By: Lynda
acrylic paints, crafts, screen printing, thermofax screens, tutorials, wax pastels, , , , ,

Working with Margaret’s thermofax screens

I posted back last December about the thermofax screens I won from Margaret Applin. They were so neat, but I wasn’t real excited about the results.

Thermfax screen printing on white fabric
Thermofax screen printing on white fabric

Then I purchased her Quilting Arts video and played a little more with these screens.

Digital Design for Screen Printing
Digital Design for Screen Printing

This video not only shows you her tips for printing, but she also takes you through PhotoShop Elements and how to make images for your thermofax screens. But since I had her screens I wanted to learn how to make my print look like hers or at least better than my original attempt.

So let’s get started. First, I used white acrylic paint to screen print on a piece of dyed fabric. After the image was dry I backed the fabric with felt and then stitched the design.

Stitched thermofax screen print
Stitched thermofax screen print

Now it’s time to color in this beautiful design. With Reeves water soluble wax pastels, I added color.

Painting thermofax screen print with water soluble wax pastels
Painting thermofax screen print with water soluble wax pastels

Then with a wet brush I spread the color around.

Using a wet paint brush to spread out the color
Using a wet paint brush to spread out the color

And the finished piece. It just needs to be framed or attached to a canvas.

Completed Thermofax Screen Image
Completed Thermofax Screen Image

And a closeup:

Closeup of thermofax screen print
Closeup of thermofax screen print

I’m real happy with the results. Other paints could be used, but I wanted to see how these wax pastels worked.

These screens are different that most thermofax screens I’ve seen in that they screen the negative image. Instead of all of the paint showing the design, these show the background. To make them look good, they need to be painted to really pop out the design. Margaret has some great screens to play with. Check them out here.

Well, that’s all my fun for today. Stay tuned next week for the first of three giveaways before Christmas.