How to Use Photographs for Exposure Onto a Silk Screen

Want to plaster your face all over town (or perhaps your cat's or your brother-in-law's)? Here's how to silk-screen a photograph.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Contact Exposure Units For Silk Screen
• Silk Screens Coated With Photo Emulsion
• Photographs
• Transparency Film

1. Choose a photograph that's simple, clear, and has lots of contrast.
2. Shoot the image (or have it shot) to the desired size with transparency film (such as PMT) as a halftone or mezzotint with a line screen of 55 or less.
3. Coat the silk screen with photo emulsion. (See "How to Coat a Silk Screen With Photo Emulsion.")
4. Place the transparency over the silk screen frame. Make sure it's wrong-reading when it's looking up at you; when you print it, it will be right-reading.
5. Sandwich the transparency between the screen and the glass.
6. Expose it. (See "How to Expose Photo Emulsion for Silk Screen Printing.")

Tips & Warnings

• Start with a high-quality, black-and-white print for best results.
• Make sure you've got a 55-line screen - if the dots are too small, you won't be able to print the image.
• If you're using a color photograph, keep in mind that the red in the photograph will shoot as black, lowering the contrast of the image. This is often undesirable.