MATERIALS

1. Any powder will work as long as its fine enough to pass through the mesh of the screen. Graphite powder works very well. It can be bought in bulk or made by hand with a pencil and sandpaper. Colored chalk pastels (NOT oil pastels) work well and a powder can be made with sandpaper. Other possibilities are charcoal powder, conte crayon powder, or even dry Kool-Aid mix, which does some interesting things and smells great.

PROCESS

1. You can use powder in combination with direct drawing or ink-based methods.

2. Simply sprinkle the powder where you want it. This can be directly on the screen or over other materials such as watercolor, a wet film of ink, etc. Don’t go too thick or it won’t go through the screen and you’ll be left with voids in those areas (which aren’t always bad).

3. Print the screen as usual. The powder will streak in the direction of the squeegee. If the powder is being stubborn, go over the image several times, applying a lot of pressure to your squeegee. Generally, I do this with a dry squeegee (no ink on it) so I don’t contaminate the image.

ADVANCED MOVES

1. If you print the powder with an opaque ink, as opposed to a transparent ink, it will push back and subdue the visibility of the powder.

2. Printing an image and then sprinkling more powder on the screen and printing repeatedly can build up beautifully complex areas.