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.

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.

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.

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.