Silk Screen Posters and also T-shirts By Do-It-Yourself

How to Silk Screen Posters and also T-shirts By Do-It-Yourself?

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1. Picking and Preparing Your Screen

Just what you need: A screen with the best mesh count for your printing surface

Any type of water based degreasing agent

When you have gotten your screen, the first essential thing to do is clean it out with cold water and also a degreasing agent. Getting any type of grease out helps the emulsion to bond with the textile which provides you a crisper pattern.

Additionally essential is to comprehend the alignment of your screen (not the gender certain kind). The flat "back" of the screen which rests on the printing area is called the "print side" or "paper side" and the "front" of the screen, recessed inside the lip of the frame, is called the "squeegee side.".

The various other significant factor to consider is mesh count. The mesh count r refers the rigidity of the weave in the mesh textile of the screen. A higher mesh count means the fibers of the mesh are more closer together and also a reduced count means the fibers are more loosely woven, so much more ink could pass through the screen. If you are printing on paper, you want a screen with a mesh count of regarding 230 for really ideal results. A screen that tight will certainly allow you to print pictures with finer details and also thinner lines. Because fabric is usually much more absorbing than paper, you require a screen that lets via more ink when printing on t-shirts, tote bags, or anything cloth. For material printing, you ought to use a screen with a mesh count of 110 or 160 (those have the tendency to be the conventional matters offered). I use 110. A bunch of people likewise pick a mesh count of about 180, which permits printing on both paper and textile material, however there is an apparent loss of fine detail if you print into paper at that count.

The initial thing you require when establishing a residence printing shop is the screen. Screens with aluminum structures last a lot longer than wooden frames which warp after repeated washings. Aluminum screens are generally just 10 dollars more than wood screens of the very same size, so also if you prepare to use your screen greater than once, the money is absolutely worthwhile. A sturdy aluminum screen will certainly continue to exist level on the printing surface area after multiple wears and also the mesh is pulled much tighter around a light weight aluminum frame which makes a crisper printed image. They're additionally a lot simpler to rinse compared to wood screens.

2. Preparing Your Art work.

Just what you need:

Original art work with a high contrast and Transparency film.

Every color you wish to print calls for a different stencil.

Once you have the artwork prepared, print or xerox it onto transparent film, and you will certainly be ready to make the screen stencil. It is essential that the black areas printed on the transparency are totally opaque, so hold it up to the light and also see to it all the black lines are entirely thick.

I made use of the photo on the left as a resource to create the illustration on the right, but I liked the red color of the boxing gloves and wished to consist of that in the final print. You can print in any color you desire, yet the artwork utilized to make the stencil should be black. I colored in the glove shapes, ensuring they stayed registered appropriately to the illustration:.

Screen printing is a very “flat” medium, so pictures that are starkly contrasted job most ideal. When preparing your artwork to be melted to the screen (to produce the stencil), work in black and also white only-- grey tones and the subtleties of photographic images will certainly not make a workable stencil. If you begin with a picture, reduce the details to a line drawing, or apply a filter or halftone screen in Photoshop which will reduce the picture to a collection of dots.     

3. Burning the Stencil.

Emulsion comes in 2 parts, the emulsion proper and a small bottle of sensitizer. Functioning by the red light of your own, mix the emulsion with the sensitizer. When sensitised, emulsion is good for regarding 3 weeks at room temperature, or about 3 months if cooled.

A scoop coater is a quite user friendly trough which holds the emulsion and deposits a nice also, slim coat on the screen. If you're utilizing the squeegee or smoother option, utilize a spatula to spread a line of emulsion along one end of the screen and then, pushing extremely firmly with the squeegee, drag the line of emulsion down or up the screen till it is evenly covered with emulsion. It is quite crucial to have a slim, also coat of emulsion on the screen, uninterrupted by drips or blobby areas that can mess up the quality of your stencil. You must double coat all in one go while the first coat is still freshly wet.

Emulsion and sensitizer coating the screen.

Leave the covered screen at night to completely dry for at the very least 2 hrs. Some tutorials say one hour, yet I always have bad results keeping that timeline because the emulsion is not ready. The crucial point is that the emulsion is entirely dry before you expose your photo. No stickiness enabled.

Remember to establish this exposure unit inside the darkroom! Also, ensure there are no evident dirt fragments or other issue in between the openness and the screen or the glass and the transparency. Any sort of material that obstructs the light from getting to the emulsion will certainly turn up in your stencil and also will certainly disturb your print.

As soon as the layered screen is completely dry, you can subject it. It is very easy to set up a house direct exposure system by setting up materials in this order:

1. black fabric or board on the bottom to take in the light and prevent it from getting better through your photo area;

2. screen next with paper side down (against the black board);

3. transparencies versus the squeegee side of the screen, oriented to make sure that you could read them typically from delegated to right;

4. a sheet of heavy glass on top of the openness to hold them down as securely as possible to the screen surface area;

5. a light situated concerning 1 or 1.5 feet above the glass top with a 250 watt photo flood light bulb set up.

When you have the device set up in the dark, activate the flood light for around 15 minutes as well as permit the emulsion to set in areas that receive the light.

At the end of 15 minutes, you can switch off the flood light and also operate in the normal light of the space. Eliminate the glass and openness (you will possibly have the ability to see a ghost image of your style at this point, yet if you do not-- it's fine) and instantly, thoroughly spray the whole area of the screen with cold water. You need to do this right away and clean the screen out before the emulsion gets hard where your layout is. Use a spray nozzle in your shower (just how practical that my direct exposure unit remains in the restroom) or sink, or use the garden hose pipe to spray down the screen. Delicately pass the spray throughout the entire surface area of the screen until your style is completely rinsed. Hold it approximately the light to make certain no gloomy areas stay inside your pattern. If any sort of pinholes reveal where you do not want them, paint them in with left over emulsion and also leave them to dry in the sunshine. Now your pattern is done! Let the screen totally dry prior to printing.

The initial thing to do, after your screen is degreased and entirely dry, is to coat the screen in emulsion. In areas where the emulsion sets, the screen is obstructed so no ink can pass through. In areas where the emulsion is kept soft and at some point cleaned out of the screen, the ink will pass via to create your print.

The various other large point to keep in mind right here is that the outer two inches of the screen area (closest to the frame on all sides) are unprintable. Because the tension is so high where the material is extended around the frame, you can't obtain a great print from the boundary areas of the screen. Make certain your picture does not go better to the framework than 2 inches all over.

This is the most intensive step in the screen printing process, but if you take a little additional care when making the stencil, the print will certainly go incredibly quick.

Just what you need:.

The screen, Emulsion and sensitizer, A scoop coater or squeegee, Rubber gloves, A rubber spatula, A darkroom and also image safe light, Black bristol board, or black cloth or really felt, Transparencies including your art work, A sheet of glass, A lighting fixture with a 250 watt picture flood bulb, A timer, A spray bottle full of cool water, A shower head, spray nozzle or garden hose.

4. Printing the Image.

Just what you need: One set of two hinge clamps, A large flat surface, A big sheet of acetate (at least 2 feet square), The finished stencil on the screen, Packing tape, A rubber spatula, Appropriate ink for your printing surface, The right squeegee for your printing surface, Whatever you plan to print on (t-shirts or paper), A hot iron.

Set the screen up slightly with your roll of tape and use a line of ink into the surface area of the screen regarding 2 inches above the photo to be printed. If printing on material, make certain you utilize textile ink, otherwise your picture will certainly clean off in the laundry.

Keep in mind that this ink dries to plastic. Any type of area, however minimal, where it dries out in the screen will become pointless in the future. In between each print, flooding your photo. When you're done printing, wash the screen of all ink right away. Any kind of non-gender particular water based cleaner can be used to wash out ink if essential without degrading the emulsion.

Screen ink dries really promptly, so if you are printing in multiple layers on paper, you could print the 2nd layer in addition to the initial within about 20 minutes (I wait longer just to make sure no colors bleed together, but you can do it in 20 no problem). If you are printing on fabric, let the image dry for at least an hour (I wait 2) and then iron over top of the image on the hottest setting for at least 1 full minute. Ironing the ink makes it color quick in the clean.

Use the acetate to register your photo in the appropriate area on your t-shirt or paper by orienting your t-shirt or paper underneath the acetate.

To establish for printing, you requirement a completely level table or counter top with two hinge clamps mounted at the far side and a large piece of acetate or velum (a minimum of 2 feet long-- much larger compared to the paper or material you are printing onto). Tape the acetate down strongly at one end to make sure that it will not budge. You require it to be perfectly repaired at one end in order to appropriately register your print.

Wearing strapping tape to enclose any open areas of the screen that you don't intend to print.

Hinge clamps acetate for registration.

Attach the screen into the joint clamps with the squeegee side dealing with up as well as make sure you could relocate the screen into an upright area in the clamps without it dropping back to the printing area.

Inking the screen flooding the picture.

Make certain the acetate is in between the printing table and also the screen. Reduced the screen to the table area as well as print the first duplicate of the photo into the acetate. Immediately flood the picture with ink to maintain it from drying out. Raise the screen to an upright placement in the hinges.

Remove the acetate (merely move it out of the way, don't separate it from the table!) as well as lower the screen onto your t-shirt or paper. Print the photo by holding the squeegee at regarding 45 degrees and also applying even, solid stress to pass the ink through the screen.