Screen Printing Tools on Tuesday

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.

ThermoFax set up by Linda Germain — Workspace set up for thermofax printing on gelatin prints

printing with a thermo fax screen by linda germain — The screen is lined up with the lines on the framing mat and I used a credit card to pull the ink through the screen

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.

Pulling the thermo fax screen print by linda germain — Pulling the print

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.