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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.