The Screen Printing Process

Screen printing is a printing technique whereby a mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh apertures with ink, and a reverse stroke then causes the screen to touch the substrate momentarily along a line of contact. This causes the ink to wet the substrate and be pulled out of the mesh apertures as the screen springs back after the blade has passed.  **Thank you Wikipedia

 

So, how do we do it??

Check it out!!

 

First, we start with a high quality ‘silk’ screen metal frame.

We test the tension of every screen before use to ensure high quality print.

 

Next, we clean and coat the screens with a light sensitive emulsion before letting them dry in a temperature and humidity controlled dark room. This process takes up to 24 hours…so we stock coated screens for rush orders!

 

On to the artwork!

This is where the magic begins. We start by optimizing your artwork, which involves separating the image into individual colour layers. The end result is multiple film positives; one for each of the colours in your design. The idea of the positive is to block the light from getting to various areas of the coated photo-sensitized silk-screen.

 

Each film represents an ink colour to be printed

 

Each film is attached to an emulsion coated screen and placed into our exposure unit (light box). After a precise amount of time, the screen is removed from the exposure unit and placed in our washout sink for the final step of image development. We use tap water to wash out the print area that was blocked from light by the film positive.

 

 

Once the stencil is totally washed out and allowed to dry, you’ve got yourself a stencil – perfect for screen printing!!

 

Next, on to the press!

We load and register (align) each screen onto the screen printing press..

 

Then, we add the ink!

 

Finally, we start printing!!

 

Any questions? Don’t be afraid to ask!