They were demonstrating their newest product, a simple silk screen printing kit that allows you to use a low powered laser to burn multi-colored intricate designs into silk screens that have an emulsion coating, and then use water based inks to do silk screening of T-shirts and other things. I guess you "cure" (read: SET) the inks with ultraviolet light, or heat.
They screened a pumpkin onto a cardboard box to demo the process of doing this on thicker materials, and they also screen printed three T-shirts. So they put a T-shirt into each of three boxes, and drew viewers names to send them out.
Of course, I decided to buy the whole kit. So I bought a second S1 laser (or technically, the eighth laser)
with the accessory that registers the screens via a mount that aligns everything both on the laser, and the screen printing frame. Then you use them like any ordinary silk screening process.
The nice things is, they made METAL screen frames with quick clips, so there is no need to build wooden screen frames, and struggle to stretch the screen over the frame perfectly. You lay a new screen over the frame, clip it into place and burn the design with the laser. This, of course, allows for very detailed designs, as a laser can give you single hairs or eyelashes on a head, and other fine detail that the silk screening process normally does not offer unless you pay big bucks for the premium screens.
Of course I realize that this means I will buy a metal frame for every screen I wish to keep on a shelf for future use, since you cannot remove the screen and get them to register correctly by reinstalling them later on. I will experiment with this a bit, and then decide whether to expand on it or not. Knowing me, I will probably end up with a hundred metal frames on a custom storage rack.
Among my MANY jobs over my lifetime, I worked for a silk screening company in Provo, Utah, up in
The Land of Morm.
As a
Catholic, (read:
Unrepentant Apostate) that was quite an adventure! I suspect that Christians in Muslim countries know exactly what I am talking about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy
I NEVER win ANYTHING! Now I cannot say that any longer.
Joe
