There are several steps involved with learning how to screen print. Each step will take you closer to the actual printing of the tee shirt. But the learning curve can appear to be too great to accomplish if we over analyze and look at the whole endeavor at once. We can break the process down into 7 very basic parts:
1- Create the artwork positive.
2- Output the artwork to film.
3- Make the screen.
4- Expose your film positive to the screen.
5- Washout stencil in screen.
6- Print shirts.
7- Cure printed shirts in oven.
Now there are many different ways of accomplishing a screen print. The above checklist would be more of a rough commercial outline. However, printing at home in an arts and crafts fashion is fun and easy. You can use everyday items such as an old picture frame or an embroidery type hoop as your frame. Some people have used white, sheer nylon curtains as the mesh. There are even ways of hand applying a stencil to the screen so there is no need for complicated equipment or light sensitive chemicals.Since screen printing is a basic stenciling process, you don’t necessarily need to push ink through the screen with any kind of squeegee. Many dab or swab different kinds of inks and paint through the screen with brushes or paint rollers. There are even fabric additives for standard acrylic paints that can be used. They only need to be set with an iron.
The possibilities of screen printing at home are endless. It can be fun and educational while producing a lasting keepsake. You can refine your techniques to screen print at home quite well in fact. Many people end up doing shirts for friends and family. You can get good enough to consider going commercial but there are many things to consider in commercial screen printing.
Although you can do quite a lot at home and even print shirts for money with a “home brew” style of screen printing, going commercial is a little bit different. The idea in commercial screen printing is to produce the highest quality print in the least amount of time with the least amount of effort. That means it should be fast and easy to print really great looking prints on tee shirts.This is something to consider as printing in general is riddled with deadlines and large quantity pricing. That means as the customer buys more shirts, you sell them at a lesser price per shirt. You will actually make more money by printing high volume jobs than smaller runs. That is where your equipment needs to be able to produce for you.
That is where the expense of printing commercially comes into the picture. If you want to be serious about screen print jobs, you need at least a few key components to your equipment line up. The tee shirt press is an essential piece of equipment for professionals. Of course a belt dryer and an exposure unit would also be important.Have no fear; there is hope for the merging of the 2 different sides of screen printing. One could always buy only the key pieces of equipment one would need and then fill in the blanks with homemade or hand crafted tools or accessories. And perhaps set it all up in your garage?Many screen printing businesses have been started that way. Just think, you could print tee shirts for you mothers birthday party and pay for the shirts with the money you make printing shirts commercially.
Well, there is yet another thing to consider with that. Be careful to abide by any local environmental laws pertaining to the usage and disposal of screen printing related chemicals and products. Vendors of screen printing products will be happy to provide Material Safety Data Sheets, (MSDS), for chemical makeup and hazardous materials information as well as precautionary information for human usage. This also means checking into local zoning laws that may restrict or prohibit such semi industrial activities in a residential area. This of course would not apply to a hobby or home craft style of screen printing.
Thanks for reading!
Learn How To Screen Print Tee Shirts At Home 
sir i would like to know the chemicals used in screen printing
Hello and thanks for checking out the all new Catspit Blog. For more free information about screen printing, visit the Catspit website. Check out this article to learn more about the basic usages of chemicals: http://catspitproductionsllc.com/consumablesusage.aspx
Thanks for reading!
Was wondering if there is a video on application of emulsion that you do some where on u tube maybe. Your other videos have been very helpful. Thanks
Yes, there is. Check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XThWihlibY
I just did a blog about this video too. It’s on th blog home page right now.
I will eventually remake this video to update it and make it a bit better. Stay tuned. Thanks for the comment!
Your second point says ‘Output the artwork on film’. What kinda paper are you referring to? JPSS paper?
Just a standard inkjet film positive.
http://catspitproductionsllc.com/inkjetfilmpositives.aspx
Thanks for dropping by reading and leaving a comment!
Hello I am looking to start up in my garage. I am looking at a 4 color table top press. what other essentials would I need? I am on a budget obviously like everyone is. what is some equipment can I get away without having in the beginning? or make myself any help would be great thank you so much for an awesome website.!
This will all really depend on your end goals and your budget. You will need to do some of this research yourself because only you know what your particular needs are. Equipment can be expensive depending on what type of printing you are looking to do. Setting up a manual shop can cost anywhere from $500 to over $20,000. How much space it will take, what electrical needs will it have and how much it will cost you, depends on what kind of shop you want to set up. I suggest Ranar equipment because it is a great balance of function, performance and pricing.
http://catspitproductionsllc.com/ranarscreenprintingequipment.aspx
http://catspitproductionsllc.com/shoppackages.aspx
If you want to set up a simple shop in your garage, you will need at least:
bench press or floor press
exposure unit
flash cure unit
scoop coater
screens
squeegees
Then of course you will need the consumables like inks, solvents, screen making chemicals, etc… You will also need things like tape, ink scoops and other small accessories. Whether for hobby or commercial goals, your budget will determine what equipment you can buy.
Cool supplies discounts here too:
http://catspitproductionsllc.com/screenprintingsupplies.aspx
Also check out these articles:
http://catspitproductionsllc.com/basicsteps.aspx
http://catspitproductionsllc.com/startingtoscreenprint.aspx
But there is a decent learning curve. Feel free to ask questions anytime. Thanks for your support!
i was just wondering how to line up a 4 or 3 colour screen. like if i wanted to print out a pic that had 4 colours in it how do you line the screens up exactly.. vidz are awesome. thanks
Check out this video and extrapolate but if you have good registration marks then you use those to line up the screens to the black printer.
Hello,
ur videos r really helpful. Here is my question.
If I have a design with six different colors in it so do I need to make six different screens for six different colors? If not how can I print with single screen with six different colors? The may or may not be overlapping. Design may be like drops of different color at different locations.
Thanks, glad I could help out. Check out this video.
Thanks a lot for the vdo.