Sparky's Dream

Hello there

So as I may have definitely mentioned before, I shall be exhibiting a selection of my screen-printed posters at Poster Roast at the aptly named Black Heart Pub in London. This event coincides with Camden Crawl, an event which features over 200 bands playing at over 40 venues.

As an exhibiting artist at Poster Roast I was presented with the opportunity to design and print a poster for a band playing at the weekend. From the selection I picked Teenage Fanclub, although only being familiar with their 'hits'.

After doing some research into the band, turns out I love them, bonus. So I set about creating a poster based around the lyrics from one of my favourite jam's of theirs; 'If she lived in space, man I'd build a plane' from Sparky's Dream.

So after creating the image, I set off to the West Yorkshire Print Workshop in Mirfield to get my screen-printing face on. Watch, as the story unfolds...

The acetates lined up, ready to be burned to the screens

When printing I usually have an idea of what I want the colours to be but if they deviate from my mental images then it's generally OK. This time however I wanted the colours to be precise to the digital file that I'd worked on, so I printed it off and constantly referred to it, getting the colours just right

Printing the first colour

The first colour printed, this silver-ish, grey has a slight metallic tinge, which is always nice

The second colour being printed

Light blue is down

I then managed to run out of time in Mirfield as the joint was closing... Mad panicking ensued only to be relieved by the ever-lovely Calum Harris whose work you can see here. So the next day I went to 'The Grungeon' to print the final colour

The final screen in place for the third colour

The third and final colour is finally down

All the prints drying out

The final print, all cropped (34cm x 25cm), signed & numbered, stamped and ready for their epic journey to see the Fannies on Saturday and then from my Big Cartel page from Monday 3rd May.

A close up of the poster

Another close up of the poster

Thanks for reading / looking at the pictures / both / all three. Hope you all find it as interesting to read as the process is to complete. As always each poster is completely unique due to the methods involved in screen-printing, which is what makes it all so much fun.

That just leaves me to say I can't wait for the weekend. Seeing old friends, relatives, Teenage Fanclub, Pulled Apart By Horses and general merriment. I hope y'all have a grand weekend too, whatever mischief it is that you get up to.

Adios