket and thick cotton. We're printing onto a tote bag. You can use YoJo Measure Pattern Tape to mark out where your design will be printed - this is especially helpful if you're printing a repeat pattern. We have stuffed our bag with a flat piece of newsprint to stop any excess ink going through and staining the back. We're using Fabric Paint for this print. You could also use a pre-mixed Screen Printing Fabric Ink like Speedball, Permaset or Madder, Cutch and Co. When using Fabric Paints or Screen Printing Ink, you'll need a Textile Roller, as a standard roller will not turn in this slippery texture.  Our first Fabric Paint is a mix of Black and Chocolate. The ink will be thicker on the roller and the block than a standard block printing ink and there will be more texture to the print on fabric. Place the inked up block face down on the fabric and press down hard. Ink up again and print in the next position. You can also print using a split fountain (colour gradient) by blending from one colour to another on the roller. Place 2 blobs of colour next to each other and drag them down the roller to blend. Ink up the next shape and print in its space. Repeat with each shape, building up the design. We decided to add a little extra element to the design using softcut offcuts cut with scissors into worm shapes, and inked up with a Stencil Foam Brush in a mix of Orange and Opaque White Fabric paint. The Opaque White in the mix allows the colour to show up on top of the dark soil background. When the ink is dry, heat set the prints with an iron on a hot setting. Iron until the prints fell too hot to comfortably touch. To make this project you will need: Softcut Lino Lino Cutting Tools Scalpel Cutting Mat Tote Bag or fabric to print onto Padded surface Yojo Measure Tape (optional) Fabric Paint (or pre-mixed Screen Printing Fabric Ink like Speedball, Permaset or Madder, Cutch and Co.) Textile Roller Inking Tray Stencil Foam Brush (optional) Iron

I’m Louis Andrews, multidisciplinary artist with a primary focus on tattooing and printmaking. After a brief stint studying painting at Camberwell I quickly found institutionalised “learning” wasn’t doing me any favours so I dropped out and committed myself fully to becoming a tattoo artist. Rent and bills need paying and London ain’t cheap, and having felt a connection to the craft for some time it felt like the right path to take. A combination of hard work and good fortune allowed me to meet people who inspired my practice, and along with social media 8 years ago actually being a platform where your work was seen by others, I slowly started tattooing full time. After a few years I hadn’t felt I’d landed on something within my work that I could call my own, which evoked the need for a period of research and change. Rather than trying to come up with some new stylised way of approaching drawing and illustration, I felt manipulating the process would lead to a more interesting outcome - adding new layers to the conception of a tattoo instead of just changing the way something looked initially. During my research I came across old techniques of applying stencils/marks by printing carved woodblocks or organic material to skin. This seemed like a process that had been forgotten within modern and western tattoo culture, so I gave it a crack using a form of linoleum instead to try and revive a lost art. Bringing something new to my own work and dare I say the way we look at tattoos and their application in general.   Outside of all this I like to make music, it’s my safe place when the pressures of constant creation get too much.  Describe your printmaking process.  I tend to start by drawing the bones of an image. Whether from a sketch I’ve made or a reference from a book or a photograph. After a certain amount of trial and error, marks usually start coming to the surface which feel like something I can run with. When I first started I’d just draw straight onto the plate, then I started drawing on tracing paper so I could transfer the image onto the material by flipping it over and rubbing the back with a spoon. This way when you come to print the initial image isn’t flipped, and it’s easier to fix mistakes or unwanted elements within the design on paper than it is on material.  All the while fuelled by coffee and cigarettes, and listening to whatever genre of music I’m obsessing over at the time. How and where did you learn to print?  In the depths of my basement flat in Brixton. I never studied it, nor wanted to. My experience with formal learning has never been very positive, and by approaching something with complete naivety I believed I could avoid the hinderance of things having to be done a certain way because some bitter old man said so.  Having said that, there are times where I feel some insight into a further understanding of technique and process wouldn’t be such a bad thing, I just haven’t found the right teacher yet... Why printmaking? I guess at first it wasn’t such a conscious decision to choose it as a medium, instead it just so happened to be the thing that I used to influence and further my primary practice of tattooing. Through the course of practicing it though, it makes a lot of sense as to why I landed on it the way I did.  It’s cathartic, it requires intense focus for long periods of time, there are elements to achieving the final result that can be left to chance, and it feeds my obsession over detail. Not that these things are necessary to make a print, but they’re what I enjoy the most out of printmaking. Where do you work? After running a tattoo studio with two friends in Whitechapel for 4 years, we closed it down in September ‘24. I then worked from home for the past 6 months and have recently made the decision to take a needed break from the abusive relationship we like to call living in London. I’m temporarily based in the Sussex countryside for now, but my intentions are to be on the road for a while to gain new perspectives, meet new people, and visit as many new places I can before the nukes drop. Describe a typical day in your studio. I’m not really one for typical days, there’s nothing more disconcerting than doing the same thing all the time. Each day is subject to what I need or want to work on. When I’m working with a client on a tattoo, they either choose from a collection of stamps I’ve pre-made, or we sit and come up with an idea together that I will draw, carve, and tattoo in the same session. If I’m working for myself, as it were, I’ll start by organising my environment to allow for a work flow without interruption. I find being meticulous about the arrangement of my work station avoids any breaks to my concentration, which with an ADHD brain is all too easy. More often than not my approach to working revolves around problem solving, whether it’s within the image I’m working on or the external distractions I’m trying to ignore. How long have you been printmaking?   Around five or six years so far, although because my process is primarily for the purpose of creating a tattoo, I feel I’m still a total beginner when it comes to printing on paper and there’s so much more for me to figure out and learn about it as a practice. What inspires you. I like to step out and gather references from old buildings, churches, pubs, museums/galleries, woodland, gardens, and spaces of heritage tend to be my go to. I like to get inspired by old stuff basically. By using a source that had been created in a time where people had more time, I feel somewhat removed from the pace at which we’re expected to churn out work. Medieval depictions of the bible, nature within ornamental and decorative design all have huge influence over my work. Once I’ve consumed these visual queues, then I can start combining ideas and elements together to create something that speaks to things we’re exposed to on a daily basis but are often overlooked. When I’m not being inspired visually, I’m inspired audibly or by written language - music, poetry, folklore, story telling - even better if get to hear it first hand. What is your favourite printmaking product? I love a good tool. How something can be so practical in its use whilst also being crafted in a way that has a physical aesthetic value. I find it poetic how these things become an extension of the body for an artist to use for their expression.  I use Pfeil tools for carving lino and wood, EC Lyons or an old dremel for etching. Top it off with a big etching press and you’ve a match made in heaven. What have you made that you are most proud of?  A living.  There are pieces of work I’ve made that I’m happy with sure, but the thing I can feel most proud of is being able to do something that allows me to afford the lifestyle that I have, and make the connections I’ve made along the way. Where can we see your work? Where do you sell?  Unfortunately, Instagram. That’s where I take bookings and where (if I have them) I’ll advertise prints for sale.  I never got round to making a website and never reached out to, or been approached by, a gallery. I haven’t felt anything I’ve done so far has been worthy of exhibiting yet, but I’m working on it… What will we be seeing from you next?   My current project is to make a book. Ultimately I would like to be tattooing less, and working on prints and sculpture primarily. By creating a physical archive of all the stamps I’ve made for tattooing in one linen bound, embossed covered, carefully curated little bible would feel like a nice way to round off what I’ve been doing for the last bit of time and allow me the ability to slowly move onto other ideas and practices. Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives? Trust yourself over anyone else whilst staying open to interpretation. Make a bunch of mistakes. Allow yourself rest. Turn off your phone. To see more of Louis, follow him on Instagram