What Silkscreen Printing Taught Me About Patience
(Artist Life & Reflections Series, part 1)
Silkscreen printing has a way of slowing you down. It asks you to wait, to repeat, to accept the pace of the process rather than rush through it. In this post, I’m sharing the quiet lessons the craft has taught me — the kind you only learn through ink, mistakes and time.
By the end, you’ll see how a printmaking practice can shape your mindset just as much as your artwork.
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WHAT SILKSCREEN PRINTING TAUGHT ME ABOUT PATIENCE
You can’t rush a screen print. Or you can, but it’s not going to work out well. If you don’t let those layers dry between prints then the wet ink’s going to be messed up by the back of your screen and ruin your print - or your edition - and the whole point of an edition is to make the prints look as identical as you can, and smudged, scratched, compromised ink will ruin the look. So let’s let those layers dry!
A close-up of printed surface of my screen print Hopelessly Confused showing the texture and layering of ink — white, black, and blue areas with crisp edges and visible paper grain. It is important to give each layer sufficient time to dry.
I remember once attempting to print a five-or-so layer work for a livestream. It got printed, but it wasn’t pretty. I seek perfection and inevitably fall short but rushing a print ties your laces together - you don’t stand a chance. You can of course use a heater to speed up the drying, but it will make you paper warp and look ugly.
And ink can take an age to dry - particularly if you’ve added plenty of printing medium (which slows drying time) and print onto an impermeable substrate, such as I did earlier this year for my work ‘The absurd struggle’. I printed two versions, and lucky I did, because when I came to varnish the finished work (using a brush-on water-based varnish) - I learnt the hard way that I’d not left the ink for long enough to dry (I’d give it a few days, I think) - and the whole lot rubbed away!
A secondary work made during the creation of my contemporary silkscreen print The Absurd Struggle. The artwork is partially rubbed away, capturing the moment the varnish lifted the ink due to premature drying.
To get round the waiting time, I sometimes have two prints on the go at once. This way I can alternate between them, allowing me to continue the flow of printing but without compromising drying time. Big areas of colour take longer to dry - the ink will dry faster on an unprinted sheet of cotton paper than it will on the third, fourth or fifth layer. It will take longer to dry on glass. You must wait.
Multiple Delightfully Surprised silkscreen prints drying on a wire rack. Two large, printed areas - the whole-page creamy-white and the first of two blue background layers.
But the biggest thing you mustn’t rush, is rush to print when an idea isn’t ready. Because it will look like it wasn’t ready - you will know this, and you will not like it. You must wait. Be patient, do the ground work. Get your prep work ready, diligently prepare your screens and then print at a pace that your work demands - no faster - and the work stands the most chance of being what you envisaged.
You must be patient - don’t rush - enjoy the journey.
Happy printing!
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This post is part of the Artist Life & Reflections Series:
