Screen printing at home is a popular way to create multiple prints of an original design that you have created. Setting up a screen printing operation is relatively easy to do at home, just as long as you have an area that is well ventilated. All you really need are a few tools and some raw materials in order to be able to print your designs on t-shirts or any other type of fabric or paper.
Things That You Will Need
You will need to have a few items before you get started. These include:
- A metal or wood frame with screen mesh inside of it
- Some pieces of foam rubber that are between 4 to 6 inches thick
- Some screen printing ink
- A squeegee
- Light-sensitive emulsion
- A sheet of glass that is slightly bigger than your frame’s screen
- Some weights
- A design that you have created on film or transparency
- A spray bottle
- Some newspapers
- Printmaking paper
- A t-shirt or other type of fabric or paper for making prints on
How To Screen Print At Home
Once you have your items, you are ready to take the following steps to create your first print:
- Use mild soap and warm water to clean the screen. Let it dry for at least an hour before coating both sides of it with light sensitive emulsion. Scrape off any excess and allow the screen to dry overnight.
- Attach your fabric to the screen. Make sure that it is tight enough to be able to bounce a coin off of.
- Transfer your design onto a transparency.
- Go into a dark room and coat your screen with emulsion. Place some of the pieces of foam rubber onto a flat surface before placing the prepared screen frame over the top of it (the flat side should be facing upwards). Put the glass over top of the transparency and use heavy objects to weigh down the edges.
- Hang a light source approximately 18 inches over top of the screen’s surface. Turn the light on for the indicated exposure time (this can be found on the emulsion’s can).
- Use warm water to develop the screen. Gently spray your screen with this warm water until the emulsion is washed away from your image. If your image fails to develop, increase the water’s pressure until it does so. Use a sheet of newspaper to gently blot the surface of both sides of your screen so as to remove any excess emulsion and dry up any water. If you find that the emulsion comes off too easy and thus the image gets ruined, simply increase the exposure time.
- Dry your screen off with a t-shirt, a piece of fabric or a thick piece of paper.
- Add ink to one side of your screen. Make sure that you create a reservoir for the ink.
- Hold the frame’s screen down firmly as you pull your squeegee across it two or three times. This will evenly distribute the ink for you.
- Lift up the screen so that you can check out your print. If you find that the image has blurred you will need to try a finer mesh. This is a process of trial and error as it can be difficult to ascertain what the correct mesh for a project is going to be in the beginning. Also, if you find that the ink doesn’t adequately pass through the screen onto the printing surface, try using thinner ink or a wider screen mesh.
- Once you have finished making your print, make sure that you immediately clean the screen off.