Cheap and Dirty Screen Printing 2, Make Your Own Silk Screen

Although a professional screen is a luxury, you can make a cheap alternative easily enough. This works just fine for some of the basic techniques.

Make your own screen: Supplies

1. A cheap or old picture frame from a second hand shop

2. Fine netting to cover the frame. I got mine (old curtains) from a charity shop. This doesn’t need to be made from silk*.

3. A stapler with lots of staples

4. Pliers and Scissors

How to?

1. Remove the back of the frame, take out the glass, and use a pair of pliers to remove the metal tabs, pulling them towards you to make them easiest to remove. I would recommend saving the glass, as you never know when a smooth non-porous surface will come in handy. I use mine to roll paint for lino printing.

   

2. Cut a piece of fabric that overlaps the empty frame by about 30cm on either side, to give you plenty of fabric to pull on.

3. Starting from one corner, staple the fabric to the frame on two adjoining sides (don’t do opposing sides yet), so that the net has been stapled in a right angle.

4. Now pull the fabric as taught as possible against the opposite long edge side from the edge you’ve already stapled and staple in place. You’ll need to add a lot of staples so that the fabric remains taught.

5. Finish with the last edge, which should be a short edge. Pull as taught as you can without damaging the netting and staple in place. The netting should be so tightly attached to the frame that it makes a thud when you flick it.

6. Trim off the excess fabric so it’s close to the staples and there isn’t any flapping around to get messy in the paint.

7. Ta-dah! Silk screen.

Look at part 3 for how to make a basic print using a newsprint template. 

* If you choose a fabric made from a plastic, be careful of drying the screen too closely with a hair dryer as this will singe the fabric and make a hole!