How I Made The Thermofax Work With The White Riso Film (Part 1)

THE BACKSTORY

Welsh Products has been the only supplier of film for the Thermofax for some time. It probably is the reason that the Thermofax got so much attention in the first place. Someone discovered that by combining old machines with existing materials used for silkscreening made magical screens that could be used over and over again to make art cloth and decorate T-Shirts, scuba gear, wood, metal. It was so easy, you could simply draw on paper with a pencil, run it through the Thermofax and voila! a silkscreen was made.

This caused revival of a machine whose use went away with the advent of the overhead projector. Artists, tattoists, crafters, fabric artists, were all drooling over the Thermofax. It had the mystique and allure of the unwanted, revived. Some of us want to believe that every old thing has a new, future purpose.

I am sharing a video of my early experience with the Thermofax. That was done in 2014.

You'll find lots of videos and blogs of folks having tremendous fun with the Thermofax four or more years ago.

Then, Change came. Riso changed its formula for the screen. The previously very sensitive blue screen became a very insensitive white screen. Complaints arose. All those old machines that were saved from the E-Waste and re-sold for over $1K each (I purchased mine for $1350) were now again E-Waste.

I'm going to break for today, but I want to share some of the Thermofax fun we had from 2014-2016.

Here I am playing with Tessellations and Zentangle.

And again with some custom artwork for a Norwegian Bujinkan friend.

Here's a video with Tina's art dog, in different sizes and colors.

So as you see, the allure of a tool that can be used with so much ease can be quite strong if you like finding new uses for old things, especially a use that provides a new creative path!

More tomorrow.

Trish Tsoiasue is a community builder based in Long Beach, California . She builds socially responsible, grassroots communities, has many hobbies and interests, and lots and lots of ideas. She is trained in LEGO(r) Serious Play and the Creative Problem Solving Institute's methods of intentional creativity. The communities she has created and in which she takes most pride are the Long Beach LEGO User Group, Makersville and the (new) Leading Edge Multi-National Games, which she prototyped in 2018. She is the inventor of the Community Lemonade Game, a mechanism for path finding and problem solving that she plays. She's convinced that one day you will play it too.