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A Division of UnderConsideration

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As the one designer in his band, Lord Mandrake, Spencer Charles set out to design and produce their second album. Not happy with the somewhat cookie-cutter outcome of their first title which was laser printed, the band settled on silkscreen and the best choice for their aesthetic needs and budgetary restrictions — and they would, of course, do it themselves. But I will let Spencer tell you a little more about the experience:

I did the illustrations in Adobe Illustrator, exposed them on to the screens using a poorly built light table in my serial-killer basement, and did all the printing on my kitchen table. I encountered more problems than can be counted, but there are a couple of lessons I learned that I would like to share with anyone new to screenprinting:

- Be prepared to make big mistakes. It never goes as planned, make sure you are flexible and have many different options in case something goes wrong.

- Be prepared to spend most of your time planning/problem solving. The actual printing stage goes very quickly, it’s setting everything up to run smoothly that will take up the majority of your time.

- Have access to a pressure washer. Cleaning a screen by hand is next to impossible.

The amount of work involved in screenprinting can be staggering, but if you have the time and persistence, you can end up with a very cool, cost effective product.

By looking at the final result I do not get the sense of many problems encountered, so I have to give kudos to Spencer for finding ways to overcome his obstacles and put out a quality piece that does not reflect his troubles.

Boldrocchi Centenary Book

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Tavla & Dikt Poster

Lord Mandrake CD packaging

Production Method

Design

Illustration, design and typography: Spencer Charles
Illustrations heavily influenced by the work of Konrad Gessner

Printing

Spencer Charles