gocco printing
Last night I did some Gocco printing. Strike while the iron’s hot and all that.
I had printed some designs out a while ago and had even taken them to the library to photocopy them but somehow it never got further than that. Why do I procrastinate so much? It is something I am working on…
So anyway, I got out the Clean Up Paper and turned the iron on and got my photocopies ready so that I could burn the screen.
What is the Clean Up procedure? First you need to get yourself some Artwork Clean Up Paper (which is AU $5 for a 30m roll from Nehoc) and then following the directions, iron the paper over your photocopied artwork a few times. This quick extra step eliminates the moisture in the paper, sets the carbon onto the paper and evens out the carbon level of the design. It can make a big difference to the quality of your screen. Once you have done this you go ahead and burn your screen as normal.
Then I burned my screen and thought about what colours I would use. In the photo below you can see the paint blocking tape that I have used to separate the colours.
I decided on green (a real favourite of mine lately) and chocolate brown (another great colour) and then I thought I had better do the word “red” in red. Here you can see the screen with the ink added.
Next it was crunch time. I haven’t done many gocco prints so I still don’t feel so confident about the process. I had to follow along in my instruction book to make sure I knew what I was doing. The print turned out great. I wanted that grungy look. Here it is:
I printed a bunch of these on to some graph paper that I had, as I thought that the graph squares would complement the design. I love seeing loads of gocco prints all together (something about the repetition of design) so here you go…
I am thinking that I will make up a mat board for these and maybe even use a stamp pad or dry brush acrylic to colour the mat board and then frame them for sale.
While I had all the stuff out, I thought I would do a little bit more. In amongst all the supplies I found a screen that had been burned already that came with the gocco when I bought it from eBay a while back. I had forgotten all about it. It was hard to see what the screen was of, even when I held it up to the light so I thought the only way to find out would be to print from it and hope it was a good one!
Hmmm…. I found that it obviously was a screen that didn’t burn successfully. Since I had put all that ink in, I thought I would print a few of them up and I realised that this would make a nice background for another print I was planning to do. Happy accidents are fun. So I burned another screen while these dried a bit and then eyeballed the registration to print in black on top of this blue background. I think it turned out really well.
This will be another one to mat and frame for the shop. I will let you know when I add these gocco prints to the shop.
Gocco is good! Save the Gocco!
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tags: art, gocco, printing, screen printing, tutorial
Very jealous that you have a Gocco! I love the second print of the gate with the spirals and stripes (two of my favorite design features). Are you planning on printing it on any other background colours?
I think your Gocco letter pages would make an interesting book structure.,
Georgia
Chicago
WOW the mistake inspired print is great. I also think that your new screen might be nice printed on top of a color block. I bought my Goco several months back and still have not used it. I have to get it out, Thanks for sharing, Julie
The 2nd Artwork Cleanup Paper link won’t work as you can’t link directly into the shop [you have to go through http://www.nehoc.com.au/shop to see it]
For details use:
http://www.nehoc.com.au/printgocco/supplies/artwork/index.htm#S-155
Simon
Jen, I always run a few extra copies off on coloured papers, with the ink you have remaining on your screen. It is always interesting to see how different colours produce a different effect. Even scrape off some of the used ink after you have finished your desired number of prints and add other colours in areas…. you will find you learn more from your fun prints than stressing out on the originals!
[...] step by step to a gocco print blogged about this here: http://www.jenleheny.com/archives/166 [...]
[...] step by step to a gocco print blogged about this here: http://www.jenleheny.com/archives/166 [...]
I just found out that Dick Blick no longer has Print gocco supples, wondering wher they can be bought i the USA?
thank you for any help. Jackie in IL
I’m very tempted to get my brother to bring me one over from Australia where they are continuing to sell them. I think it works out about £85…..
[...] Gocco printing by Red Instead [...]
I love my Gocco! Your prints are great. I love seeing what other people design + make.
[...] Gocco Info [...]
[...] Red Instead describes the “artwork clean-up procedure” using the special clean-up paper sold by NEHOC. that allows citizens to sidestep common problems with their screens (basically, little specks on your original can cause dots of ink where you don’t want them on your prints). You can plus see a multi-colored print being made with a loner screen, here. [...]
I am desperately wanting a gocco, I want to make my own tape labels, Thanks for the great info, I think it would be one of those endless possibility type items…..