Earlier this week I got on the train to Newport in South Wales to set about hand-making the packaging for our next single, Summer Solstice. To make our task slightly easier, we decided to get the back covers done at the printers. They were finished last week, so I took them with me to finish them off. Here's a little bit more info:

The printing was done in two colours, which meant we had to do two screens. We started off by mixing the colour for the grass:







Then we set about making the screens. First of all we had to clean them:



And then apply some special stuff to stop the paint from going where it shouldn't. Sorry for my lack of technical know-how.



Then we put the canvas on a special UV lighting machine, with the stencil on top. This dries the paint everywhere except where the stencil blocks the UV light.







Then we washed off the paint to reveal the stencil:





Then we put the canvas onto the printing press and applied the paint:





Then we used a special scraper (forgotten their proper name)to pull the paint over the screen. The paint seeps through the gaps.



And creates this:



Then we set about repeating this process. We had to do it 520 times, just in case we messed up a few by pressing too hard and smudging the paint or something. Good job, because it took us a while to get into the swing of things.



Some time later:



We averaged about 100 sheets an hour, so as you can imagine it was a pretty
long process. Once we'd got all of it done we set about adding the second colour to complete the image:



We made the screen again and spent a long time lining up the print to make sure it lined up correctly. Then it was back to the printing:







Two days and 1040 prints later...







Woo! After we all packed up I got back on the train and went home to North Wales. The following day I set about numbering and signing all of the copies:



They're all done now, and have been sent back to the label to be packaged up with the vinyl in a plastic sleeve. We're really pleased with how they've turned out, so I hope you like it when it's all done!

Thank you to Pete for all of his help, we couldn't have done it without him and his contacts to help us to get access to the equipment.

Tim and Sam x