Images October 2019 Digital Edition

TIPS & TECHNIQUES www.images-magazine.com 42 images OCTOBER 2019 Tony Palmer has been in the garment decoration industry for over 30 years and is now an independent print consultant working closely with print shops to get the most from existing processes and techniques. Tony is passionate about keeping and enhancing production skill levels within in the industry. He is the owner and consultant at Palmprint Consultants, offering practical help and assistance to garment decorators all over the globe. www.palmprintuk.com Skateboard squeegees Squeegees made from recycled skateboards. How cool? When George Rocha, owner of Iris Skateboards in San Francisco, first started screen printing his recycled skateboards, he used a conventional squeegee to produce his designs. George, whose colourful, one-of-a-kind boards contain the wood from over 20 skateboards, says: “It got the job done, but I knew a squeegee made from recycled skateboards would not only look better, but I could also tweak the shape a little to make it more ergonomically functional.” Seven years on, George now sells about a dozen of his recycled skateboard squeegees each week. “I like to think they are pretty popular,” he says. “People really love working with them. I take pride in making each one by hand, so I consider everyone who buys one part of the Iris family.” George makes the squeegees in the same way that he makes all of his other recycled skateboard products. “I collect used skateboard decks from local shops, strip them down and glue them up,” he explains. “I’m a printer myself, and I originally made them for my own, and my friends’, personal use. They have an authentic, beautiful look, and they are slimmed down for a comfortable ergonomic feel. They are also sealed for easy clean up when the job is done.” Iris squeegees are available in 6”, 9”, 12”, 14”, 16”, with 60 and 70 durometer blades. “Custom sizes are available to order with any durometer blade that you like,” says George. “No size is too big or too small.” Iris squeegees cost around $8- $9 (approximately £6.50-£7.30) per inch, and are available to order online from the Iris website. www.irisskateboards.com Iris squeegees are made from recycled skateboards. Credit: Rachael Rothstein ■ 75 shore is usually green and referred to as a medium. This is my go-to blade – as the name suggests, it’s middle of the road and can be used on everything from white to high-detail CMYK work. ■ 85 shore is usually blue and referred to as hard. This blade isn’t found often, but can be the solution to a problem job when too much ink is applied using a medium blade and reducing the usual parameters doesn’t help. The hard blade gives minimum ink deposit, but comes with other problems. In multi-colour jobs it will ‘rip off’ previously printed colours when used late in the sequence, so it needs to be used only early on in the sequence or after a flashed colour. ■ Composite blades are made from three blades sandwiched together. These can give fantastic results on high-tension, high-mesh counts as they utilise the soft edge of a 65 blade with the rigidity of a 90 running through the middle to prevent the blade bending too much and losing the all-important edge. ■ Sharp-edge blades have been re- sharpened to achieve the new-blade feel of a squeegee. This practice, was very popular on the long, expensive blades of the graphics industry, where a pristine blade was absolutely necessary. I must admit to a strange satisfaction in working a nicked or rounded blade back to its new ‘fresh out of the box’ feeling, but the danger with reworking a blade is that you can end up with a significantly shorter blade which limits the amount of pressure and travel you can apply to a print. I recently explained to a print shop owner that the economics of paying someone to shave his blades, taking into account the possibilities of ruining the blade compared to the relatively inexpensive cost of a new blade, didn’t quite work out. Little did I know the salesman who asked me to speak to him had just sold him a blade sharpener! So, here is my back-pedal disclaimer: as in all screen printing, personal preference is key. There is no wrong and no right, just the informed decision and personal choice. A red 65 shore blade often comes as standard with a new machine purchase