Customer Reviews

Water-Based Screenprinting Today: From Hands-on Techniques to Digital Technology

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This practical guide to the silk screen process is really useful. There are plenty of illustrations and detailed instruction on how the author achieved the look shown. Of course, as with all art making, there is always more than one way to do something. The author explains how projects are handled in their particular shop. The section on halftone screens is very useful, as is the explanation of monotyping. This book takes the time to explain ways of making the process work "at home." I used sections out of this manual for a beginning silk screen class, and they found it helpful

You will benefit (or not) from this book depending on what type of screen printing you are looking to do. First and foremost this is centered on fine art prints. This is what I was searching for and still found this to be a major disappointment.

Up to page 19 covers the author's printing collaborations with other artists. No technical information.

Page 21-41 covers using the screen to make monotype prints. As the name suggests, monotypes are one-off prints, more akin to original paintings than longer print runs. I am personally more interested in producing 100 of the same print rather than a unique, one-of-a-kind artwork.

Pages 43-71 cover the subject of creating stencils with the emphasis on hand drawn or hand cut stencils. I was more interested in photo mechanical stencils, not having to hand paint or draw a stencil.

Pages 74-75 show how to coat screen with emulsion. Useful, but you can find even better videos on the internet. Pages 76-81 cover exposure and again, the information can be found in a much clearer format in videos online. Page 82 is washing the screen. Page 83 is touching up the screen.

Chapter 5 is about color mixing.

Chapter 6 is "Printing Screenprints" and covers screenprinting tables, drying racks, squeegees, paper, up to cleaning the screen and removing emulsion. Again, pretty basic material.

Chapter 7 "Computer Techniques" pages 119-140 covers basic photoshop techniques. If you've never used photoshop this might be helpful, but I would think a dedicated photoshop book would be more useful.

I was mainly looking for a book geared to photomechanical type screen printing, in larger runs similar to an Andy Warhol style print. This book was more focused toward free-form, hand drawn methods of screen printing. While the techniques and materials used were interesting, it's not what I was looking for.

I teach middle school and high school visual art and I love this book. I keep my copy at school as a reference. But, it is more than a reference. For quick screenprinting instructions, one can simply look online and find tons of stuff. This book is in depth and rich with images, information, and tips. It is inspiring because many of the artist's profiled are sophisticated and their images complex-- it goes beyond what I would have imagined a "screenprint" could be. This book is an excellent in depth overiew of the complexity of the process, and of course, I love the non toxic water-based aspect as a teacher.

I bought this book about a year ago, and totally ate it up. Recently signed up for a screen printing class at the Lower East Side Printshop in New York, and was amazed to see that the instructor was one and the same as the author of my favorite screen printing book. After taking the class from Roni Henning, realized that she has that casual knowledge from years and years of making very high-end prints for famous artists. Quite a different experience than a printmaker who teaches or writes about their own silk screening process. She has seen it all, has confronted every problem, and has a wider range of techniques than you'll normally see in a typical how-to book.

While the book makes a point of being about water based techniques, these days all screen printing is water based. The inks are that good, and there's no reason (learned this all from Roni) to expose yourself to the toxic chemicals of oil based inks.

What I loved about this book, is she walks through tricky to understand processes in clear steps, great images....and writes in a way that you can totally follow and feel confident that you've got the insider tricks. She breaks down sophisticated methods into very step-by-step approaches, so you can fully comprehend how to do it. I used the book to narrow down the many, many methods of screenprinting to focus on just a few. She's a specialist in monoprinting, and that section is both unusual to find and unusual to find written so clearly.

The way in which Ms Henning approaches her artistry is so profoundly linked to the way the great artists of old have done their masterful work that the learner is not only inspired, but actually comes to BELIEVE that he or she can DO IT, TOO. The best of teachers will make the student WANT to go forward and BELIEVE IN HIMSELF OR HERSELF ... and that is the way Roni Henning handles the process of screenprinting. The book comes alive with hands-on ideas and proceeds to develop them in not too long and not too short descriptions and processes. Just enough to cover the important bases with sufficient verbiage to enjoy the reading process as well as the printing process! A true master!!! To quote from a famous commercial, EVEN A CAVEMAN CAN DO IT!!!! And with Roni Henning's book in hand, the steps to success are clearly stated so yes, EVEN A CAVEMAN CAN DO IT!!! Are there any cavemen out there reading this review? Enjoy this marvelous text -- A MUST GET! -- and be sure to carefully examine all the photos and appendages. Have a great read, as I surely did, and pass it along to your art-aspirant buddies. Even a non-artist will find this book amazingly enjoyable and interesting! You might surprise yourself and try a few screen prints in the process!!! As a former teacher who seldom writes book reviews, I am impelled to offer my comments about this wonderful book, WATER-BASED SCREENPRINTING TODAY: FROM HANDS-ON TECHNIQUES TO DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY. I hope that all my former students come upon it when browsing Amazon.com, and make a purchase. Artist or not, this is a book for your coffee table, too --- go for it!

Sincerely, Sister Theresa Gnomey

Five years ago I took a silkscreening course with Roni at Lower East Side Print Shop in NY. I am not a professional artist and I only wanted to do some silkscreening for fun. This April I will have my first one-man-show in a major gallery in Manhattan. All silkscreen. You can not find a better teacher than Roni. And, of course, I already own the book. Otherwise I would be buying it here.

Roni Henning's book, "Water-Based SCREENPRINTING Today" is one of those rare resource books you can count on and never regret buying. It is at the same time instructional, illustrative and inspirational. The author uses uncomplicated imagery when illustrating a technique and has examples of sophisticated imagery by artists who have wholly or partially used a particular technique in a print. NO DISAPPOINTMENTS HERE! Thanks Roni!

This book is my go to resource for fine art screen printing. I'm always pulling it off the shelf to show students and the section on mono-printing is invaluable. Every time I look at this book I have new ideas for work and want to try new techniques. This book isn't for people looking for commercial printing techniques but for printmakers that want to expand on the idea of fine art silk screen.

Book is great...you cancelled one order that I made by mistake so I really appreciate your doing that in time so that I didn't have to return one. But I really don't like having to do these review and you have sent it to me 2x. No more please.

The description of the content of the book is not what was in the book. The book is a disappointment to me. According to the description of the contents of the book, this book was going to show a person how to make cards and prints using water based material for screen printing. Thought the book was going to be more simplified for a beginner. To me this book is for someone who has already had printing experience.