kodaTrace

When the pen leaked

close up to the pen leaking

This was the first time i had experimented with Kodatrace. Kodatrace is a special kind of tracing paper made of frosted acetate film. It is used in the process of exposing an image onto silk-screen.Like when using tracing paper the opaque marks made on the Kodatrace sheet will print as the image. All marks made must be opaque to prevent the ultraviolet light from hitting the light sensitive emulsion applied to the surface of the screen. where the part of the screen where the opaque marks block the ultra-violet will remain soft and wash off the screen leaving the design wanted. Opaque paint especially produced for working with kodatrace is called photo-opaque. I found it incredibly hard for my first time. The opaque paint i used was incredibly thick and quite hard to apply to the kodatrace. it took a long time to do my main tracing but once done i felt i had achieved a design i was really happy with. After the first tracing was done i added layers and painted the detail in. Each layer will be a different colour. I came across one huge problem when using kodatra, when  taking all my layers off the table to be handed in to the print room technician the paint i had used on my first layer started to peel off, this could have been because either the paint was too thick or it could have got too warm or too cold. with the opaque paint you have to make sure you get the consistency perfect which i found was far too difficult. Since half of the paint had peeled off i had to reapply it which would have taken too long with the paint so i was given a pen which works just as good as the paint. Once i had almost finished the pen bust destroying my layer. I was mortified and quite frank heart broken. To fix the problem i had faced i had to take a sheet of Kodatrace home and complete the tracing at home. When i did this in class with the paint it had taken me 3 days to complete but at home with the pen it only took me 2 hours which i was quite happy with. once all my tracing was complete i was incredibly happy and could see how my print was going to work and i'm so looking forward to sampling.