screen printing

Over a year ago, I made several thermofax printing screens at the Lowell Fiber Studio with Linda Dunn.  I was excited to use them but some how I played with a few, but then went back to gelatin printing.

I love the details that are possible with screen printing.  I have the stuff to do emulsions and burn screens but never got to it.  I have made a few drawing fluid screens that I like but the line quality it definitely rougher.

I like the combination of abstract marks from the brayer and the details of the thermo fax screen.  I like that I can turn a high contrast photo or a doodle drawing into a screen and make multiple impressions.

If you want to give thermo fax printing a try, I have a few of my used screens for sale in my Etsy shop StudioGermain.  Get one and print it on fabric, paper, prints, cards and more.

Happy Printing!

Thermofax screens are so easy to use and are easily incorporated in to mixed media printmaking.  One challenge that I have when screen printing is keeping my fingers clean, so that I can keep my prints clean.  I have found that –

• take the time to set up my workspace
• so I have space for the inky screen, the squeegee and the prints
• then everything goes  a little more smoothly

Today I pulled out a pile of practice gelatin prints.  These are prints that are less than perfect, something a did for a demo or a warm up.  I have folders and folders of these types of prints.

You know my motto is make lots of prints so that you will get one or two that you really love.

I pulled out a pile of prints and set up my workspace and printed this fish on top of several gelatin plate prints.

Another tip for thermo fax screen print is to prepare many printing surfaces.  I mean have a lot of paper ready to print on.  Once your screen is filled with ink you want to keep printing, so you don’t waste the ink.  This is great if you are a fabric artist and like to create over all patterns on large pieces of fabric.  An artist buddy of mine, Linda Branch Dunn does this a lot.

The empty plastic containers you see in the upper right hand corner are great for setting the inky screen on and the inky squeegee/credit card.  That way you avoid creating ink blobs here and there.

I am thinking about creating an online thermofax screen printing workshop. If you are interested in learning more about screen prints with the thermo fax screen, then join the special interest list.