Screen printing made me cry.

So, after being suggested from the crit I tried to screen print my menu designs, differentiating them by screening some gold words, for example 'Mains' and 'Desserts'. I hadn't done screen printing for a good year so I knew I would need a little help. 

By the time I got there it was horrendously busy, not a great start. By the time I managed to clean a screen, and covered it, it had been 2 hours, in simply waiting for things to dry. When it came down to exposing it, I was told the type was too small and may not show, but she changed a setting which 'should work'. When I cleaned my screen it was clear there was something wrong with the exposing machine. Every piece of design had a grainy filter over it and wouldn't come clear, I jet washed it for half an hour trying to. I decided to try and screen print anyway, but I didn't know where to get the paint, who to go to, and by the time I found someone they would send me somewhere else (OMG.) It took me nearly an HOUR to get paint....

When I got to the bed, I realised I'd completely forgotten what on earth to do, so copying the person next to me I managed to use brown tape, on the wrong side of the screen. When I tried a test print it was so horrendously bad I couldn't do anymore. It had bled well past the edge of the screen, no body had told me to leave space within the screen for tape, so when pulling it off, it had left tiny specs all over my work which I couldn't remove. 

I then asked a friend to come down and help, by the time I got back down there, someone had removed the brown tape - tried to find and couldn't, and left a pink squeegee on the floor, which my foot found itself stained in. By that time in was 3pm. I'd been there since 9am. I gave up and cried.

SO at least now I know what to do for screen printing, and what not to do. I think If I tried again today, it may result in me killing myself. I'm going to try again tomorrow from scratch, re-exposing my screen to hold a limited amount of designs - I'm going to just screen print the fronts, and gold, so I don't have the issue of some type not exposing correctly, I've also decided to digitally print the back and duplex them to the screen printed mount board to save time, and my sanity.