Fun Experiments with Easy Screen Printing on Glass
I have been watching and studying screen printing techniques from afar via the internet. Screen printing on glass seems like it would be a fun technique, and easy to do for repeat designs. Most of my pieces are one-of-a-kind, but for the holidays I start thinking about production work. What has held me back from trying screen printing is the process of creating the screens. It all seemed a bit daunting and a lot of work to do maybe six pieces.
Recently, I came across some adhesive screen print designs from Martha Stewart. This seemed like a simple way to give it a try without a lot of expense. Here is the link to her video https://www.marthastewart.com/938188/martha-stewart-crafts-silkscreen-technique
The result was pretty darn good! I used one of the screen print stencils with some Bullseye Color Line paint. Using very little paint and an old hotel room key card, I squeegeed the paint over the screen stencil. I used white paint on clear glass and put that over a piece of black. The full fuse firing schedule I used was for another project I was working on. This particular firing schedule was a little hotter and the hold was little longer than I would normally fire to. The results were good, but I think they would have been event better with a lower temperature and shorter hold time. The saturation of the white paint held up well even though the white did “fade” a bit. The design was not quite as crisp after firing. It is a softer look. As always, more testing needed. Something else I will be exploring is making my own stencil designs using my vinyl cutter and applying that to a screen.
