It turns out that Lynda's "free" Thermofax machine needed some repairs. But since she had the screen film, she wanted to try it with a lamination iron (think of a big flat-bed iron). We tried everything we could think of (changing the temperature, time in the iron, fresh Xerox copies), but we couldn't get that to work either.
Finally, she pulled out some old screens she had and we pushed some prints through ... She will see about getting her Thermofax repaired, or reconditioned. If it can't be fixed, I know there are venders out there who are willing and able to take my images and burn them for me. Either way, someday I'll have my own screens ... I can be patient. ;-)
The gold was an official screen print ink. It's thicker than I thought it would be, but that makes sense as you don't want runny paint or ink bleeding past the stencil. With the second screen (berries), I layered blue and red versions on top. These were a color concentrate mixed with a print base. While it was still wet, it looked pretty neat -- like neural pathways all tangled up. But the red and blue disappeared as it dried. Lynda says I needed an opacifier, either as it's own layer or mixed with the color and print base to make them show up on black. If you look closely, you can see a shadow of them underneath the gold. It looked great on the white print board we were working on, as it bled through the black fabric. Learning how to make an official print board was worth going over to Lynda's for the day. She is so knowledgeable about anything I can think to ask her. ;-)
Images from her old thermofax screens - gold leaves and berries ... This made me want to try making some skeleton leaves of my own, so I collected some leaves and have them soaking in a solution of bleach and water :
I'll let you know how it turns out.
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