Me...well I needed to print 60 bases to use for the
Knock-Down Dolls I create. But maybe you took a silkscreen class and you have this great screen but no support. Or maybe you bought a screen at a craft store but can't afford a $250 silkscreen machine to go with it. And maybe you want to print like a gazillion same-size something-or-others in a neat and consistent manner but you don't have access to silkscreen equipment. Well fear not! Lady MacGyver is here to show you how to silkscreen on-the-fly!
First you'll need a shallow box like a shoebox top. Mine's attached, so I'm going to cut it off. Cereal and snack boxes also make a great surface for a one-time silkscrening session! Just cut off the largest panel (you don't even need the sides). If you have a bigger screen, get a bigger box, just make sure it's kinda flat and not so corrugated.
You want to mark off the area of your box that you're going to cut out, based on the size of your screen.
Make sure to make the hole large enough so that you have room on each side of your screen for ink and taping (see a few steps below).
Secure the screen to the bottom of your box first. You want it to be flush with the bottom of your substrate for ideal printing. Tape all sides with packing tape and cover up any open areas (like the one I have here in the bottom left corner).
Tape the screen to the inside of the box on all sides...
...making sure that your "squeegee" (I'm using an old hotel key card), has a clear, flat path inside the taped areas, or your screen may not print evenly.
Because I'm screening a dimensional item, I'm going to actually use a couple of the items as "risers" for my screen setup.
Secure your makeshift screen assembly in place by making a hinge with packing tape. If what you are printing is flat, you can just tape your assembly directly to the table.
Next you're going to line up the actual object to be printed with the image on the screen.
Tape around it to mark your area. My object is round, so I used smaller pieces of tape to define the oval shape.
Once your object placement is marked off, use a popsicle stick to place ink onto your screen on one edge of the image.
Draw ink smoothly and evenly across the screen with a slight downward pressure...
...and Violà! A perfect silkscreened image! Repeat a gazillion times.
My bases are now ready for their many, many, many
Knock Down Dolls! And it took me less than an hour to make 60 of them.
A here's a few final tips from Lady MacGyver...
- If you have a larger screen, use a squeegee that is as wide as your whole image. I use a window squeegee. They come in various sizes and can be found at your local auto or home store.
- Be sure and use only silkscreen ink which is a slow drying ink. Using other inks or paints may permanently clog up your screen!
- Make sure and wash your screen off as soon as you are done so the silkscreen ink does not dry on your screen forever.
Good luck to you in your silkscreening endeavors!
Nothing like another challenge to get your creative juices flowing! My most recent assignment was to decorate a white apron—using Ranger products—that I'll be wearing at the booth for the CHA Show. And how shall I decorate it? With cupcakes of course! Here's how I did it...
and you'll get a nice shade of watermelon.Hang to dry overnight and then throw it in the dryer to set.
I knew I was going to silkscreen the cupcakes, so I made a stencil and used the Inkssentials
White Pen to draw them in. Once all the sugary treats were properly positioned, I painted them in using Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic Paints (Hint: when painting over a colored background, use white as a base coat to keep these colors true).
So for silkscreening, I added 2 parts Extra Time to 1 part Studio Paint in Charcoal Black. This gave me enough time to silkscreen about 8-10 cupcakes... washing and drying my screen
in-between each pass! I even used Ranger's Craft Scraper as my "squeegee".
I'm so happy with how my apron turned out... that now I'd like to design fabrics! This was a whole lot of fun. And if you're going to the CHA Show... stop by the Ranger booth, say hi... and see it in person!
This week was our second silkscreening ladies night at Social Animal Press in Ocean Grove. Our gracious hostess—Molly Johnson—taught us the photo exposure screen making technique this time. It is a method that allows a more detailed image, so I went with my favorite subject matter... the cupcake. The class was great fun with old friends and new... and I am getting a little more confident with my screen printing. So much so that I dared to make a couple of shirts... LOVE them!
I was invited to a Ladies Night art class where the project was learning to silkscreen. I could not pass up the opportunity, as I love the look and when I found out we'd be creating our own art and making our own screens... well... I had to go. So, what kind of image should I make? Cotton candy of course! I'm very happy with the results and am looking forward to incorporating this technique into future creative projects. Yay for learning!
