T-Shirt Screen Printing

We have a screen printer at the space, and I see on the tool page that training is being written. How soon can we use it? My daughter would like to print some shirts. Any guidance as to how to start? How are screens made? What software is suggested? Thanks for the help.

I think we have a speed ball setup. @PearceDunlap is the in house expert, but he is also a board member so be extra nice when asking for help as he may be busy with many other things.

I think at this point much of the learning will be left up to you as there isn’t a direct path to a finished shirts laid out yet. I would start doing some googling and figure out a process. Then buy the materials and screens that you need and try to do it solo, if you want something more on your schedule. But, try and chat with Pearce as he can send you in a direction to start.

Thanks, I’ll drop by some time and check out the printer to see where to start on supplies.

Making your own screen is not a lot of fun, it uses some nasty chemicals.

If you are only going to do a few shirts (1-5) you might be able to fake a screen by using vinyl. Another option is to get a local shop to make a screen from your artwork.

Pearce is definitely the guy to ask about all things screen printy.

As far as I’m aware, this is actually the method they’ve been using for the Space’s screen printer, using vinyl cut outs to mask areas of an otherwise blank screen. Seems to work pretty well, at least for limited-run items. I would assume the pattern degrades after awhile, though (vinyl lifting or crumpling, etc.)

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If you are gonna just do one or two prints, you might get away with using the vinyl AS your silkscreen resist before it starts to peel up and ruin your edges/lines. More often, the vinyl is used to make a temporary mask for the photosensitive resist, and is removed once the resist is UV cured.

This will give you some rough ideas on how to make a silk screen. This is a novice’s recollection - you have been warned.

  1. Apply the light-sensitive liquid resist to the clean/new silkscreen panel with a disposable paintbrush. Smooth is good.
  2. Wait for the resist to dry…in the dark.

While the resist is drying,
3) Make a black and white line art file and “print” it on the vinyl cutter. This assumes you know how to use the vinyl cutter.
4) Use an Xacto blade to pick out all the parts of the vinyl NOT a part of the resist. The parts you keep are where you want the ink to be put on the shirt. Using vinyl similar in hue to your shirts might make this easier to keep straight. This can be a little or VERY tedious/labor intensive, depending on the pattern.
5) Use the semi-sticky sheeting to attach the vinyl resist and remove from backing

Once the resist is dry,
6) Carefully place the vinyl on the resist. Press down for crisp edges.
7) Expose the resist to light to cure it. Wait some more while the light does its thing.
8) Use water (in a sink works) to wash the uncured resist (and the vinyl) off of the silkscreen. If all goes well, the cured resist will remain, while the resist that was under the vinyl (and protected from light) will wash away.

Steps 1,2, 6, and 7 need to be done in near-darkness. This was done in the Darkroom at the old space. Perhaps the Paint Booth could work in the new space. Include signage/plan ahead to prevent disasters from light leakage.

No specific timing, etc. is provided in the above because I did it with Pearce last spring, and only once. I’ve slept since then and short term memory fades…

Using the silkscreen

  1. place the prepared screen in the jig. Up to four screens can be used for multi-color prints, though care needs to be taken to get them aligned.
  2. place a shirt, canvas bag, etc. under the screen. spray-tack can be used to keep the item from slipping.
  3. apply some ink on the top of the screen.
  4. lower the screen onto the shirt
  5. squeegee ink across the screen, pressing the ink through the silkscreen and onto the shirt. The ink is the consistency of pudding (thick).
  6. lift the screen.
  7. lather, rinse, repeat steps 2-6. You won’t need to add ink every pass, but will when ink gets low.

Practicing on paper before moving to shirts strongly recommended in order to prime the silkscreen, test placement, etc. etc.

You can optionally recycle the silkscreen panel by using a high-pressure washer to strip the cured resist off of the screen. Typically, some small amount of ink can remain, so using the same-color ink on a recycled screen is prudent.

Things I learned/did wrong:

  1. It takes longer than you think: much longer
  2. Pearce is very patient - thanks again, Pearce!
  3. Use vinyl similar to the shirt color (light for light shirts, dark for dark shirts at least) to make cleaning the vinyl from the resist more straightforward. This is especially important on intricate and/or abstract designs.
  4. Not getting the screen all the way down onto the item is bad. This allows ink on the underside of the screen, and will botch many shirts.
  5. Use enough ink to get it right in one pass of the squeegee. Multiple squeegee passes makes for double-vision shirts.
  6. Using a pressure washer to clean the screens is good, but you can punch a hole through the screen you just bought at Hobby Lobby the day before, and end up junking it. Screens are surprisingly pricy.
  7. Make sure your ink and your resist are compatible. I recall a problem with some shirts we made back in high school where the ink began to dissolve the resist after only a couple-dozen shirts.
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@HankCowdog, that’s an excellent write-up, mind putting that in the wiki?

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Can we get a class? I’ve been wanting to use it, but the one class I know
that was posted once, I was not able to make it.

I know Pearce is a busy man, but BOD could work on something with all tools
or Operations on training.

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There have been a couple of classes, all posted to the calendar. We offer incentives (honorarium) for teaching classes, so if you know anyone other than Pearce who is available to teach this class please have them check out the teach page on the website.

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Catspit Productions on YouTube has some pretty good intro videos.

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@AndrewLeCody, Done.
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Silkscreen Added a link to the new Silkscreen page to the Creative Arts Group Wiki page as well.

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Thanks @HankCowdog, I cleaned up the formatting a bit and added it to the newly created Tools category.

While @HankCowdog has given a COMPLETE list of what it takes to be a COMPLETE screen printer, here is a shot of some tote bags I printed this week using a tape masked screen and a piece of builder’s paper that I cut on the laser. Did a dozen pulls on this design on an open weave fabric, and they are just as crisp as what we do with a burned screen.

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