A few days ago I happened to be the last person to leave the classroom and as I was leaving I stopped to very closely dissect the projector screen in the room. Closely examining the screen and noting the color/texture of it I had an epiphany......




The material that projector screens are made out of look EXACTLY, and I mean EXACTLY, like White-Out.




After seriously considering and eventually discarding the idea of investing a large amount of time and money to paint my wall with White-Out, I promised myself to keep a look out for any other similarly viable potential materials for a DIY screen.


Today I went to JoAnn Fabrics to buy some cloth to cover a windows and stumbled upon a fantastic material I think would be PERFECT for a DIY screen.



Its called CREPE WHITE SATIN and is very much similar to the projector screen i examined in class.


NOTE: I am referring to the backside of the cloth. Not the front side one would normal display/use.

I've read that if you want more gain from the material it should have a little bit of silver in there. This cloth seems to have a hint of silver shineyness.


Its cheap, around 5$ a yard or less.


I haven't tried it myself but I would love to see someone from lumanlab try it and post the results with pictures.



Here is a photo of the material.


Warning: If you do decide to use this material make sure not to pull the stands that are exposed after cutting. It is very easy to be left with an ugly wrinkle line across it.

note: the picture is somewhat crappy but trust me when I say its bright and reflects light well.

Sounds promising, but if I remember right, it also hotspots (from AVSforum). Still, I would love to see some pics of it in use. I have prowled around Joanns before, and even picked up a couple of promising suspects. I would love to find a material that works as well from the front as from the back.

I've heard that Blackout cloth works good too

BOC does make a very good matte white screen material. It is also a bit stretchy so it stretches and stays flat on a frame.

If what you want is a screen that looks a lot like it was painted with White-out then you should try Behr UPW #1050. It is very white and very flat just like whiteout. A better paint choice is the new Behr Exterior ULTRA UPW Flat. It is more of a matte low luster finish and has a bit of gain. It is self priming and levels out very well. Being an exterior paint it is also UV resistant and quite washable once it is fully cured.