New Equipment - New Prints
Printing for me has become more efficient and quicker these days due to an upgrade in my equipment. It is important to me that customers receive the highest quality print I can provide them so any time I can upgrade my equipment, I do so. Professional Screen-printers use what is called a "vacuum table" to print on paper. One does not need a vacuum table to screen-print, but it does speed things up a bit and results in cleaner prints with less drag (smudge). The problem for a small operation like mine is they cost an arm and a leg (7-12k) and are too large for my home based studio. What many people in my position do is, they build their own table with plywood and a Shop-vac. It sounds a little jurry rigged, and it is - but it does the job surprisingly well.
Vacuum tables are basically reverse air-hockey tables that suck the paper down to the printing surface therefore preventing the paper from sticking to the back of the screen once it is inked. The suction comes from a shop vac. I added a couple of other small features including a counter weight for the screen as well as a foot peddle to turn the vac on and off with ease. Anyway, I wanted to share a few photos of the table (im quite proud of it!).
It looks like I will be donating some work to the new Mcreveey's 3rd Base Saloon on boylston St. in Boston. The bar is partially owned by the Dropkick Murphys and is setup similar to the turn of the century bar by the same name where the Red Sox fan club the "Royal Rooters" met and talked baseball with the same passion we do today. If you havent seen the Rooters series I did, be sure to check it out at my website www.sportspropaganda.com
In other news, the Celtics are up 2-0 and the Sox rarely lose at home, life is good in Boston at the moment!
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