Silk Screening

[Spinelli]

I wanted to start screening my own stuff. I allready have stuff to make the frames, and I know what I need. Does anyone know if you can substitute silk screen mesh with something else preferably cheaper or dumpstered? Also everything I read says white cloth with black print if I want black cloth white print do I just use white ink or is there something else I need to do?

 

[macks]

I've done it before with a uhh.. I think it's called a loom? Those round wooden things that have a clamp, it's for stretching fabric out to stitch patterns in things. Anyway, one of those and a pantyhose. We used white out and glue to do the design. It turned out alright I guess, the silk works really well though.

The thing with white on black is that it's hard to get the letters to be REALLY white looking where with black the letters are easily REALLY black looking. However my friend made a bunch of white on black shirts a few months ago and they turned out fine.

Make sure when you're making your screen that you have something to spread the emulsion with that's not bigger than the frame. The emulsion spreader thingie was too big for one of mine and I kept catching it on the staples and it kind of fucked it up.

Good luck!

 

[Cush]

if you're not going to be mass-producing a lot of duplicate items just use freezer paper.

cut a stencil into freezer paper with the waxy side down.

iron on the freezer paper stencil onto whatever it is you're screening onto

paint with fabric paint

let it dry for 2-3 hours under a heat lamp and viola!

 

[Mouse]

I've done it before with a uhh.. I think it's called a loom? Those round wooden things that have a clamp, it's for stretching fabric out to stitch patterns in things. Anyway, one of those and a pantyhose. We used white out and glue to do the design. It turned out alright I guess, the silk works really well though.

The thing with white on black is that it's hard to get the letters to be REALLY white looking where with black the letters are easily REALLY black looking. However my friend made a bunch of white on black shirts a few months ago and they turned out fine.

Make sure when you're making your screen that you have something to spread the emulsion with that's not bigger than the frame. The emulsion spreader thingie was too big for one of mine and I kept catching it on the staples and it kind of fucked it up.

Good luck!

it's an embroidery ring

 

[macks]

yeah, that thing!

 

[Spinelli]

I like the freezer paper idea. I was planning on making duplicates, I have friends in bands and lots of friends who like patches, and I like to share.

 

[Seija]

So the freezer paper wax would basically act as the part that takes in the ink?

 

[Cush]

no, the fabric paint goes right onto the material. the waxy side of the freezer paper acts as a sort of adhesive to attach the paper to the fabric when ironed.

you cut out your stencil.
you iron it onto the shirt waxy side down. the wax will attach itself to the t shirt and make a good seal.
you paint with fabric paint.
you let the paint dry under a heat lamp for 2-3 hours.
you peel off the paper.

 

[sykgutt]

i just use stencils and some spraypaint... cheaper, simpler, and you can do a lot with it (multi-layers especially)

 

[tothewind]

The only problem with spraypaint is it's tendency to bleed out from the edges of the stencil when you're applying it to fabric. Making a stencil from sheet plastic, (easily found on a thousand different school supplies), and then simply painting through it with textile ink will yield some pretty nice prints. After you iron-cure the textile paint (can also be done with a heat gun, a blowdrier, or an extended period in the sun) the shit is hard-pressed to start flaking off the fabric, especially if you use something with a real rough weave, like canvas or duckcloth. The embroidery hoop + panty-hose method is the best DIY silkscreen i've been able to whip up yet. The best method for this that i've found is to block out the larger parts of the screen with a few layers of elmer's glue, or something comparable. Then, if you have finer details, or large straight lines, i'd suggest painting on some superglue, as you have alot more control of it, and it makes a harder edge.

 

[EaznaZ]

Making a stencil from sheet plastic, (easily found on a thousand different school supplies), and then simply painting through it with textile ink will yield some pretty nice prints.

Did you have any trouble with the plastic sheet moving around, or did you attach that to an embroidery ring too?

I dumpstered some plastic sheeting a little while ago, and held on to it thinking I could use it for something, but was hoping I wasn't just being a packrat. I also just got a hot air gun to use for making didgeridoos, and I've been wanting to make patches for a while so yea looks like all I need is paint and a paintbrush and then something to attach the plastic stencil thing.

 

[rumple]

white ink on black fabric is more complicated but it can be done on a budget of about $40.

White ink is difficult to print on black/dark fabric because it needs a large build-up of ink to block out the dark. one way to do this is simply have thicker ink, but this will dry in your screen much more quickly and detail is lost. this is why companies don't make white ink that is that is thick enough to print white with one pass. you may be able to do this yourself by watering down, just a little, some acrylic paint. the solution to this problem in screenprinting is usually to apply multiple layers of ink on top of each other, drying each layer before adding the next.

what you need is a hinge so the screen is connected to whatever is going to be under the fabric when you're printing (for simplicity we'll call it the table-top, screenprinters call it a "platen") & a heat gun (what painters use to peel back old paint)

once you have the screen so it is connected by the hinge to the table-top, the image will always be over the same spot on the table (get hinges that have a removable pin, that way you can change out screens). now that the image is in the same place you will need to make the fabric stay in the same place as well. this is done with spray glue. you can use hair-spray or glue stick but your results won't be as nice. (don't breathe a whole lot when you're spraying that stuff, spray glue forms tiny balls of the adhesive in your lungs that never come out.)

once you have all this set up you can warm up the heat gun, throw down the fabric, run ink, lift & have a friend or stick of wood hold the screen the screen up, dry the ink with the gun, then run ink again until you get the brightest white (or light color) ink you want.

when printing with a heater, ink stays idle in your screen longer than when you do one stroke of ink then print the next piece of fabric. this causes ink to dry in your screen quickly .One tidbit that I have found to be very helpful is the flood stroke. a normal stroke is where you take the squeegee and run ink into the fabric on to which you are printing. A flood stroke is done in between. before you begin your first print, and after each run of ink, run the squeegee along the screen as though you were printing but with the screen held off the table-top by a friend.this will "flood" your screen with ink, making it harder for ink to dry in the screen.

of course this is all useless information because everything looks better printed black ink on black fabric. METAL

 

[Birdy]

I've seen a website for how to do your own home made screen printing somewhere before.
I'll try and find it....

Okay found it.
This isn't the one I saw, but it's the same technique.
http://community.livejournal.com/craftgrrl/3674467.html
^only usable once though

Like the one above only more pictures
http://www.threadbanger.com/post/490/diy-screen-printing-how-to

A more complicated(but probably more efficient process if you have the money to spend):
http://www.diehippiedie.com/screwball/diyshirt.html

I'm probably going to try out the simpler ones first and if those turn out cool then I'll probably get my dad to help me build a big one out of the frame method. I'm excited x)

 

[614 crust]

If you have any screen printing shops close by. Go hit them up for used screens. Sometimes they will sell the used ones cheap. I get mine for $3.00 a peice. You have to reclaim (clean the old emulsion) out yourself but thats easy enough. Just take em to a car wash and spray them with the pressure washer. For ink and emulsion and shit search the internet for companies/distubuters that make and sell it. Write or e-mail them and tell them you are just starting a new screen printing business and are interested in their products. A lot of times you can get them to send you free samples.
Then of course you can always just rack shit from hobby lobby as well.
Peace and good luck
Randy

 

[freepizzaforlife]

This is my bread and butter right here, I run a diy record label, and do short runs of vinyl, tapes, and cd-rs (www.myspace.com/wolvesfightgoodrecords)

anyways

when i first started screening the physical cd-rs, and the covers for stuff. I went to an art supply store. asked them what I needed to get to get into screen printing stuff. and he set me in the right direction. I hate spending money on shit, but the only way to make sure a screen turns out good is to spend about 100 bucks, which if you're in a big city like me (chicago) you can do this pretty quickly.

I have been using the same 22x14 screen for the last 2 years, and have done LOTS of runs with it. well over 50, and I am just now getting to the point where I need a new screen. One screen can go a long way, you don't need a new one for each different design you do.

the best way to get your design on the screen is emulsion, I put 2-3 heaping spoonfulls on the screen and just wipe it down with the squeegee until its even. put it in a cardboard box and in a dark part of whereever im staying, and turn a fan on. it usually dries in about 3 hours.

Print out the design onto a transparency, and try to put a thin piece of glass between the screen and the transparency. this helps a lot suprisingly. idk why or how but it does.

then wash your screen out with one of the spray things from a kitchen sink, or a showerhead.

tape off the edges around the design so no ink bleeds where you don't want it to go.


as far as printing, it doesen't really matter HOW much ink you put on the screen, but try to put enough according to how many you are going to print, if I am going to do 500 7" record covers, I will put quite a bit on my screen. then go across once lightly to spread the ink over your printing surface (shirt, patch, etc etc) and then go once again and apply more pressure so the ink goes through to the shirt.

as far as cleaning the emulsion off the screen to reuse it, just go to a quarter carwash. this is the cheapist, and in m experience the best way.

 

[Mouse]

the carwash Idea is great. never thought about that.