How the Jewelled gecko multi-colour screenprint was made

: This beautiful reptile is ready to scamper right off your shirt.

: Tracing method. This process is performed using a lightbox where light shines through the reference highlighting the areas to be drawn in a careful pointillist method with a Rotring pen onto Mylar film or charcoal pencil onto coquille board.

: How it’s done. The Photolitho craft technique of punched registration of the eight hand separated designs is vital to create all eight of the layers “in register” at the drawing & painting stage.

: Painting the Maori kowhaiwhai design printed around the garment’s hem onto a sheet of translucent Mylar using a No.3 sable brush, ‘Plum tree’ photo opaque fluid and a drawing bridge.

: Shaun applies spray adhesive to the printing pallets, Deborah McDonald places the T-shirts. If designs like the base light green are touch dry between each screen pass then wet ink areas “offset” onto the underside of the next screen, which in turn causes the cotton fabric to adhere to the screen and then lift… aaargh! Chrissie Terpstra in the background is loading the 8 screenprinting stencil frames with their respective inks.

: Eight colour designs were printed in editions of 80—100 garments per day. Starting at print station one, Deborah hand screenprints the first colour, light green onto the front of the locally made pure cotton teeshirt.

: Chrissie Terpstra follows Deborah McDonald printing the first colour down the row of 10 aluminium & rubber composite printing stations with ‘Flash Gordon’, our customised water-based ink ‘flash-cure’ unit and high-efficiency nasty volatiles extractor unit on wheels.

: Synchronised with Deborah printing the second colour, dark green, Chrissie prints the third colour orange. Because the area of the dark green colour is small it does not present the problem of sticking to bottom of the following orange stencil.

: Chrissie prints the third colour, orange, then as Deborah moves Flash Gordon from station to station in-sync with a 30-second timer, Chrissie uses a paint-stripping gun to dry off print’s most saturated areas.

: Deborah follows the orange screen with the next in the sequence, super-opaque bright red. The jig on the black steel bar running the length of the ten print stations uses clamped butt stops to register one design over the other in perfect register.

: Chrissie follows Deborah printing red with super opaque metallic golden eyes and scale detail. After “flashing off” the wet inks, next minute Chrissie prints the black to finish the design.

: A stickler for detail Chrissie proofs each black design while the ink is still wet and manually touches up the black to ensure it is solidly covering where it is supposed to cover. Deborah follows with Flash Gordon, strips the printed shirts off and reloads with the next set of set of blank tees.

: Final heat cure of the print on the pallet, stripping the finished Tees off and reloading the next run of 10. This process start to finish took two people labouring hard-out for 45 minutes. A lunch break from this hard labour on your feet the whole time was essential, sit-down lunches at the table which amazing Chrissie Terpstra cooked for our crew of Screen Gems every single day! Morning and afternoon coffee/tea and snacks were delivered and consumed on the fly.

: Surface Active well made in New Zealand t-shirt neck label.

: Surface Active T-shirt swingtag front.

: Surface Active T-shirt swingtag back.

: Surface Active catalogue of graphic T-shirt designs, 1994–95. Concertina fold “paper dolls” presentation concept. Vivid Rod Morris kea plumage detail cover graphic.

Hyper-real graphics like the Surface Active Jewelled Gecko teeshirt design make a vivid impression. Why? Because people relate to them!

Dramatic lifelike renderings of wildlife produce a prompt and typically positive response in a person’s mind. People relate to real things and enjoy them most. It is the route to impactful “Surface Active” New Zealand nature t-shirts like this Jewelled Gecko design for adults and kids in our Surface Active store. (N.b. All purchases, storewide, will receive a 5% discount. Use promo code: PERFEC.)

Surface Active—The New Zealand Nature T-shirt Company is the brainchild of design pARTners, myself, Shaun Waugh, and Chrissie Terpstra. Between 1986–2003 we co-created and collaborated to produce 100% New Zealand made souvenir t-shirts to the highest design and screenprinting standards, providing a more interesting and beautiful product than your average tee—like the Jewelled Gecko.

How did we do it? I spent hours at the drawing board, artfully rendering each separate colour to give vibrancy and detail. Crafty low-tech, hand-pulled screenprinting techniques allowed Chrissie and her team of “screen gems” to create finely detailed designs, brought to life on the garment (by Chrissie)—Surface Active art-to-wear.

“It was a great job and we get to do it!” Chrissie wrote at the time.

Quality, pure cotton garments, locally manufactured in Canterbury were used. The garments were well-made in New Zealand and lasted for years. Our ink systems and photo stencils, plus technical support, were supplied by Dave Cox of Seritech. Photolitho services, tech support and a seat at their lightbox were provided by the crew at Multigraphics.

The letter below, written by Chrissie introduced our 1991 mail order catalogue that launched the Jewelled Gecko print—one of our most complex (8 colours separated on 8 screens) wildlife art screenprints.

December 1991

Dear Surface Dweller,

what began 6 years ago as a printing hobby on the kitchen table has now expanded to encompass the lounge, spare bedroom, laundry, garage and the whole of the back shed.

We are committed to producing original & indigenous designs of the highest design and hand-screen printing standards, providing a more interesting and beautiful product than your average tee—wearable art that celebrates the unique assets of New Zealand.

Using our Flat Earth, Low Tech printing hardware, we have painstakingly perfected our craft, printing 6 colour blends and finely detailed designs like no other can (or will). They take a bit longer to produce but the results are worth it. We are proud to be using high quality locally manufactured garments.

The overwhelming encouragement we receive from our customers tells us that we must be doing it right.

Year-round you can find Surface Active at the the Christchurch Arts Centre Market (open Sat. & Sun.), we wholesale to selected shops from North Cape to Bluff and now in our Glorious Technicolour Mail Order Catalogue, we present you the fruits of our labour.

Actively Yours,
Shaun Waugh (Boss)
Chrissie Terpstra (Bossier)

For further information on the technical aspects of design for print and “art for reproduction”…

READ MORE

Credits

Crafty screenprinters: “Screen gems” Deborah McDonald & Chrissie Terpstra
Gecko illustration reference photos: Rod Morris
Illustrator: Shaun Waugh
Design and Art Direction: Design pARTners Chrissie Terpstra/Shaun Waugh