Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Workshops for Januray and February


The schedule is out for our January and February workshops. We have two beginner classes offered each month. They are a great crash course for anyone who is interested in knowing more about screen printing. We are also offering a new class designed help out people who want to start a bulk screenprinting project but are unsure how to get the ball rolling.

All of our workshops can also be purchased as a gift for the holidays and recipients can pick the class that fits their schedule. Click on the image to view descriptions and dates for these workshops. All classes can be registered for in person at the shop or over the phone.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Kittens for Best Coast


We recently made friends with the indie group Best Coast during Fun Fun Fun Fest. Courtesy of our newest intern Jonathan Hubbell and his girlfriend's Mom we made contact and showed them some designs for a Fun Fun Fun Fest screenprinted gig poster. In case you are unfamiliar, their sweet indie pop styling emerged earlier this year with debut release "Crazy For You". They have since been hitting the road hard and were one of the featured bands at this year's FFF Fest.

The poster design, a collaboration of Jonathan and owner Sam, features two creepy kittens who apparently have eyes for no one other than Best Coast. If you missed the merch table after the show you can buy one at our etsy shop here.


The lead singer Bethany is certainly keen on felines and our creepy kitten design had her smitten, so much so that they wanted the same design on some shirts. We ran off a small run for Holiday sales and will be doing a much larger quantity for their upcoming 2011 tour with Wavves. I'm sure they will be passing through Austin early next year, so if you like what you see be sure to check them out when they pass through to snag one of these little kitties.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Built to Spill Epic two night show in Austin, complete with badass Poster


The first night of Built to Spill's rollicking indie stomp through Austin is behind us. It was a fantastic display of Martsch and company's ability to rock like the day the released "There's Nothing Wrong with Love" almost 2 decades ago. The 2 hour set was packed with old and new favorites including Carry the Zero off "Keep it Like a Secret", which this 3-time BTS audience member has never heard performed live. It was as just as bittersweet as the day I heard it in 1999.



Their set lasted well into 1am and included a two song solo set off Martsch independent release "Now you Know". Rounding out the evening was a 3 song encore utilizing the seemingly endless sonic guitar frenzy that is
Conventional Wisdom to say farewell on night one. And to top it off our shop designed and silkscreened a limited edition print to commemorate this two-night Emo's event. There was 109 printed, so grab one while they last. Each print is signed and numbered by the designer. Come for the music, leave with a badass limited edition print.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Workshops for October /November




Workshops are back again. These will be the last workshops we offer this year. Get down your basics of printing by taking our start to finish workshop. We will take you through start to finish of printing and show you all you need to start printing.

We our offering a new 3-D workshop that will show you how to turn prints into 3-D. This class will also show case color toning with one color and how to overlay colors in order to get more out of printing with less time. We will also show you how make and print glow in the dark ink. This class is all about experimenting, so give us a call to sign you up today.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Smells like Nostalgia!!!


Titus Andronicus sounds like nostalgia and this poster smells like it. Titus Andronicus will be play at Emos tomorrow on the 1st of September with YellowFever and Whitman. This poster is a 4-color print that was printed by hand by Michael Fuchs. This poster is a 55 limited print edition on fine Cougar 100lbs cover. This print showcases some fine half toning and textures. The idea behind this print is to show how war removes one self from the real picture of war and replaces it with good times. Often the real scene of war is not even pictures as pilots pull a lever to drop bombs not realize what is happening below.

So come and check Titus Andronicus out because you will see how there music makes sense of this.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

August workshops, sign up now!


We have more workshop goodness coming up in August. Of course as always we have our beginner class, but we are also bringing back the poster printing class, and have added a brand new class that explains the process of discharge printing.

If you have ever been interested in screen printing, or just looking to pick up a new hobby these classes are tailored to lay down some serious knowledge. The beginner class is designed for anybody that has little to no screen printing experience. We will show you how we take a graphic from the computer and burn it into a screen. We will also go over screen meshing, emulsion coating, screen reclaiming and of course printing. This class runs about 2 hours long and everyone will leave with a shirt of their choice printed by their own hands. Our next beginner class is being held August 13th from 2-4pm.

Our next class brings our love of screen printing to a different format. The poster collective class will show you how we create custom gig posters for touring bands and fine art prints. I love poster printing, and anybody who is digital artist will appreciate the ability to bring their vector graphics to life in tangible form via screenprinting. This class will be held August 21st from 2-4pm.

Our last class available is a new class that talks about a very interesting alternative apparel printing process called discharge printing. It uses a chemical agent to dye the garment instead of print ink on it. I know that description sounds a bit cryptic, but just image that instead of ink on top of the t shirt you have dyed fabric instead, leaving no feeling of ink on the shirt. The dye goes on clear and is heat activated. Watching the print come to life in front of you under a flash dryer is thrilling experience. You just have to come sit in on the class to truly understand and appreciate this cutting edge process. This class will be held August 31st from 2-4pm.

Every class costs $50 to attend and participants will go home with a t shirt or a poster print as part of their workshop fees. Classes fill up fast and can be reserved ahead of time with a $25 deposit.

Let us lay some knowledge on you. Call 512-445-3488 to sign up.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Colors and Colors and???

Under Pressure Screen Printing has been planning and producing for a up coming art show near the end of September. This piece was done in 4 days with 11 colors being printed on some fine 100% cotton paper. The original piece was a water color painted by Michael Fuchs and than taken and turned into a 11 color print.
All prints are still printed 100% by hand to preserve the hand feeling of screen printing. So enjoy the colors and take a adventure through a color portal making what you want out of it.
This art print was produced in Austin, Texas at Under Pressure Screen Printing. There is only 23 prints available and all prints will go on sale at the end of September. So those that want will have to wait. Under Pressure is planning on releasing around 20 art prints in late September with various artist and future details will be released this month .

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Summers a Dancing


Johnny Dimas has produced another sweet poster for Lotus. Lotus is having a Summer Dance this August. This should be a great jam fest with headliners Eoto, which is a project from members of the String Cheese Incident. This is sure to be a hot festival for those in Ohio. This Screen Print is a 3 color print which was inspired by the rock quarry where the fest is to take place. Johnny hand inked the whole poster. That is right he took his time to draw out each individual rock that forms the summer dance text. It is practices like this that show how even with today's technology the best program to design in may be a pen and paper. Each layer was hand printed in Austin, Texas at Under Pressure Screen Printing. This poster is another limited edition print with only 60 pressed. The last layer was printed with the help of pills. We have found that in order to achieve very fine line detail it is best to print with a pill gap between the screen and print table. This gap spacing helps separate the screen from sticking to the paper when we have a large cover area. Also you avoid double stamping the paper. For more pictures and another story about this print please check out www.johnnydimas.com. Peace and back to making some sweet existence.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Exploding Head



Mr. Benton has create another unique poster for Parade of Flesh's free show event in Dallas, Texas. On Friday Austin locals, Pack of Wolves, will play along with Kill the Client, Maleveller and Golden Axe. On Saturday Bass Drum of Death will play along with Bad Sports, Slang Chickens, The Coathangers, Leg Sweeper, and Predator. This limited edition print will be available to purchase at the show and we also have some prints for sale at the shop

This is for sure a hot piece of Americana with only 159 prints made. This exploding head has the detail of brain particles and skull matter. Each print was screen printed by hand in Austin, Texas perservering the true authenticity of screen printing. We should also have our first edition of stickers by next week so look out for a new blog about why screen printed sticker hold up to the test of time.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Gig posters on the Horizon


Living in Austin is certainly a blessing for local screen printers, especially those who dabble in poster printing. Live acts are flocking from all over the world to hit Austin on their Spring, Summer and Fall tours. I don't understand the Summer tour stop in Austin with the debilitating heat, but I'm not complaining.

The year is only half over and we have already designed and printed custom gig posters for a number of notable bands, including Beach House, Harlem, Shearwater, Health, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. We have printed and designed more than 15 custom limited edition posters since opening. To think that this was merely a dream of mine 2 years ago, and now I make a living off it has quite literally put me on cloud nine.

While our total volume in poster printing may seem lacking compared to larger printers, for a company that is less than a year old I'm going to go ahead and give ourselves a pat on the back. As I said earlier, this year of music is only half over, in the coming months be on the look out for limited edition gig posters for some of the biggest touring acts being printed by hand at Under Pressure. In the coming months we'll be churning out one-of-a-kind designs for Built to Spill, Chromeo, Cut Copy, and Matisyahu among others.

Living in the live music capital of the world is not a bad thing.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Edward Sharpe posters


Tonight, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is coming to Austin. Their show at La Zona Rosa with We Are Eachother featuring Aaron Embry is slated to go down at 8pm.

In support of Austin Screen printing, Mr. Sharpe and his troubadour of musicians commissioned us to create a custom gig poster just for this very special show. If you have heard of the band (chances are you have with their single "Home" consistently circulating on 101X) you will be familiar with the spirit of this design, taking note from their top single. Their music reminds me of a mash-up between Devendra Banhart and Architecture in Helsinki. It has definite folk influence with a nice side of psychedelic pop.

It's a three color print, with a rather lovely transparent red laid down at the very end. It started as a photograph and a texture, and you might recognize the handsome devil standing there in red. It is a photo of Under Pressure co-owner and designer Sam Ladach-Bark. That vain bastard!

If you were lucky enough to snag tickets to this sold out show swing by the merch booth and snag one of these limited edition prints. There are only 70 in existence. If you can't make it to the show, but are an Edward Sharpe fan, swing by the shop later this week. Any leftover prints will be sold first come first serve.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Workshops for July and August


Work shops are here once again. We have added a new class called discharge printing that teaches people how to print with a specialty ink that sucks the color out of shirt. Here is the list and remember to sign up before others beat you to it.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Get Some HEALTH Austin


HEALTH will be coming to Austin this June 26 and will be rocking out at the Red 7. This print was create by Michael C. Fuchs and it is a design of a old plinko machine that has a back texture of tree bark. There is a total of 5 colors for this print and the sizing is 25x19. There is only 53 prints in this edition and each print was printed by hand by the artist himself. These prints were all done at Under Pressure Screen printing in South Austin. These prints are just magic and are printed with love.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Workshops for June



Due to popular demand, we have added new workshop days to our June Calendar.

There are three categories offered; Start to Finish, Poster Collective, and Candy Colors. Each one focuses on a different aspect of screen printing and the processes involved in making shirts and posters.

If you are new to screen printing we highly suggest our Start to Finish beginner course. You need no prior knowledge of printing before entering this class and will leave with a brain bursting wealth of knowledge that will have you churning out your own shirts at home in no time.

For people looking to expand their screen printing pallet we offer two advanced workshops that focus on poster making and multi-color printing. These classes are not reserved only for those who have taken our beginner course, but highly suggest starting there and working your way up.

Call today to reserve a spot, classes sizes are small and fill up fast. 512-445-3488
-U.P. crew


Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Lotus Tour Poster YES!!!!!


The Lotus posters are done and after three screen printing sessions at our South Austin print shop they shipped out today. This great design was done by Johnny Dimas, an up and coming designer who exemplifies cool and clean design work.He loves how he can turn a digital design into a tangible piece of artwork through screen printing.

The first color we put down filled the paper almost edge to edge with peacock blue. We printed this first layer in just under 5 hours, and whether our heads were playing tricks on us or not the paper seemed to grow in size in weight with every new screen print.

The second layer we printed was reminiscent of French wallpaper. Upon inquiry not even Johnny was sure where he found this vintage pattern, but who the hell cares, it looked pretty badass. You can't copyright vintage wallpaper patterns can you?

The last layer was the brown and it went off with out a hitch. This added much needed completeness to the poster, bringing the whole design together. Lotus will be coming to Austin on Friday April 23rd at Emo's and if you want jam this is the place to be on that day. With that said back to work and more prints to come in the next day. Hopefully all of these posters don't sell out in Colorado.

-U.P. crew


Saturday, March 13, 2010

Live printing at Swanky SXSW Ustream Party



Last night the U.P. crew was screen printing live in downtown Austin for an official SXSW interactive party. Ustream, an online community of self proclaimed Speilbergs, hosted a gala of an event at Pheonix Bar on 4th and colorado. I hope this bar can hold steady in that location; it was straight up swanky. Modern wrap sofas, digital multi-colored flouyrescent ligh accents and wonderfully tacky fake crystal chandeliers. I have to admit, we felt quite spoiled being a part of this event.

As with any live printing endeavor, when the shirts are free the crowd turns into a veritable feeding frenzy. We pre-printed 300+ shirts and live printed close to 200. Every last one was taken. Early in the night people were able to pick their design and color, but as the crowd grew and loomed around us we just started shirt slingin' left and right literally throwing shirts across the room to people.


Closing out the night, Gym class heroes played an energetic set fervently trying to get a mostly-male crowd of interactive geeks to shake it. We might have been the only people dancing.

Shirt slingin' and dancing: that's an ok combination by me.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Tegan and Sara Posters sold out!!!


Thanks to everyone who supported screenprinting in Austin last Friday by buying a limited edition Tegan and Sara poster for their show at Bass Concert Hall. We managed to make 60 of these colorful little beauties. If you were one of the few to snag one at the show count yourself lucky, they sold out early. I mean, who doesn't love bike racks and balloons?



The quirky and colorful combination was custom designed by owner Sam Ladach-Bark and shop artist Brian Almaraz. Look for more custom combination from this pair in the future. Currently they are working on designs for Camera Obscura and Of Montreal. Both slated to pass through Austin later this spring. Updates to come soon.


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Akron and Family


Akron and Family are playing with Warpaint tonight at The Parish in Austin, Texas. This is for sure to be a show of hotness and chanting. The posters have been made and this sweet screen printed poster will be for sale tonight.

Let start with color one a green the means earth. This is the first color we printed down on fine french paper. These posters were printed all by hand with fine water base flat inks that have no gloss.


The next color we printed was that sweet purp and we used all 230 meshed screens to do these screen printed poster prints.

The next color we put down was a fat light blue making more goodness. Each color adds more the this poster.

Orange was the last color we printed on this poster before the outlines of black and we have the final sweet eye candy product for the show this night.

There are so many colors in these prints. This poster art was done all by hand by Michael Fuchs. First I started with a pencil drawing that was than transferred into photoshop and layers were created for the fills. All of the art was bought on by Akron and Family's music that is color to the ears and the eyes. So strap one of these posters to you wall and let the portals open up.

Friday, February 19, 2010

tegan and sara


Today's happenings: We are printing badass limited edition Tegan and Sara posters for their show next week at bass concert hall. Who doesn't love bike racks and balloons?

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Misprint Beard posters




Yesterday and today we tackled 150 prints for Misprint magazine's 4th annual Beard and Moustache Competition. This year's hairyness will take place downtown at Mohawk on Red River.

Drinks and prizes for the fiercest Beards and Moustache's will include swag from Bird's Barber shop, yours truly, Alamo Drafthouse, and many more.

The poster itself was a seemingly simple 3 color design, beautifully designed by Misprint co-founder Bryan Kepleskey. He also designed the Fun Fun Fun Fest poster and shirt designs we so fondly remember churning out by the hundred last November.

The print went smoothly and the final product looked great. Thank the maker for inventing poster corners.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A Big week of printing

Under Pressure is gearing up this week with a release of poster prints to shirts for events around Austin Texas. Each screen print will be printed by hand with no robots at all.

The 1st job that we are tackling full force tomorrow is a 3-color poster for the 4th annual Beard and Moustache Contest being held at Mohawks at 9 p.m. on this Friday. This event should be pretty hairy fun and is brought to you by the wonderful magazine Misprint. For more info please vist http://m.misprintmagazine.com/ . We will also be posting a play by play layering of this sweet poster.

We will also be posting another play by play poster print for the Tegan and Sara show that will be playing at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin on February, 26, 2010. This is sure to be a great show that is geting a lot of good reviews for this tour. This screen printed poster will be 4-colors and will make you think of the nice days spent by the bike rack.

We also have finshed a big marketing campaign that lasted only one day and was a big success. We put up a deal on www.groupon.com that lasted only one day. On the web we got about over 1,300 hits in one day. We also manage to sell over 300 groupons to get people into the shop to test out the magic Under Pressure is about.

Before I jet remember that robots don't put TLC into there screen prints but at Under Pressure we print with our simply love that is human.

More to come in the A.M.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Appointment Application

For Appointments Please click the blog. Yes we have made appoints as easy as a click and will add to main website site for now click the side bar tab on the and we will add you. This is for the overflow of traffic we expect.

Workshop tonight spots are limited

Under Pressure will be hosting a full hands on work shop that will aim at taking humans through the complete process of screen printing. We will take you through the process of coating screens, producing a film output, developing your screen, printing with a screen, and how to recycle your screens.

The key printing process that we will be focusing on is water based screen printing. There has been some big advances in the industry. Water base ink still needs a little more TLC but the out come is better for the environment and final product. This is also a hands on work shop so you will leave with a custom shirt and the knowledge needed to start screen printing the world.

Knowledge is power and we hope that educating people about printing will spark minds and cause creations. At Under Pressure we love to educate the local Austin community about screen printing. So get your piece of knowledge today spots are limited. Work shop starts at 6pm in south austin at the shop. Call to get your spot.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Posters

We currently have 3 poster designs we are working on for February. More details as we flesh them out and start printing. But if you are going to a big show this month (and there are plenty to choose from) buy a commemorative poster. The blood, sweat and coffee induced fury of a local screen printer probably went into making that piece of art exist. Support your local screen printer, so we can keep gig posters alive in Austin!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Workshops For February


These are the Workshops that we have planed for February. The Start to finish workshop will take you through all the steps for printing. We will cover every thing for A to Z. This is a great workshop for people that want to start screen printing and we will teach you all the steps. For this class everyone should bring there own design to print or stop by before class in order to get a design ready for print. You will walk away with your own custom design shirt and with all the knowledge need to start printing.

The next workshop planed is candy colors. Which will feature a 4 color screen print in which humans will vote for what color to print for each screen. We will provide candy to simulate your minds and everyone will leave with a shirt. All colors will be made fresh by using CMKY to provide our color matches. We will show how to set up a four color print and everyone will get a turn printing out the design.

The final workshop we have is a experimental workshop that will showcase what humans can do when we work together. Poster Collective is more advanced workshop that aims at forming a poster design around a collective concept. We will take you through the different options of how to form a designs in order to get to a final output for a poster. Day 1 will focus on design and day two will aim at printing/alignment of different color layers. Everyone will leave with a fresh print and knowledge of poster print/design.

Class sizes are very limited, so sign up now. We are looking forward to spreading knowledge because ultimately knowledge is power.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

New Cloud Melt Poster


This a new limited edition poster print that was inspired by the rainy days we've had in Austin, Texas recently. It turns those gray days upside down.

This poster was first done as a water color and than reproduced as a limited edition hand screen printed poster. These posters are available online for only $25 or you can come by the shop to pick one up. Get 'em while they're hot.

We also have some misprints of this design for only $10 available only at the store. Only 22 prints were made in this color edition. Each poster is signed and numbered by the artist Michael Fuchs.
This is a 5 color poster.

We are also about to put up our workshop schedule for the month of February in a few days. Check back at the blog or our website soon for more details. Please be sure to call in advance to reserve your spot before they fill up. www.handsonscreenshop.com

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Design for Patch Workshop

Check out the badass image Eric Benton created for our patch workshop. It is being held on Jan 26th. See our website for more info.

Everyone who attends will get to make a limited edition two color patch and learn the processes behind going from drawing to screen print.

Bring yourself and some blank garments if you want to throw some additional ink. Bring a friend and bring some beers. It will prove to be a grand old time.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Free Screen Printing Workshop!


Come join us Tuesday Jan 26th for an after hours screen printing workshop. This is free to all who attend!

If you have ever been curious about how screen printing works or how you can take your digital art and convert it to a tangible medium screen printing is must have knowledge.

In this, our first of many free workshops, we will take you through the process of creating a two color image. From digital print out to setting it up on the press and everything else in between. At the end of the night we will host a drawing contest and create a simple single color screen from the voted winner.

Everyone will leave with a logo patch and some brain chewing knowledge. If you have any questions call the shop. 512-344-4588

Sign up is not required.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

New Website!!!

I just started a new website for the shop and am attempting to link a blog to it. Will it work, who the hell knows. Html is my nemesis, but soon enough I will have vanquished it in a fashion befitting of legend.