EDIT: I have found that these overly explicit instructions tend to make people paraniod about using the ScreenGoo. They are written like youhave never seen paint before in your life. If you can handle an application of premium paints..and can do it very well..then these instructuions can be largely ignored. Read them of course.. it's important to do so. But, like assembling your kid's tricycle, just throw them over your shoulder..and proceed at will.
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I just e-mailed this to a guy who has bought a greyscreen mixture, and I think it is relevant to all screen painting endeavors, so, here it is:
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Make sure you have a clean area to work in, basically, the ability to do a full clean roller stroke, with a roller,and a handle attached to the roller.(full size handle, about 4.5 feet, so you can reach cleanly)
If you are using a wall, mask off the area with some tape and plastic, if you have to. Your painting strokes will have to be even, and run off the edge of the screen. Possibly as far as a foot. Make sure the masking is in place.. a short stroke to prevent going on the the wall will damage the results of the screen surface in that area..which means bad screen characteristics in that area. Is this what you want? NO. So, make the masking stick out past the screen edge limits by about 1 foot, so you don't have to worry as much. 8 inches might be enough. Whatever you feel is best for your painting skills.
You cannot paint unsupported fabric, as it will flex, and the roller will not be flat to the surface of the material, as far as evenness of surface pressure goes. (this point is specific to rolling, and does not matter when spraying) The material would have to be taped to a wall or the like, painted, then dry, and then put on a frame.
Remember, this is a paint with a very complex particle suspension..and is basically a high grade screen coating in a can. the way the system sits on the surface is critical to the outcome, so control of the roller is your arbiter of the outcome. I am emphasizing this merely because I want you to understand that the results of this lie squarely on your shoulders, as far as painting skill and technique goes. Follow instructions, and you will be fine.
You will need:
A foam 1/2, to 3/8 yellow foam stain or finish roller, possibly two, to keep the speed of the applications up (and to make sure you use a dry roller each coating. Water in a roller will create slipping of the roller when it is loaded with paint, so this is emphatically not recommended. I completely dry my rollers between applications. (while the primer is drying)
A decent roller, and a handle that will not twist, bend, or loosen during the application. Remember, evenness of application is paramount, and the rollers tend to put more pressure on the attached side of the roller, as opposed tot he open end of the roller (where the actual foam roller slides on. A roller that is wired to each end of the foam roller would be nice, but I have never seen one. Un-even pressure is your enemy.
One paint tray, of course.
A surface to paint on. Solid, even, and smooth. Non-porous, as well. If you are using a hardboard surface, like a sheet of gyprock (sheetrock) or the like, it actually turns out better if you place it on the floor in a clear area, with good lighting. Your painting strokes are more perfect and linear. This is due to the fact that you don't have to pivot the motion of the paint stroke through both arms.. just one.
This allows you to thin the mixture of topcoat by a bit more. This increases the evenness of the topcoat in it's settling characteristics..and improves the textural evenness of the overall surface that you will achieve. However.. the slightly more water thinned topcoat is more likely to slip during application as far as the roller behavior goes, so a very cleanly cut roller, that is evenly loaded with paint, and has easy frictionless motion on the roller handle mechanism is important. Once again, this directly equates to finished screen quality. The results achieved via this method can directly approach that of spraying. If I am doing a screen for myself, and am rolling, I much prefer the floor method of application. Results are more consistent, and lean towards perfection.
There is no reason you can't achieve a excellent result with a screen painted directly on a wall; it's just that the sheet-on-floor trick has the potential to work that-much-better.
Prepping for painting:
You will have to take one half of the primer out of the can (500 ml) and place it in a suitable mixing container.. for a average sized screen. (52"x96" or so). This half liter of paint, can be slightly thinned with water, to slow the drying slightly and to make the surface settle better. Take that half liter of paint and add about 50ml (one tenth.. NO MORE!!) of clean water to it, and stir it, with a mixing bit on a cordless speed drill, or variable speed drill, for about 10-15 minutes (minimum 10 minutes), making sure no part of the paint has not been mixed. This is required due to the fact that the particle size is so small, and so consistent..that it wants to clump, and must be separated. Remember, the amount of particle suspension in this paint is much higher than any paint you have ever used.. and it must be worked with-not against.
More mixing time>>> directly equals better results.
When you mix the paint.. it will aerate, or cavitate in the mixing blade, and tiny bubbles will get into the mix. This is virtually guaranteed. Depending on the thinness of the mixture you are comfortable with, the air will take time to come out. The air bubbles are not really a problem, but you can wait a bit too see the results of bubbling if you wish. I personally don't worry about it too much, as the paint mix is usually thin enough that most bubbles come out easily, unless really vigorous mixing has been used (ie:, 1200 rpm stirring/mixing, for 20 minutes) and the mix is overly thick.
You will need about 300 watts of lighting. Maybe one 60-100 watt lightbulb on each side of the screen so you are not searching for problems spots.. that you cannot see, while the screen is drying..and becoming unworkable. Lighting is critical. Set this up first. make sure that the lights are placed so you can see the wet paint surface at any angle, without having to fight for it. If you cannot do such, you might not find a bad spot until you are trying to use the screen..and it will be too late by a long shot. The extra (third light) should be behind and above you, so you can see the top of the screen clearly and cleanly. Or, it could be handheld (a mechanic shop light), but be sure it's cord cannot EVER touch the surface of the screen, no matter how you hold the light.
This is water based acrylic paint, so it dries faster than most latex paints. You will have slightly less time to work with the paint than you are used to, if you have used house paint before.
So, one half of the primer, for one screen surface, approximately. More paint does NOT equal a better surface. The right amount equals the better surface, NOT QUANTITY of paint. Remember that.
Actual painting of screen...and technique:
Put the mixed and thinned primer mix in the tray. LIGHTLY load the roller with paint. basically, dab one side of the roller into the mix, roll it on the ribbed surface of the tray to rotate the roller, and then dab more paint on the roller. do this until a light load of paint is on the surface of the foam roller. Do NOT overload the roller, unless you are a VERY competent paint roller. The heavy rolling of the paint in the the foam roller will make it soaked,and it will flatspot and slide on the surface, instead of roll. You will end up with too much paint in one area..and not have the ability to move it around on the screen surface. So, light roller loading,and then do about 1/5th of the screen with that, approximately. then, load up the roller again. do it in small chunks, like that, moving across the screen. Using full strokes on the final finish roll, in each area. Check for evenness of rolling as you finish each area. So, to reiterate: lightly load the roller. use vertical strokes, that are evenly pressured (on each side of the roller) and the paint is very, very, evenly laid down,as far as thickness of layers goes. Even layering is critical, as well as evenness of surface texture and lumping is NOT allowed. So, some pressure can be used to spread it about, but the top finishing stroke must be evenly done in pressure and angles..across the ENTIRE area you are working on. Do NOT go back on your old work, to fix a minor flaw that you might finally see..as you move on to the next section. You will ruin what you already made, for sure. By this time, the paint (in the finished area) may be unworkable(not likely, but possible. best not to take chances.just don't screw up the first time). You will be taking a chance of ruining the surface texture in that area, and either removing or adding too much paint in that previous area as well.
So, finish the entire screen area in this manner, with the primer. This will give you a decent preview of what will be going on with the topcoat, the critical application here. The base primer coat is entirely MATTE characteristic in nature. Almost exactly 100% matte. As close to a gain of 1 as you are ever likely to see. with low gain, screen flaws are hidden,as they don't show up as flaws in surface output...it's even..everywhere! No gain change, so....it's hard to see after the screen has dried. That's a good thing, I guess. The higher the gain, the easier it is to see flaws in application. So, at this point, you have used up approximately 1/2 of the primer mix.
You can force dry this primer coating with a handheld hair dryer, if you wish. It will dry quite fast, at least as far as the surface drying goes. Keep the dryer back a bit, (8 to 12 inches from the screen, 1500 watt hair dryer) if the entire paint mix (the full liter)has been used, as the surface will shrink and split, if it dries too fast compared to the layer underneath. A thin coating of 1/2 liter (on a 54"x96") screen will have little danger of this happening.
After this has dried, then, you can sit back and use the screen to see how your PJ reacts to a perfect 1.0 matte screen characteristic. Use the opportunity to increase your familiarity with -and knowledge of- screens.
The ScreenGoo system final coating:
This is a gain adjusted, color corrected topcoat for the base matte mixture. it is slightly translucent..and will become more so, after it starts to dry, and will reach what is probably it's final 'gain' point.. only after a minimum of two weeks of drying. The gain you have on the first day, is not what you have on the second day..and not what you have on the third..etc. it is very close to it's final gain point after the first week...but will drift upwards (in gain) for up to one month. As you may guess, the balancing act it presents to designing such is tricky.. at best. Due tot he fact that it has gain..it it very important to have a clear understanding about getting it to lay down right,as flaws will creep into the area of being visible to the eye. Interestingly enough, usually not during viewing. Besides.. you only used HALF the mix.. So you can do it again, if you have to! You will very likely not have to do the screen again..but I believe in playing it safe.
So, there's your insurance.. built right into the product...or, if you are confident, you can make a HUGE screen, and do it once.(75 sq. ft or so)
Rolling the ScreenGoo is the same as the matte base primer coat. The primer must be dry, of course. The topcoat mix should be thinned, so it is very much like a average housepaint in thinness. maybe about the same amount of water as in the primer coat( about 50ml.) this will make it easier to act correctly as a topcoat,and settle more evenly. Being a second coating(after having done the primer), your familiarity with how the mixture works will be fully up to speed. this will drastically cut back the possibility of you getting negative results.
Follow the same instructions as the primer, when doing the topcoat. you can do the finial drying with a hair dryer, if you wish. this will protect the surface from damage. Consistency and character of the minute areas of the surface is PARAMOUNT. So, if there is a hair in the mix laid down on the surface, and you find it.... DON'T touch it. Leave it there, unless you have the ability to remove it with a set of tweezers, or the like. Damaging the character of the 'lie' of the paint on the surface is more foolish than having a hair in the mix. Trust me on this one.
basically, that's about it. not much more to say. Once you have done one screen, you can find yourself making them in about 1 hour or so.
Rolling works terrifically, but spraying works best. A thicker topcoat increases the gain, though,and stops the matte characteristics of the undercoat from coming through. This matte characteristic of the undercoat is what gives you the terrific off-axis gain gain characteristic. the two gains combine to give you a screen that is very viewable on axis, or off axis, depending on the gain of the topcoat.
Mixtures for rolling have a different behavior when they are sprayed,as far as the overall gain achieved goes,and this is almost entirely due to the thicker topcoating. So, a gain that could be at 1.35 as a rolled mixture, could end up quite different if it is sprayed. Basically, it would end up higher, like 1.5-1.6 or so.