How Is Screen Printing Done

Or better yet, why do you have to pay a setup fee

Setup starts by making a 2x1 frame that will become the unique screen (AKA I have a lot of these with designs on them)

Then screen printing fabric is stretched and stapled onto it with a lot of staples.

With the frame set a photo emulsion is spread onto the screen and allowed to dry in a cool pitch black place (my basement is perfect and has added dankness!)

The design is printed onto a clear film so only the black portion remains this will be the design printed

The clear sheet is placed over the emulsioned screen and exposed to light. The light cures all portions not covered by the black ink. Under the sun this takes only a few minutes but with my setup it’s about 1hr 45min. Cure time is critical if it over cures then it will cure under the black and ruin it and if it’s under cured then the image will wash away in the next step.

Once the cure time is done the screen is rinsed with water for a while. The uncured portions under the black design will soften and wash away leaving the full image. This is then allowed to dry giving you a finished screen!

To use this on a shirt, it is lined up and stood upon to keep it firmly in place. A screen printing ink is rubbed over the screen transferring the ink through the washed portions and leaving your awesome design on the shirt!

Using a vinyl cutter

The other method I’ve begun to use is with vinyl cutting. It works similarly except rather than use the emulsion to create the design it is cut on a vinyl cutter. The image is then stuck to the screen.

Here you can see my child labor ( I mean daughter) making herself a shirt. She is “weeding” or removing the cut vinyl to let the image ink through. This can take a long time with complicated images!

To get the vinyl on the screen you must cover it with transfer paper (basically clear vinyl) then stick both layers to the screen. Then carefully remove the transfer paper without pulling the image off the screen. This is my daughter performing the task.

Finally painters tape is used to ensure the ink doesn’t escape onto a shirt around the vinyl, the vinyl itself is adhesive and holds itself on.

The image above looks odd because all the white will be black when printed since that is where the ink can pass through. See the printed shirt to see how it really looks!

There it is! Now you don’t even need me!!