Anatomy of a Poster
Curious how a poster goes from an idea to your wall, “TCB” marinated at the AC-less Bearded Lady shop with proprietors Josh Chalmers and JD Fanning last week. Once they get the artwork, Chalmers explained, their laser printer prints out separations, one sheet per color. Each sheet of film is carefully taped to a screen treated with photo emulsion and exposed to light, then rinsed thoroughly; the emulsion washes off the places covered by the ink on the film. Mindful that “you can have an error in so many places,” as Chalmers says, they line up the screen with the posterboard on their pressing table, squeegee the ink through – the ink is so noxious they wear respirators – and place the poster on nearby drying racks, repeating as many times as they have screens. Chalmers estimates an average poster run at 75-100 for bands, half that for clubs. Bearded Lady also prints T-shirts, notecards, wrapping paper, menus for Stubb’s, and the cover art for Tia Carrera‘s forthcoming disc, which the terrible trio releases Aug. 19 at Room 710. For the ladies, Bearded Lady’s pretty pink Tia panties will be available on the merch table.
This article appears in August 6 • 2004.