[VinSanity]

Hello,

So I was wondering ... what is the best way to hold down a stencil on a screen prior to burning? prior to laying down the glass?

I do not have a vacuum table (yet)

There have been times where I go to layout my stencils on a screen and they shift ..
ex.. I layout my stencils on a shirt covered platen, measure precicley, carry it over to the light source carefully, but then somewhere between the carry and laying down my glass.. the sencil shifts!

It's frusterating.. which resorts me to using tiny pieces of scotch tape to hold my stencil down, but the only drawbacks I've come to experience is that the tape covered emulsion picks up pin holes after exposure

Does anybody have a different way of holding down thier stencils

 

[Solmu]

It's a film positive, not a stencil.

And yes, clear tape is the way to go - whether you use a vacuum frame or not you need to tape the positive to the screen to prevent shifting. The tape shouldn't be causing pinholes, but if it does you can always paint over them with emulsion since they'll be off-image (or tape over them to print).

 

[brent]

I use cheap scotch tape, and have since I had a homebuilt exposure unit to present day when I use a vacuum exposure unit. I put enough on so that the film doesn't flop around either, because if you lay it down on your unit and the film folds under itself, well, that sucks.

 

[VinSanity]

Thanks to the both of you. I figured it was standard procedure to use some sort of clear tape to hold the positive down, but I havent come across anybody make mention of that whenever I read anything about the process!