I decided to make my own screens for printing having seen how flexible (literally) the
Thermofax screens are. There's nothing to say that screens have to be framed and heavy and unwieldy.
I made two types. One from plain mesh which I bought from
Hunt The Moon and one from some screens I had made up by Thermofax which I bought unframed to keep the cost down.
Making up the screens
For the plain mesh I went for white 43T which is good for fabric printing. If you want to understand the mesh sizes I found these links useful:
Catspit Forum and
Catspit site. But you can as easily go and buy some sturdy net curtain.
The Thermofax screens come ready cut to size.
To make a frame I used a card envelope that I'd had some books delivered in as it was a good mix of flexible and stiff. I also made some without the card frame, just duct tape.
You can buy
ready-cut plastic frames from Thermofax but I thought they were a bit thick and that the mini sized ones have really narrow edges on the long side. But I have yet to try them out.
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| Measure out and cut the card frame |
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| Cut the opening of the card frame |
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| Put double-sided sticky take around the edges to hold the mesh screen; if you are using a Thermofax screen then make sure to place it the right way round (they include clear instructions) |
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| Surround the frame with duct tape |
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| Turn over and surround the frame with more duct tape making sure to line it up with the tape on the other side of the screen |
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| Neat corners |
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| If you are making up a Thermofax screen then be sure to mark your screen with which side is up; I've also add a reminder to wash the screen |
I also made up a totally frameless screen and this is how I did it.
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| Tape the mesh screen to a cutting board with masking tape - make sure to get it nice and flat by readjusting one corner at a time (I stretched this one out a bit more than you see in the photo) |
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| Place duct tape all the way around on one side then turn over and place duct tape on the other side taking care to match up exactly over the tape underneath; or you could just fold the tape from underneath over itself - remember that you need to create a 'well' for the ink |
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| Tidy up the edges. |
Thermofax screens
I bought some
thermofax screens both framed and unframed. You can pick from their
ready-made range or send them an image to make up a
custom screen. Their turnaround is impressive at just a day or two.
Making my own thermofax screen
I even looked into trying to make my own thermofax or similar type of screen. Here are a couple of links I found useful (spoiler: turns out thermofax machines are impossible to find and expensive):
Enjoy your screen making.
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