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Screen Printing Tutorial

Last year, I taught a workshop on silkscreen printing to a group of kids and their parents, and we all really had a great time. By the end of the day, even the youngest student went home with a really awesome tshirt that she made (with a little help from dad!). It occurred to me the other day that this would be a good tutorial for a design blog. What a great way to promote your design business; make and wear your own t-shirt! Not only that, but you can make other promo items such as postcards, or items for clients like cd covers, posters, stickers, and more.There are a few different ways to go about screen printing. Some methods are pretty involved, and require dark rooms for coating the screens with light-sensitive emulsion, bright lights for exposing, and a lot of patience when learning to get the timing right on your exposure. Another method involves cutting a material called amberlith (or rubylith) to make a mask that goes over the screen and blocks the ink from getting onto the negative space of your design. Both methods take some time to get it right. The method I’m going to teach you uses a liquid called screen filler, which serves the same purpose as the amberlith; creating a mask that the ink can’t get through when you print your design.

Now, keep in mind, this method isn’t the best for fine detail. You’ll be painting this stuff onto a polyester mesh screen by hand, so you won’t be getting a crisp, hard line. Tiny text is usually out of the question (unless you’re a lot more talented and steady with your hand than I am!). This sort of thing is much better suited to the photo emulsion style of screenprinting. When using screen filler, I’d suggest using large areas of flat color until you get comfortable with the process.

First, let’s start with the supplies. You can find most of these things at any art or hobby store. If you have any trouble locating any of this stuff, I would recommend www.dickblick.com; they have everything you need, and then some!

You’ll need to get a screen. (fig 1) This is usually just a wooden frame with a sheet of polyester mesh stretched over it. You can make your own and save a bit of money, or you can spend a little more on the pre-made screens. This is probably the easiest for your first time.

Next you’ll need a squeegee (fig 2), which is a hard strip of rubber held inside of a handle. You’ll use this to pull the ink across the screen when you’re printing. Make sure you get one that fits inside the screen. You can order them in any size on dickblick.com
Then you’ll have to get yourself a bottle of screen filler (fig 3)(speedball is the brand I use), a few different sizes of artist paintbrushes (i wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of money on these, but don’t get something that’s going to fall apart right away, either), a roll of duct tape, screen printing ink in whatever colors you want to use (fig 4), and whatever you want to print on (fig 5). I also like to use a roll of contact paper to block of any blank space on my screen (you’ll see what I mean as you read further), though you can use the screen filler or duct tape for this as well.
In this tutorial, I’ll be showing you how to do a one color print. If you choose to print white ink on a black or other dark shirt, I’d recommend getting a thick white textile ink, which will keep it from soaking into your fabric. Unless you have a printing press, you will only be able to make one pull of ink across your screen. Once you lift it, getting it back in place is nearly impossible. If you have a white ink that soaks in, you won’t get a chance to put your screen back down to give it another coat. Now of course, this can be remedied with a printing press (i built my own out of a few scraps of wood, a cutting board, and some metal clamps), but again, this is a very basic, beginner’s tutorial.First thing you do is come up with your design. You can draw it freehand onto the screen, or you could design it using photoshop, illustrator or other such application, then print it out and trace it. You will draw it right onto the mesh using a soft lead pencil. You should just lay your paper with your design onto a table, then lay the screen on top (so that the mesh is flat against the table), then trace your design onto the screen.Once you have the design drawn, you should tape up the frame of your screen. Put the tape all around the wood, on the front and the back. This will keep ink from going through the crevices when you print. Try to get as much of the wood covered in tape as you can. I like to use contact paper at this point to fill in the part of the screen that does NOT have any art on it (but don’t get too close to the art. I like to leave about an inch and a half area around the drawing on the screen). You can also use the duct tape for this.

Now it’s time to paint the screen filler onto your mesh. (fig 6) This is the most time consuming part of the process. You want to be sure to paint everything EXCEPT for your art. In other words, you’ll paint the negative space of your design. This will allow the ink to come through the little holes in the mesh, without going through the rest of the screen. After you get this part done, give it time to dry. Then go back, hold it up to a light, and see where all of the little pinholes of light are coming through. You’ll need to go back and fill these spots in with more screen filler. Be diligent, keep going until all the pinholes are filled and no light comes through the screen filler. This might take several applications, but it’ll be well worth it in the end.

When you’re sure that all of the pinholes are covered, and all of the rest of the screen has been covered in tape or contact paper (i like to cover both sides of the screen just in case), it’s time to make your print. In this tutorial I’ll assume you’re printing on a shirt. First you need to put a thick piece of cardboard (larger than your art) inside the shirt. This will keep the ink from going all the way through the fabric to the back of the shirt. Lay the shirt down on a table, and smooth out any wrinkles. Get your screen out and put a coating of ink in a line at the bottom of your art. Make sure the line of ink is slightly wider than your art. While having a helper hold the screen for you, pull the squeegee against the line of ink, all the way across your art, to “load” the screen. This will put a thin layer of ink through your design, and leave a line of ink at the top of the art. Make sure you only do it once, and make sure it’s a fairly thin layer. Too much ink will blob up on your shirt. It’s probably a good idea to make several practice runs on paper or newsprint to make sure you get it right. To pull your print, hold the squeegee firmly with both hands, at a 45 degree angle (pointing towards you), and pull towards yourself firmly. Not too quickly, not too slowly, just nice and steady. It’s definitely a “trial and error” sort of thing, but you’ll get the hang of it. Lift your screen (you might have to pull the paper away from the screen) to check your print. This is also a good chance to make sure you didn’t miss any holes when making your screen. If so, you can clean off your screen and fill them in.When you feel comfortable pulling ink, load the ink in the screen, then lay the flat side of your screen down on top of the shirt, lining it up where you want the art to go. It’s a good idea to have someone help you at this point; have them hold down the screen onto the shirt very firmly, and don’t move it around, as some of the ink (the “loaded” ink) will already be touching the shirt. Now pull the print! (fig 7) Lift your screen, and admire your masterpiece! It’s a good idea, after the shirt dries, to throw it in the dryer, or put some fabric on top of the ink and run a hot iron over it. This will set the ink, and make it less likely to fade.If you end up making a shirt using my tutorial, it would be awesome if you’d post a link to the image in the comments!

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