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sirris — Screen Printing 101 Part 2
Published: 2005-10-27 20:07:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 9021; Favourites: 44; Downloads: 251
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Description
This is part 2 of 3 of a tutorial on the basics of screen printing a shirt.I really want to show people how easy and inexpensive it is. I think that screen printing is one of those things that intimidates people when it really shouldn't. I think I left out that a basic kit shouldn't cost much more that $30 or $40. That's pretty cheap considering what you can do with it.
This part covers applying the photo emulsion, exposing the screen and rinsing it out.
Screen Printing Tutorial Part 1
Screen Printing Tutorial Part 3
EDIT: Noted that Speedball has discontinued the photo-emulsion used in the tutorial and replaced it with Diazo emulsion. Once I get used to using it I'll update the tutorial properly.
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Comments: 15
Have you ever used a scoop coater(spelled corectly?) well it makes applying emulsion. it evenly spreads it in one pull. well its hard to explain so you should look it up. But the consistancy of you emulsion looks a lot runnier than mine... So I don't know if it wold work. but its worth checking out.
-Bjorn
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Ya, I've used one in a class. I looked into getting one for myself but they were kind of expensive and the squeegee method was working fine... anyway, I just never got around to switching over. It would probably give me a better uniformity though. Thanks.
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These are awsomeeee, I was wondering if maybe you know of some sites to help me a bit more. 
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I've found that the screen printing forums at GigPosters are very helpful. The search function is working too. I learned a lot there reading through tons of posts. It was worth it though.
I'm always here for questions too, so feel free to fire away a PM any time.
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i was wondering if a black light might work, too?
there's something about it in the speedball instructions... but obviously i don't understand exactly what it's saying or i wouldn't be asking this.. ^_^
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Black lights do work because they are exclusively UV light, which is exactly what catalyses the emulsion. I haven't really used those myself. I know that they sell special exposure lights, which makes me wonder if the cheaper ones you can buy at a hardware store would work as well.
So basically it can work but I can't really give you any advice on it myself.
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hiya
this tutorial has been very helpful to me...
i'm just starting off with screenprinting and i've already ruined three screens...
i'm mostly having trouble with the photo emulsion method
i'm about to try it out again - i took some tips from this so hopefully i will be sucessful...
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Hey there. Thanks d=for the comment.
Feel free to PM me about your photo emulsion issues. I'd be happy to try and help you out. 3 screens, yipes! I'm pretty sure that we can make it so you won't ruin anymore screens, hehe.
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so wait - when i spread the emulsion i don't have to be in complete darkness - but when i dry it it needs to be?
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They are good... I've done a lot of research and reading and asking questions from local shop grunts and have accumulated all the info that is in this very clean, precise tutorial... I would have saved alot of time researching if I had had this to begin with.. it's really well explained!
I was nervous about not being able to wash out my screens after exposure because i didn't have a jet sprayer or water hose (just a shower and tub) but after trying realized this was never an issue... soft sponge and some patience and i'm ready to rock n' roll...
150 watt bulbs work great and i was worried about that...
most information I came across was for a pretty heavy duty setup and not really aimed to the underground poor guy working out of his 380sq ft. apt...
you've done a great job!!!
My dilemas just go into trial and error as far as exposure and then learning how to convert gradients into halftone's but that's more on the designig element... as far as halftones do go, I know you have to have a postscript printer otherwise they will not come out the way they should!
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I'm currently having a much harder time reclaiming my 195's and 255's using my shower and toothbrush method. Higher mesh screens are notorious for being harder to reclaim and it makes sense that they are. After checking around on gigposters.com, I found the recommendation of using "de-hazer" on really hard to clean screens. Apparently it's really toxic but it does a really good job. I'm going to see if my screen printing store has it or could order some.
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let me know, i haven't had the opportunity to clean anything higher than 110... i'm trying find the limitations of the 110's before i move on up...
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I took my 195 to the store (happily, just around the corner from me) and he's going to wash it out tomorrow morning. He's also going to try my 255 screen which he hadn't yet sent to be re-meshed. It's looking like I might need a pressure washer for these higher mesh screens. I'll let you know tomorrow how the cleaning goes at the store.
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why have people not commented on these!!!? They're brilliant! Thanks dude!
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Yay! Finally someone commented. Thank you very much. I didn't really do it for the comments but secretly, in my heart of hearts, I've been waiting a long time for at least one.
Thanks for the favs too. I hope they prove helpful for you. You can always message me if you need any help.
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