The cannabis leaf symbol was exposed onto a paper screen in tradtional print ready for the screenprinting process, before I did this process I was unsure whether it would actually work because when I was researching this process, special inks would commonly be mentioned to be used for the ink to stick to the polythene bag. Another worry was if the bag would stretch or slip under the screen and whether or not it would dry properly.
The start up time for traditionally printing in college is relatively short for a small print such as mine so I was able to complete this process in a short time. The process started with placing the screen onto a small bed and lining the symbol up with the kodetrace to enable me to place the polythene bag under the screen. Then I mixed a dark green acrylic ink with binder, at this stage I was debating how much binder to mix with the ink due to printing onto plastic, normally when printing onto paper you'd mix half ink, half binder to help the ink go through the screen. Mike in traditional print advised me to put less binder in with the ink, which may help it dry.
I then started the screenprint process, the first print was encouraging as the ink stuck as well not stretching the bag, as I continued printing onto the bags each one was consistent but with some being faded. The only concern was whether or not it would dry, Mike advised me to possibly turn the bag inside out to print, therefore the ink may dry better.
Once the ink had dried I tested the durability of the bags, the ink is easily removed if you scratch off the symbol and if you crumble the bag the ink eventually comes off. The screenprint does create a aesthetic that is pleasing, it creates an opacity that allows you to see through the symbol.
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