Pellafort Press - Thermochromic Wallpaper Printing

Preparation & Testing

I arrived at 9am at Pellafort Press and met with Scarlett Massel, owner of the press to discuss the plan of action. I decided to go over each design layer again, and perfect the layout then put each design layer into grayscale Colour Halftone format to prepare the image for screen. We then used the A1 printer to print each scale black and white image and exposed them onto each emulsion covered screen in the exposure unit.

After doing this for each screen, the emulsion was power washed off and I then spot filled with more emulsion to avoid spotting on the paper. The screens were then hardened off in the exposure unit again. We did a test screen with a piece of each design first to test the quality of the print, and adjusted the designs contrast on the laptop before we began the final peice.

The Screens & The Press

After the screens had all been exposed, spot filled and hardened off, they were ready for printing. To prepare the ink for printing, I mixed up the pure water based ink with the acrylic binder and did this for the blackk test ink, the yellow and blue inks, and later the thermochromic ink.

The first layer is the lightest ink - yellow, so the screen was fixed into the frame over the print bed and the paper laid out in the correct position. Then I printed onto acetate for registration and then began to print from one end of the paper and pulled it down to continue the next part of the print. I did this for four strips of paper measuring 53cm wide x 300cm long.

Building Print Layers

After the yellow layer was complete and sufficiently dried on the rack, I began the process again with the next layer of pattern, the blue design. After overlaying the blue layer and allowing to dry, I prepared the thermochromic ink by mixing the 31 degrees black slurry with the water based binder, and added 10% water to thin it out a little to make it easier to pass through the screen.

This is where I am at the moment, the last layer is printed but takes longer to dry so I have left it at the Press to dry completely and I will be picking it up tomorrow providing it is sufficiently dry.

Close up Reveal Panel

Full Length Visualisation of Print

Top layer (Fig.1) and Reveal layer (Fig.2)

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Screen Size to Scale

This is a scale example of what will be exposed onto one screen and repeat printed. The example shown below is only the top layer, but the same size and layout will apply to the other two layers also. Click below for scale image.

Design Progression - Rethinking Colour and Form

After considering and assessing my previous design using three colours, I have decided to simplify the design by using a black and white top aesthetic, with the coloured layers concealed beneath, making the appearance of colour when heated, even more pleasing.

I have also decided to rearrange the layers of imagery so that the underneath layers are perfectly concealed before touch is applied, but under the images as opposed to under the entire top layer, so there will be more white space, indicating where to touch - your eye is drawn to the image (which is roughly the size of your hand) so that is unveiled first as opposed to moving your hands everywhere to find the underlying full image.

This is the new tile, which will be part of a repeat pattern, shown in all layers and as a multiplied image that shows how all layers fit over each other.

Printing Plans at Pellafort Press

I will be screen printing (with some professional assistance) the wallpaper in layers (2 in regular ink and the top layer in thermochromic ink) at the Pellafort Press in Brixton on the 19th and 20th of May. I have booked the studio for two whole days from 9am - 5pm to leave time for test prints, and any corrections, to achieve the highest quality outcome. I am printing it myself as opposed to sending it off to be printed as I want have a level of control that assures my design is perfectly laid and to experiment with the thermochromic ink as I am bringing this in from an external supplier.
The aim is to screen print half a roll of wallpaper in order to provide enough for a panel as wide as 2 strips (approx 2 x 540mm) and reaches floor to ceiling (measurements to be confirmed), to simulate it in its intended state, with the sample book providing reference.

Simulation of Interactivity

This simulated image shows how the print will respond to touch. When heat is applied, the top layer of image fades away to reveal the illustration underneath. When the ink cools it will reappear.