Slightly Stoopid Poster

This was a fun print to do for a couple of reasons. First off, the artwork is fairly loose. Second, it's of good size so registration was no problem at all. This was my first time using Cougar paper (this is printed on 100# matte Cougar cover) and it was another big help in registering each color. This stock dries very flat and that makes all the difference when it's time to get that sheet back on the press for the next color. If it's flat you can slide it right into place. If the edges are curling even a little it's a lot more time spent making sure there's good contact with the registration tabs. I use cut up slices of credit cards taped to the bottom and left side of the print surface. A lifted edge will pass right over the tab and will take a good deal of adjusting before ink can be pulled. It went well enough that I was sad to finish this run. Anyway, this is a signed and numbered edition of 60. 25"X17" inches,6 colors- yellow was thinned down a lot and printed on top of blue in a couple of spots to make a 7th color (green) Show was sold out. Prints can be ordered here: http://www.kentdesigns.com/poster_gallery.htm

And notice the deal for 2010: order any 2 prints and get a T-shirt of your choice for $1

Devil's Daughter logo

Well, back from a 2 week vacation and right into a week (possibly longer) of jury duty. Leave it to the American legal system to make what could have been a very interesting case a long boring pile of unnecessary facts. In the evenings I have been working on this logo:

I've also designed and set up a poster for Slightly Stoopid. I should be able to start pulling ink this weekend. I'll post photos soon after if I can fix my camera.

One Dollar T Shirts In 2010

I'm trying to thin out the boxes of shirts and prints in the shop, so here's the plan- buy any 2 prints and get a T shirt of your choice for $1. Men's or Woman's shirts...whatever you like. Holidays are almost here and this could be a fine gift for that special someone. This offer is limited to what I have in stock, and these shirts will not be printed again- at least, not these colors. New designs are in the works (in my head) but I doubt anything will be printed until Jan/Feb.

One Dollar Kent Designs T Shirts

Pacific Coast Pinball Sci-Fi Design

8 color back

Pocket logo

Finished the back a while ago but just got around to doing the front. The alien will probably be a 4 color print? My instructions for this graphic were pretty simple: hot girl, outer space and pinball machine. This is what I came up with. These will be printed on black shirts only, that way the red in the foreground will have a white under base while the red background will be a fine halftone printed directly on the black giving it a darker tone. All the shadows will be pulled at once with a 305 mesh screen, then the black lines and solids on a 230.

Pin-up T shirts available

I have added 2 new men's T shirts to the Kent Designs website:

Pin-up back

Pin-up front

 Pin-up design is 5 color back/ 1 color front printed on white only. (Sizes S-XXL) I did a few long sleeves for this design too. Sleeve design will read: The "K" stands for quality. That part still needs to be printed. 

Logo design back

Logo design front

Logo shirts are 3 color front/ 3color back printed on Irish Green shirts only. S-XXL
Either shirt can be ordered here for $17 (shipping included) http://www.kentdesigns.com/apparel/kent_pinup/kent_pin-up_shirt.htm

A portion of every sale will go to support The Kent Family Worm Farm, so please, be generous.

I Got Worms

I’ve been up late the last few nights studying up on worm composting. Yeah, I know that watching YouTube videos of worms at 2 AM is more than kind of sad…it’s extremely sad. The guy working at the pizza place where I eat lunch (often) has a degree in horticulture and got me going on the idea. (That’s totally Santa Cruz- everyone has a degree in something that can’t be used, and as a result, they work 2 jobs that are totally beneath them to survive.) All my searching of articles and forums gave me a real good idea how to build a continuous flow vermicomposting bin, so I sketched out a plan. Materials and time spent constructing this thing made the “Can-O-Worms” pre-built stacking bin seem quite sensible. I live in an unincorporated area of Santa Cruz County, and residents like me are offered a bin for only $25 delivered, so it’s hard to beat it.  The same bin goes for around $125 plus shipping online.  So the bin is on it's way, now I need to score a couple pounds of worms.  My daughter is very excited about this and wants to go get them right now.  Worms go for around $20 a pound, which, oddly enough is the same price as Fillet Mignon. How weird is that? My wife was absolutely correct when she said “you don’t have the free time to be fucking around with a worm farm.” I’ll find the time.

Red Wigglers

Guido Roofing Screen Print

Printed these up last night and cured them this morning. Black and Royal Blue shirts, polos and sweat shirts. This is a reprint order, but the first run was done only on blue shirts so the character’s blue hat and shirt and the blue of the sky was not printed…just a knock out. This was a way to cut costs for the first run. Black shirts require a blue screen to be added with a white under base under the entire circle. All that under base sucks up the white ink pretty quick. I was adding more ink every 4 shirts. I think this image looks real nice on black. Everything pops better on black.

7 color print still on press



Flipped for your viewing pleasure



Solar post hardening of screens


When I was setting up, the sun actually came out for a bit. This was the fourth time this happened all summer, so it was kind of a big deal. I was able to post harden my screens the fast and free way! Post hardening toughens up the emulsion after your initial exposure and washout. This second dose of UV rays makes the stencil hold up better for a long run, especially when you use a very thin coat of emulsion like I do. Thin emulsion=thin stencil=thin layer if ink laid down=soft final print. This was set up on all 110 mesh screens, except the black was my usual 230 mesh