Create a piece of silkscreen art to make a custom T-shirt, piece of artwork or one of a kind fabric. You can silkscreen art onto paper or wood. Although working with silkscreen can be challenging; with practice you can create drawings or computer graphics that translate to screen printing and can create silkscreen art to wear or display. Work with pen and ink, pencil, or a graphics program to make silkscreen art.
Instructions
Create Silkscreen Art
1. Sketch out your image. Keep in mind that silkscreening comes with some limitations. Work with blocks of color and firm, heavy lines. Choose a one-color design for your first attempts at silkscreen art.
2. Choose the scope and scale of your screen print design, as well as the medium for your screen printing. Reserve very large silkscreen designs for wall mounted artwork. Choose smaller scale designs for shirts, bags, and other wearables. Try very small silkscreen images on cards and children's clothing, or as a repeat on larger fabric items.
3. Decide how you prefer to create the screens for silkscreening. Choose between drawing fluid, screen filler and photo emulsion, depending upon the resources you have available and your personal preferences.
4. Create a freehand look by drawing directly onto the screen using screen-print drawing fluid. Apply screen filler to the screen once the fluid is dry.
5. Transfer a drawing or image to a screen by painting screen filler by hand onto the white or unprinted spaces in the design. Place your original drawing on paper under the screen to make this process easier. Work only with the negative space if you are using screen filler alone. Use screen filler and screen-print drawing fluid if you would like to create silkscreen art, but don't have the space and set up to burn a photo emulsion screen.
6. Print computer generated artwork onto a transparency or clear plastic sheet, typically used for projectors, and then burn it onto the screen with a high wattage light, using photo emulsion medium. Plan to work with properly burned screens and transparencies if you expect to need more than a single screen or would like to create more than just a few silkscreen images, as these are the most durable screens, according to art supply store Reuels.com.
7. Place your screen carefully into place on the item to be screen printed. Apply screen-printing ink and squeegee over the screen. Lift the screen off and allow the ink to dry thoroughly. Set the ink, if necessary, according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Tags: screen filler, drawing fluid, photo emulsion, your screen, Create Silkscreen