7 Easy Steps to Screen Print Fun and Creative Designs

Screen Printing is widely known for in the custom t-shirt business, however, it also a medium for artists to express their ideas. American screen printer, Andy Warhol, is just one example. Just as Warhol did, screen printing is a production technique that can be used on posters to communicate thoughts,  feelings and ideas. The beauty of screen printing is that once you have an idea that you would like to communicate, you can get really creative with it and reproduce the exact same image countless numbers of times on any medium! Here’s a few simple how-to-steps to dabble your mind into the world of screen printing.

Screen Prep

You might be asking yourself “what is a silk screen?” Well, there are two types of screens on the market; wooden framed and aluminum framed. Wood framed screens are economical but with time begin to warp. While aluminum screens may have a higher price they tend to last many years. The frames are stretched with a polyester mesh that is degreased and coated with emulsion. Using degreaser is helpful in that it allows the emulsion to stick to it. Emulsion is a liquid that is light sensitive so when applying it to a screen a dark room with a yellow bulb light is necessary. After applying the emulsion, it is recommend you wait 24 hours to let it completely dry.

Prep Artwork – Digitize

Wether you are printing an idea for yourself or you have a customer who requests prints on t-shirts, you have to make sure you digitize that image in high-resolution. Programs such as Adobe Photoshop or CorelDraw are great tools to get the images prepared for printing. If the image consists of several colors, then you must separate each color in its own layer. So far it sounds pretty easy, right?

Print Image on Transparency Sheet

Once your image is in high-resolution and separated in layers (if printing multiple colors) you are ready to print on transparency sheets, also known as film positives. Each layer/color must be printed on separate transparency sheets to burn on individual silk screens with black ink. It is important to note that the black ink must be as dense as possible. Laser printers or ink jets are both acceptable printers to complete the job!

Expose your screen

Now that your image is on the transparency sheet you can burn your image on the silk screen. Make sure you are in your dark room and turn your yellow bulb on! Grab the screen that you applied your emulsion onto as well as your transparency sheet and align the image 3” from the top and center it. You may use a halogen light to expose your screen for 12 minutes. During this process the emulsion is hardening to light, however, the positive or black area of the transparency sheet is blocking the light from reaching the emulsion. This is why it is important that your image is dark and dense. After the 12 minutes you may hose down your screen and you will see that your image begins to rinse off! These are the areas that are open, allowing you to squeegee the ink through it.

Set up your press

You are almost ready for the fun part! But first you must set up your screen on the printing press. A printing press holds your screens on “arms” and a printing platen to hold the medium you choose to print on. They come from 1 station (8 color) up to 8 stations (8 colors).

Now tape off the edges of your screen so that the ink does not accidentally go through and damage your print. Once you have completed taping you can clamp your screen on an arm. If you are printing multiple colors you will first  need to register each color so that when you squeegee each color they line up. Remember that printing in multiple colors is like printing in layers.

Squeegee Time…the exciting part!

Now everything is set up and you are ready to print! If you are printing on a shirt, place your blank shirt on the platen and then lower your screen. Now you can push the ink through your screen by gliding the squeegee in a firm and swift push or pull. If you are using multiple colors you must dry/cure your ink before applying the other colors over it. You can do this by using a flash dryer. Flashing only takes 10-15 seconds.

Clean up!

Screen printing can be fun and creative but also very messy! So after you have finished your printing session make sure you save as much ink as possible by scraping it off your screen and placing it back into your ink container. You will need to by special ink removers to hose down your screens.

Voila! You have completed your first screen print! To get a better idea on this how-to click on the youTube link below! Remember that once you now the techniques, their are limitless amounts of creative ways to communicate and express your thought, feelings and ideas to the world! Enjoy!

“How to Screen Print”