colour put up in pound cans, Colours
ground in oil are alright if the sur-
plus oil on the top is poured off, Cover
with gold size, also bought at the paint
store and then to two pounds of colour,
add a package of ordinary corn starch,
stirring and thinning with general pur-
pose varnish or more gold size, until
the mixture is pliable. Do not thin too
much. ;

We will suppose that you are buying
the prepared variety,however, you will
need in your selection of colours, most
likely, white for tinting or light back
grounds, paint reducer, a can of block-
ing lacquer, and lacquer reducer.

Stand your screen up packedby plenty
of light, with the design facing you in
reverse, that is the printing side.
Brace temporarily, then thin a portion
of the lacquer with the reducer untilit
is the consistency of a thin paint .Then
proceedto block out the largest portion
of colour on your work, being careful to

_ leave the clearsilk wherever the colour
has to gO.

In this way you create a
stencil.This is the whole principle of
the screen process. Remember to start
with all light colours first, working
down to the strongest as you proceed. If
the cards or other materials are not
self-coloured, you will have to
with some form of light background be-
fore you commence ‘the blocking-in pro-
ceSS.

After running through with one col-
our, take the next largest spaces and
block to the edges of these and repeat
after each run until the last colour.

Bapco light colours will cover over
a dark background, even the white will,
put care mist be taken in getting the
screen absolutely clean pefore trying
to do this.

Having blocked in your screen take
some masking tape, the 2" width is
best (first shellac the surface of
plain silk and the inside edges of the
wood frame), Proceed to fasten the
strips of tape to cover in the space
on the inside of the frame. Around the
edges allow half the tape to over-
lap the wood. Be careful to overlap
corners orelse the paint may seep
through any gaps. You are now ready
to place pin hinges on the long side
of the frame, attaching these to a
piece of wood exactly the same thick-

cover.

the frame, fastened securely
so that the

Attach a
place a pul-
and counter-

ness as
to a firm bench or table,
side nearest you lifts.
screw eye to one corner,
ley overhead with a cord,
weight running through it. The weight
should be sufficient to keep the
sereen raised about a foot or so when
not in use. A strong spring and a
foot pedal or bar to pull the frame
down when printing is perhaps 4 bet
ter method, as the former has a ten-
dency to strain the one corner ofthe
printing surface. Whatever method you

use, the hands must be kept free to
wield the “squeegee” - a nice juicy
name for this indispensable article.
This is a piece of pliable rubber,
about 2" thick, 4" wide and slightly
less in length than the shorter side
of the frame, Take two pisces of
1x6" cut to the same measurement,

plane a wide bevel down the length of
each, place the rubber between, allow-
ing half an inch to project from the
bevelled side. Fill the remaining gap
at the top and the "squeegee" is ready.

Now the screen is complete, we have
our paint ready poured at one end, gas-
oline and plenty of rags to hand for
cleaning the silk, if held up for any
reason (even a delay of 15 minutes may
clog the mesh of the silk) and we
should be ready to try for a "

Take your card, place in what you
consider will be the correct position,
bring the screen down over it, and
grasping the squeegee firmly in each
hand, push or roll the paint before it
from one end to the other. Press even-
ly and use plenty of paint. A few
spoilt cards may result but this is un-
avoidable. If the colour is too thin
the edges will be foggy and blurred, if
too thick, the design will stand up in
ridges or the colour will not complete-
ly cover in one operation. There is a
happy medium which you will discover
with practice. One essential feature
to watch for, is to see that the screen
is coming into absolute contact at all
points with the surface to be printed.
Any places not touching will cause the
paint to stand up in a ridge and blur
the edges, so avoid sticking odd pieces
of paper anywhere between the screen
and the printed surface. This is most
important. (Continued on Page 8