HOW TO SUCCEED AT SILK-SCREENING

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by RICHARD SCHMIDT

When potter Susan Shutt set out to publicize her semiannual stoneware sale, she wanted to have an attractive color flyer to pass around ... but couldn't afford the commercial printers' prices. So Susan turned to silk-screening—a type of stencil printing that's used to produce posters, street signs, drinking-glass designs, labels, and personalized T-shirts—to create a high-quality color ad on heavy paper at an economical cost.

The printing project was a definite success. Sue's handmade announcements attracted hundreds of customers, and she sold enough pottery in one day to keep her little self-operated business going for another five months!

If you'd like to cash in on this creative way to print, too, you'll find that the costs for supplies and equipment will run somewhere around $20. Better yet, all the items you'll need are available at art supply and hobby shops!

FRAME AND FABRIC

The silk screen, itself, is nothing more than a wooden frame with fabric stretched tightly across its face. The devices can be bought (in a variety of sizes) ready-made ... but you can also build one out of appropriate lengths of knot—free, 1" X 2" wood strips which are doubled on each side, lap-jointed at the corners for strength, and varnished to reduce the chances of warping.

The size of your screen's frame will depend, of course, on the size of the design you wish to reproduce. At a minimum, you'll need 3-1/2 inches of clearance between the outer edge of your artwork's stencil and the frame. This "freeboard" allows the screen to flex as you print.

You'll also need a printing board (a piece of plywood or particle board will do) that's about three inches larger than your screen. This plank should be hinged to the frame at one end, using pin-type door hinges that permit easy removal (see Fig. A). Then, to guarantee a smooth printing surface, tape a piece of poster board or untextured mat board over the wood.

The fabric used on silk screens (they were originally made of silk, but are now usually polyester) comes in mesh sizes from 6XX to 20XX (the larger the number, the finer the mesh). If you plan to print on paper, use a 12XX size.

Your future stencil design won't adhere to the screen—as it must while you're printing—unless the fabric is absolutely clean and dry. Therefore, scrub the cloth with a grease-cutting product (such as trisodium phosphate), rinse it thoroughly, and set it aside— untouched— untiI you're ready to fasten it in place.

There are many ways to stretch the fabric and secure it to the wooden frame. One of the easiest methods is simply to staple the material down through strips of thin cardboard (the cardboard "gasket" allows the fabric to be pulled taut without ripping). To make sure the cloth stretches smoothly, fasten it at one corner of the frame, then pull the material to the corner at the far end of the same long side and staple that point in place. Now attach the cloth to this entire side of the frame at half-inch intervals.

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