When my local surface design group got together, we made silk screens. We used a combination of methods but it worked really well. We used PhotoEZ and a Yudu machine.  We tried to use the supplies that came with the Yudu machine but it didn’t work and took a really long time. With the PhotoEZ, you just need your design on a transparency, you put both on the Yudu machine and ‘burn’ the screen for 4 1/2 minutes. We used the high resolution screens. Then you soak them in the sink for 5-10 minutes and gently rub away the part that wasn’t exposed to light. And look at the screens I made! It was really exciting to see my designs become a silk screen. Today, I used duct tape to put around the edges so I would have a well space to put thickened dye.

 Here’s one screen with the duct tape around it.

 Then I got busy using my new print table and my new silk screens. I used thickened acid dyes with presoaked (in acetic acid and water) scarves. I did both of my flour paste resist scarves. One I used brown and the other I used ecru.

 This is the brown one. I thought that I had made the brown a bit too red at this point.

 But once dry, the color works fairly well. The scarf on the right is the one with the ecru screen printing. It is really subtle, that is to say, you can hardly see the silk screening. But I actually like it that way.

 Here’s a close up of the brown silk screens.

 My fossil fish.

 This is the trilobite screen on the right side. Can you see it?

 Then I used the silk screens to do some discharge on this brown scarf. I always forget to test ahead of time and I always get a surprise as to what color remains after discharging.

These turned orange. Here’s a better photo of the trilobite. I had a blast and I really liked doing the silk screening with the PhotoEZ screens. It was simple and fairly quick. I will definitely have to order more of these. The only problem is how expensive they are, nearly $10 per sheet. The lower resolution ones are less expensive but we thought with the complexity of the designs we were using that the higher resolution would be better. If you haven’t tried these, you don’t need a Yudu to burn the screens. You just need a light source. It takes a bit longer but if you have a sunny day, it works in the sun as well. So give it a try, it’s great fun.