Yahoo for YuDu - 2 Days of Screen Printed Record Crafts!

Sure it costs a few hundred bucks, ya it's big and like most new craft ventures there are lots of accruements that you need to make it all work -BUT.... The YuDu is worth it. The YuDu makes what was once a somewhat tedious, messy and time consuming process happen in a very clean jiff. I would still one day like to know the fundamentals of screen-printing and how to burn screens the old school way, but at this exact moment with a 7 month old baby which only allots me so many hours a day to craft - mama's gotta take a few short cuts.


The lovely Rachel Hobson guided my first attempt at the YuDu. Rachel is a much more experienced screener (old school and YuDu) and graciously offered to give me a lesson. I like to refer to her as my YuDu Guru. My solo attempts at the YuDu did not turn out so hot so I in turn got turned off. That is until this past week when the YuDu light went on in my head. The stars were aligned with Tallulah napping, Chris going out of town leaving me to my own crafty devices and I had a big stack of records left over from my Musical Mustache Masks project just begging to be up-cycled.


You heard me right the YuDu not only works on the typical tote bag and T-shirt I used it to screen records all weekend long. As matter of fact I screened so many records I am breaking my YuDu report into two blog posts. Today we are taking plain old vinyl records to an all new wearable level.


First things first if you don't know how to make a bracelet out of a vinyl record I have this handy dandy video of me making some on Stylelicious. They are super easy. Once you watch the video and know how to make the bracelets scroll on down for instructions on how to use your YuDu to customize the baubles.


SUPPLIES
YuDu & YuDu Goodies
Vinyl Records
Scissors
Craft Knife
Oven
Beer Bottle

I was planning on making record bracelets for my booth at Austin City Limits so I burned a screen to adorn them. Each record makes 4 bracelets. Using Photoshop I laid out 4 designs to print on my transparency that I measured to fit on a 12" record.


Next I burned my screen. A few tips - first, don't get the screen too wet. Second, the YuDu has a built in fan/drying rack. The instructions say it takes a lot less time to dry than it really does. If the sticky back does not peel off your emulsion sheet easily then the screen is still too wet to burn. Once your screen is dry you tape your transparency to the glass on the YuDu, put your emulsionafied screen on the glass, program the timer (I like 6.5 minutes) and hit the burn button. When the timer goes off rinse your screen well and put it back in the YuDu fan to dry.


Once my screen was burned I was ready to add the ink. The YuDu comes with a sticky placket to hold your item in place so I laid my record down making sure it was lining up with the designs on my screen. I decided to use yellow, orange and pink ink at the same time. Using my squeegee I ran the ink down the YuDu and then back up. The YuDu does not recommend screening more than 10ish items at a time before washing the screen. Just like traditional silk screening you need to keep ink or water moving through the screen at all times or you will ruin your screen.

Once my ink was dry I converted my records into bracelets.


I could have stopped here, but why? I had a screen left over from the YuDu booth at the Handmade Nation event and a new journal with an ugly cover begging for a revamp. I screened another record with the crafty image, measured out my journal and scored the lines on the record, heated in a 200-degree oven, cut and glued. That's it, my new crafty journal was born!


Love to hear what you think about the YuDu? Do you have one? Do you want one? Are you sticking to your roots and boycotting the YuDu and making your own screens?

Remember it's silk screening week here at Naughty Secretary Club. I have two more YuDu projects tomorrow, a DIY silk screening project on Thursday and a wrap up of the Handmade Nation Austin event on Friday complete with give away! *Please note that I was given a Yudu for free by the company*