Silk Screening with Alan

July 16, 2015

The small text at the bottom of the composition is applied to the panel by creating a photo resist and silk screening the glass paint directly onto the glass. This is a delicate process which requires an exact balance between the viscosity of the paint and the coarseness of the mesh on the screen. We turn to silk screen artist Alan Thurston,who works with us in his studio to achieve the perfect result.

Michelle prepares the paint in Alan Thurston's silk screen studio.

Alan burns the screen and tapes off the edges after affixing it to the manual screen printer.

The glass to be silk screened is placed on the table and registration marks are placed around it.

Alan checks the orientation of the screen and the glass before beginning the painting.

The piece of glass awaits he final preparation of the tools and the paint.

The glass paint is carefully added to the screen.

The paint is carefully and repeatedly squeegeed through the screen onto the glass.

Alan pulls the squeegee across a second coarser screen to achieve denser paint application.

Michele holds up the piece of glass with the still wet paint successfully applied in the right density to it, ready to be put into the kiln and fired on permanently.