After spending most of my three years of grad school in the screenprinting facilities, I was anxious to create some sort of setup for myself at home once I'd graduated. As a couple of other reviews point out, the YuDu is indeed different from traditional screenprinting - the tools are different but the process is essentially the same with the major difference being the application of the photo-sensitive emulsion. And this is where the YuDu will make or break you. While in the end I'd give the YuDu a rating between 3 and 4 stars, mostly for potential, these have been the challenging areas for me along the steep learning curve:
EMULSION:
Applying the emulsion in sheet form (rather than as a liquid with what's called a scoop-coater, as you would in traditional screenprinting) has been the most challenging part of the learning curve for me (and most others, it seems). But like any tool, it takes time and back-up supplies to learn it so do yourself a favor and have at least 2 sheets of emulsion on hand, a lot of patience, and a first project that is not on a tight deadline. The trick is having the screen wet enough but not too wet (since you're essentially doing something in solid form that's ideally applied as a liquid) and this will take practice.
BUY A 220 MESH SCREEN:
Once you get the hang of emulsion application, you may want to add a 220 mesh screen to your supply inventory since the 110 mesh screen that comes with the machine won't be fine enough to handle most text-based projects or designs with lots of detail. I got the YuDu primarily for client-based work, primarily text-based, and my own art projects, which are more graphic design based with some text. I'm not terribly interested in printing t-shirts, which is what the YuDu is primarily marketed for, so having at least one 220 mesh screen is essential.
GET YOURSELF A REAL SQUEEGEE:
I'm not fond of the tone taken in a few reviews here, most of which are hardly reviews of the product (I doubt those reviewers even have a YuDu) but rather snobby declarations of their preference for "traditional" screenprinting. I will be a snob on one point though and that's the "squeegee" that comes with the machine. Maybe this piece of plastic works well printing on t-shirts but I found it to be really inconsistent with pulling the ink through and getting a consistently printed surface on the paper below. You can find a variety of screenprinting squeegees at your local art store (or try [...] - I got the "graphics" squeegee but a standard squeegee should work just fine and there are squeegees especially made for textile printing). This is one of several details the folks at Provo Craft need to work on to make a good machine with potential really great.
INKS:
Once I finally mastered the art of applying emulsion to the screen and successfully burned my design, I found the YuDu brand inks to be too thick to pass through the finer mesh of my 220 screen. Like my squeegee rant above, this may not be an issue with the 110 screens and printing on textiles, but I found it to be a real problem, only passing through the larger parts of my design despite being able to tell that my image had burned perfectly and the emulsion had rinsed out no problem. So I experimented with a different brand of ink (Versatex which I got at my local Blick art supply store) and sure enough my design printed just fine (having a new squeegee at this point also helped). I had my heart set on a particular YuDu color, however, so I tried adding some extender (again, available with the screenprinting inks or online) and, although this did dilute the color ever so slightly, worked like a charm. I mixed enough ink (about 3-4 parts YuDu ink to 1 part extender but it may vary for you) for my entire print run and stored it in a little plastic container you can get at just about any art or craft supply store (or even a tupperware devoted to your Yudu would work).
If you want to read more, you can check out my even longer, more rambling blog post on the topic: [...]
I hope Provo Craft is reading all of these reviews, and the countless blog posts and video tutorials and taking all of these complaints into consideration. The machine itself is great - it's nice to have something that will fit on my table that's an exposure unit, light table, and printing apparatus all in one. But the accessories could use some work - emulsion sheets are tricky and costly and the squeegee is worthless. I can understand why they don't want to include all these little bits of information in the instructional DVD and pamphlet (they'd turn off a lot of potential customers if they advertised just how tricky this thing is) but a little more information up front would be useful. On the other hand, keep in mind that screenprinting is an art form that some folks spend years perfecting. Like any tool, it's going to take some time and practice to get it right, but I think this thing has a lot of potential, especially for folks like me who don't have the time or resources to create a screenprinting setup from scratch in my nonexistent garage.
Good luck and happy printing!
