Started experimenting with screen printing.

It began as a way to test packaging ideas. Simple prints, basic layouts. Just enough to see things in hand instead of on a screen. That was the intention, at least.

Didn’t take long to realise it’s not that straightforward. Ink behaves differently on every paper. Too thick, it clogs. Too thin, it disappears. Drying times shift. Edges bleed. Registration drifts just enough to be annoying. You fix one thing and something else moves.

Spent a few days just trying to get a clean print. Then the paper started shifting mid-pull, just enough to throw everything off.

So we built a vacuum holding table. Nothing elaborate — a box, a perforated top, a small pump. It holds the sheet down just enough to behave. Solved one problem, made a few others more visible.

Somewhere along the way, we started looking into inks more closely. What goes into them, how they’re mixed, how they sit on paper. Briefly considered making our own. Not entirely out of necessity. More out of curiosity. And maybe a bit of stubbornness.

It’s a strange detour. You start out trying to make chocolate, and somehow end up building printing equipment.

Still in the middle of it.
Might end up making the ink too. Who knows.