Sorry about the delay…I realized that my small business taxes are due, like, tomorrow and I’ve got a lot of bookkeeping backlog. (Surely this is the least fun part of starting a little crafting business!)

But back to the Gocco Guide — part 1 is right here, in case you missed it. Now where were we? Oh yes, in tears of failure. Sigh.

Step 10.
As you are running errands, remember that you read a little mention online that you can use a gocco screen for a traditional, squeegee’d screenprinting approach instead of “stamping” the image with the kit. Decide that it’s worth a try since there’s nothing else to do with the screen.

Step 11.
Find scrap of cardboard and mark registration lines so that the screen and paper match up. Also, fish old ID card out of desk and decide that it will make a perfectly suitable squeegee.

Step 12.
Squirt ink onto the screen, crossing fingers that it won’t be wasted (like that half a tube you just used).

Step 13.
Mush ink around screen with card. Realize that it would have been a good idea to find a screenprinting video on Youtube since you’ve never seen this done before, but oh well.

Step 14.
Pull paper away from screen…

Step 15.
Hooray, it worked! You’re a screenprinting genius!

Okay, so “genius” is a little extreme. The new prints don’t look perfect, per se, but the spread of ink is much, much smoother and any white patches are definitely due to lack of ink instead of who-knows-what. The prints turned out a little darker than I would like since my ID card applies a little too much pressure…might look into getting a real squeegee one of these days. I do plan to apply a 2nd screen with some black details on top, but since I used all mine up I’m stuck waiting for a new shipment to arrive.

They’re not there yet, but I hope that a batch of gocco’d birdies will be roosting in the shop in another two weeks or so.

Hurrah for Gocco after all!