Ultimate Captain America Costume Questions
- Thread starter Spoox
- Start date
irishamericanlad
Sr Member
this is from the LOH...
http://theleagueofheroes.yuku.com/topic/5232?page=1
The screen is a wood frame with fabric stretched over it like a canvas, but the fabric is a thin, flat-weave that allows the ink to penetrate through it and onto the printing surface, be it fabric or paper (fabric specifically made for this is kind of expensive ... I used chiffon, which is way cheaper, but not as good as the expensive stuff for intricate designs). A light-sensitive emulsion is spread onto the screen fabric and allowed to dry; the emulsion has a consistency a bit like Elmer's glue, and it dries to a pale bluish color. You have to let it dry in a dark place, BTW. Whatever design you are making the print of is copied onto a transparent film sheet (this is your "positive") and then positioned on the screen bottom side up, then a plate of glass goes over it to keep the transparency flat. The light source used to expose the emulsion on the screen, for home purposes anyway, is a 150-watt incandescent bulb with an aluminum pie plate as a reflector, which you place in a fixed position several inches above the glass plate for a prescribed amount of time (I forget exactly how much, but it's about 20-30 minutes). After exposure, spray the screen lightly with warm water to create the "negative": the emulsion that was blocked from the light source by the positive will dissolve, leaving a negative image on the screen. You can't use a very strong spray or it will wash all of the emulsion out and then you'll have to start over again. Let the screen dry overnight. When you are ready to print, you place the screen over your print medium, pour a bead of ink onto the edge of the screen, then using a squeegee (there are some made specifically for this, not for washing windows) drag the ink over the screen, fully covering the negative image but applying no pressure, this step is just to cover the screen with ink. Then, with pressure, pull the squeegee back over the screen. When you lift the screen, you will have a perfect positive image of your design. Speedball makes screen printing kits that come complete with all the stuff you will need to make a screen and print your own design, and they sell them at Hobby Lobby.
http://theleagueofheroes.yuku.com/topic/5232?page=1
The screen is a wood frame with fabric stretched over it like a canvas, but the fabric is a thin, flat-weave that allows the ink to penetrate through it and onto the printing surface, be it fabric or paper (fabric specifically made for this is kind of expensive ... I used chiffon, which is way cheaper, but not as good as the expensive stuff for intricate designs). A light-sensitive emulsion is spread onto the screen fabric and allowed to dry; the emulsion has a consistency a bit like Elmer's glue, and it dries to a pale bluish color. You have to let it dry in a dark place, BTW. Whatever design you are making the print of is copied onto a transparent film sheet (this is your "positive") and then positioned on the screen bottom side up, then a plate of glass goes over it to keep the transparency flat. The light source used to expose the emulsion on the screen, for home purposes anyway, is a 150-watt incandescent bulb with an aluminum pie plate as a reflector, which you place in a fixed position several inches above the glass plate for a prescribed amount of time (I forget exactly how much, but it's about 20-30 minutes). After exposure, spray the screen lightly with warm water to create the "negative": the emulsion that was blocked from the light source by the positive will dissolve, leaving a negative image on the screen. You can't use a very strong spray or it will wash all of the emulsion out and then you'll have to start over again. Let the screen dry overnight. When you are ready to print, you place the screen over your print medium, pour a bead of ink onto the edge of the screen, then using a squeegee (there are some made specifically for this, not for washing windows) drag the ink over the screen, fully covering the negative image but applying no pressure, this step is just to cover the screen with ink. Then, with pressure, pull the squeegee back over the screen. When you lift the screen, you will have a perfect positive image of your design. Speedball makes screen printing kits that come complete with all the stuff you will need to make a screen and print your own design, and they sell them at Hobby Lobby.
Chiok
Well-Known Member
I was about to say that process sounds alot like screen printing than dye sublimation. For methods to do this at home, Instructables has a fair few tutorials on how you can screen print at home with some regular materials and some specialist ones. Here's one tutorial, but there are more on the site:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Screen-Printing:-Cheap,-Dirty,-and-At-Home/
Apparently you can buy dye sublimation printers for $100, says Wikipedia. They seem awfully wasteful though.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Screen-Printing:-Cheap,-Dirty,-and-At-Home/
Apparently you can buy dye sublimation printers for $100, says Wikipedia. They seem awfully wasteful though.
Aquaman
Sr Member
dye sublimation for costumeing is alarge machine that handles large bolts of fabric. The design is done in a computor program that is then fed to teh dye machine. You can buy small dye sublimation machines such as a canon photo printer, but those willl not handle anyhting except small prints.
