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How to Build an Acetate Screen

The practice of crafting stencils to create art is a widespread one, ranging from Asia to Australia and dating back to the Stone Age. Creating a stencil using acetate as a screen requires basic crafting supplies and a light-sensitive emulsion. A picture is painted on a piece of acetate and the acetate is placed on a nylon screen coated with light-sensitive emulsion. The areas of the light-sensitive emulsion not covered by the paint on the acetate harden, forming a stencil.

Things You'll Need

2 1-foot-by-1-inch pieces of pine wood
2 6-by-1-inch pieces of pine wood
Nails
Scissors
Hammer
Staple gun
Nylon screen
Acetate sheet
White paint
Paintbrush
Light-sensitive emulsion

Instructions

- 1
  Set the four pieces of pine wood on a flat surface and place them to form a rectangular frame. Nail the pieces together at each of the four corners.
- 2
  Cut a piece of nylon screen as wide and as tall as the wooden frame. Staple the screen on the top side of the frame. As you staple the screen onto the frame, ensure the screen is stretched tightly.
- 3
  Cut a piece of acetate from the acetate sheet, which is as wide and as tall as the interior dimensions of the wooden frame.
- 4
  Paint a picture on the piece of acetate, leaving blank spaces.
- 5
  Spread a light-sensitive emulsion across the nylon frame. Set the piece of acetate on top of the nylon screen.
- 6
  Set the screen in the sun to let the emulsion set. The parts of the emulsion not covered by the paint on the acetate will harden. Gently rinse the screen to remove the unhardened emulsion.

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