How to Print T-Shirts via Screen Printing

Do you want to design your own clothing but don't know how to begin? Then, you'll need guidance on printing T-shirts. This ten steps guide will walk you through every step of the process: creating the artwork and preparing screens for printing, curing, and cleaning. Find out how you can print T shirts right now and begin printing next week.

1: Preparing Your Artwork

To print a shirt, you must, of course, have to have something to print on the shirt. If you create the design yourself or have a client bring the artwork, screen printing starts with a certain kind of art. When thinking about the art you'd like on your t-shirts, keep in mind the rule that "garbage in = garbage out. The more the quality of the artwork that you begin with, the higher quality of screen prints you get. Screen printing t-shirts is when you print only one colour at one time.

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If you're printing more than one colour, you'll need an option to differentiate the colours from one another so that you can design various screens to print your style. There should be one colour per screen.

Screen printers typically utilise Illustrator, Photoshop, or Procreate to handle their art needs. These programs break down and cleanse the artwork to prepare you for printing.

2: Printing Film Positives

Once you have your artwork created and the colours are separated, The following step will make the film positive. This film positive to turn your artwork into a silkscreen. Transparency made of film is essentially one of the transparency overheads. So whatever you wish to print on your shirt, you print it using black ink on the positive of the film.

There are a variety of ways to create positives for film. For example, you can hire an individual printer to make prints of your film, draw your image onto the film or buy a printer compatible which you can use at home or in your store.

3: Making A Screen

After printing on the film, it's time to build the screen. A screen printing frame is made up of an aluminium or wood frame, stretched out with mesh made of polyester. It holds your design on the screen and allows ink to move across when pressing it using a squeezer. It is necessary to cover your mesh in the emulsion to show the image on the screen.

Before coating the mesh, it should be cleaned using a unique screen printing degreaser to ensure that all dust, lint or particles are removed to ensure that no pin holes or bumps occur in the emulsion.

An emulsion can be sensitive to light, and so covering the screen is generally carried out in a dark area that has especially yellow bulbs that are light-safe.

The application of the emulsion to your screen requires the scoop coater. Therefore, it is recommended to select the scoop coater's size according to the screen's dimensions. For example, a difference of 4 inches between your scoop coater's size and the screen's dimension is suggested. It will allow for a small screen that can be open across the entire length of the scoop coater to allow for easy coating while offering the most prominent possible printing area.

4: Exposing A Screen

Once the screen has been dry and coated, you can place your film's positive to the screen and then expose it using the screen printing exposure unit as well as an exposure lightbulb over an appropriate amount of time. The screen will harden to light however the film black or positive area of the film prevents light from getting into the emulsion. It leaves the emulsion unaffected or soft.

Finding the ideal exposure time can be a challenging task. Numerous factors such as the types of emulsions, the kind of exposure unit used, number of meshes, the colour of the mesh, humidity levels, and much more could influence the time the screen must expose the screen. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct several tests before entering production.

When the screen is exposed, wash it off with water. The soft portion of the emulsion, not exposed, is washed out, leaving areas of the mesh that reflect the design.

5: Selecting An Ink

The two most prevalent ink types available are water-based and plastisol. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Ink made of plastisol is opaque. It's vibrant, bright and easy to use.

On the other hand, it is stiffer and requires chemical cleaners to wash it up.

The water-based ink is soft and great for printing vintage images. The disadvantage of the ink is that it disperses, making printing difficult. Finding a suitable cure can be a challenge too.

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Which one you decide to use will depend on your customers' needs, what you need, and the equipment you have available.

6: Setting Up Your Screen Printing Press

When you're ready to begin screen printing t-shirts, you have to increase the screen of your printing press. Screen printing presses consist of a base that holds plates for printing and various colour arms. For example, a manual press could be smaller than a single colour 1 station or as big as an 8-colour 8 station.

If you own more colour arms, you'll have the capacity to print multiple colours simultaneously. Also, if you own an increased number of print stations, you can print more quickly.

7: Printing T-Shirts

When you are loading your shirt onto the platen, you must apply an adhesive on the plates. It allows the shirt to stick to the plate and not slide around. Water-based Pallet Adhesive is an excellent option to stick shirts onto the platen. Next, put your shirt onto the press and ensure that your printhead is set. Before locking the print head in position above your shirt, ensure that you flood the print head with ink. After the print head has been secured, you can move or push the screen that is printing ink over the screen to transfer the ink onto your shirt. It may take more than one time, depending on how much ink was applied.

Remember that you might need to light your shirt between prints. It is particularly true in the case of printing on dark clothing with a white under base. The flash dryer assists in setting or curing the ink. It allows you to print a second colour on top of the initial layer.

8: Curing

It is also necessary to dry your shirt once you have finished printing it. You can cure your shirt by using an air dryer, flash dryer or even a heat press. It is the temperature that ink cures that is different. Follow the instructions on the ink container to find out the correct cure temperature.

The temperature at which ink cures is why ink must reach this temperature from the top layer to that of the lower layer. Before buying or using ink, be aware of what it takes to achieve a complete cure before implementing it into your business. The time it takes to complete the cure is contingent upon the type of ink used and the equipment you're employing.

9: Cleanup

After you've completed an assignment, then it's time to wash up. The removal of ink from screens will depend on the type of ink you employ.

The first step is to take out the extra ink and place it back in the container. It will help save ink and make your life more simple.

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Water-based inks are removed by water. However, the water in water-based inks evaporates once the ink is placed on air. The faster it disappears, the harder it is to wash it off.

10: Reclaim

If you intend to reuse the stencil, you should skip this. However, be sure that the ink is taken off and dry the screen before storing it.

If you're done with your screen, then it's time to get rid of the screen. You'll require an emulsion remover as well as a scrub brush. Apply the remover over the screen. Circularly rub the screen between the front and the side of your screen till you begin to see it become soft. The chemical should be allowed to soak onto the screen for about 30 minutes.

Do not let the emulsion remover dry on the screen. If the chemical is drying the screen, it's not usable anymore. After a particular time, take the chemical off, wash it out, and the emulsion.

Conclusion

You've got it. Now you know the basics of printing T-shirts. Don't be harsh with yourself at first. T shirt printing can be complex. Everyone has trouble initially. Always test before going for a big one. Continue practising. It's a long-term procedure but worth it at the final.