Acetate

Next, I wanted to try acetate (remember overhead projector slides? ha.) for a stencil since it's thick enough to be pretty stiff, so therefore hopefully easier to place where I want it without it moving around on me. Also, since it resists water, I would be able to use it again as many times as I want without the risk of ink eventually seeping through.

I dug up a stencil I made last summer, from a sketch.

[ sketch and stencil ]

To make the stencil, I just traced my drawing onto the acetate with a permanent marker, then cut each piece out with a sharp exacto blade. Since I've used the stencil before, it's a little dirty, but that's unimportant.

[ stencil detail ]

My first thought with the acetate stencil is that I may have to spray mount it down since there are so many little connections that ink could easily squeeze through, but I didn't want to ruin a brand new screen with spray mount. I figured I'd try taping it down first, since that would be a lot easier if it did work.

[ stencil taped down, screen ready to go! ]

Well, as it turns out, simply taping the sheet of acetate down worked just fine! I think this is the print that I am the most happy with so far. It was easy just to tape the acetate in its place, and the edge quality was pretty good for the most part.

[ print using acetate stencil ]

Once again, my biggest problem was ink coverage, which is a result of my shortcomings, not of the method of blocking the ink. On to keep practicing!

[ poor ink coverage again... ]