On Saturday, January 16th, Gary Dean and Ralph Thorne talked about silk screening. Although the does not seem like a wood working topic, silk screening can be used to decorate wood items. Gary and ralph had some examples. Perhaps the most well known example was a bird house with “See Rock City” which was silk screened on to the roof. Gary discussed the process and showed how to make a frame and stretch the material across the bottom of the frame. The screen must then be coated with a light sensitive emulsion in a darkened room. The pattern is printed in black on a clear vinyl sheet which is then placed onto the emulsion coated screen. Usually a piece of glass is placed over the top of the pattern to hold it in place and then the screen is exposed to light which sets the parts of the emulsion that is not covered by the pattern. After the emulsion is set the glass and the pattern is removed the emulsion that is not set is washed away to form the pattern on the screen.

To use the pattern the screen is placed over the object to be ink is placed on one side of the frame. The ink is then drug across the screen with a squeegee which forces the ink through the pattern on to the object. Ralph showed the meeting attendees how this was done with an existing pattern that he had. He printed the image on to a board that had been painted a solid color.

Gerald Jones - President