Hi Katherine, got your note and happy to hear there is so much interest in silkscreening.  I have developed a method that is very easy and quite a bit different from all that I have read on the subject.  I teach a class here in Wilmington, NC.  My method has no need for a wood frame, and tiny bits of screens can effectively be used in numerous ways and NO third firing which is what the decal crowd has to do.  I can get some amazing detail on my work and I don't have to work flat.  I am now exploring using my screens on top of majolica glaze before firing. Someday, I will try to work up a PDF file with photos, etc that I can make available on ETSY, etc for those wishing to use this method.

Hi Katherine, lucky you, I love jason Burnett's work.  No I have not tried the thermofax method, and I don't want to deal with using emulsion, so I buy the 8.5" x 11" sheets from PhotoEZ (http://www.photoezsilkscreen.com/) which I love.  I then put whatever text, artwork, etc I want on transparencies (I either can draw on the cheap ones with opaque pens (must be opaque, not just permanent), or I use my computer/printer to print very black images onto transparencies made for inkjet.  Then I make a sandwich of blank emulsion page, transparency on a backer board and cover it with either glass or plexiglass and go out in the sun for 1 minute plus or minus ten seconds depending on the UV rating (best to go out about noon), then plunk the screen into water for about 15 minutes, then brush out the soft emulsion that did not harden by UV light exposure because it was blocked by the opaque lines of the artwork or text.  Then dry and put in UV light again until emulsion hardens.  The screen is then ready to use.  I cut out all the images from the 8.5"x11" sheet if I have not used an all over design, and save in baggies for use  on clay, cardstock, fabric, or whatever.

I have found this to be the most economical, quickest way to get and use silkscreens and I have made hundreds of them.  I teach a class on this in Wilmington, NC.  on my blog, you can see us exposing the screens to sunlight. http://paulinesstuff.blogspot.com/2010/01/using-suns-uv-rays-to-bur...

 

I then use the screens to either print on newsprint with underglazes, then I save these in a file folder ready to use on wet or set up clay, or on top of matte glazes before firing, --or I use the screens directly on raw clay (which is my preferred method since you can scrape away any smudges, or fine tune the image, or even scrafitto into it if you want), or I use direct screens on bisque ware, and now I am experimenting with using the screens directly on top of majolica glaze before firing.  There are a few critical tips necessary to make this all work.  If you get a smudge on the bisqueware, you can wash whole thing off, but have to let it dry before trying again.  You sometimes have to spray a very fine mist over the dry glaze before trying to silkscreen on top.  Glaze that is too dry will clog the screen, same is true for bone dry clay, screening on that sometimes causes the screen to get clogged.  Hope this helps.

Pauline