How to Silk Screen

Courtesy of Megan Overman

Supplies:
Clean screen, Squeegee, Emulsion, Ink, Ttransparency (film) of image desired

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Step 1: Coat screen

Coat screen with photo sensitive emulsion. This should be done in an area not well lit and while emulsion is drying keep screen out of light.

Von Klaus says: Jul 5, 2006. 2:04 PM

hold the squeegee at a 45 degree angle for best results. anyway looks awesome. i made an apple logo shirt in art class, i used freezer paper for a screen. i am very primitive when it comes to screen printing.

sharpstems in reply to Von KlausJul 3, 2009. 2:14 AM

Wait, you used freezer paper for the screen? Or did you use freezer paper as a stencil? If you used it for a screen, then I don't think I know what you mean by 'freezer paper'. Please explain, I'm just learning to print, if you have a good trick please let me know.

Purocuyu in reply to sharpstemsOct 1, 2012. 6:21 PM

You use freezer paper as a stencil. Freezer paper is pretty much butcher paper with plastic on one side. If you cut out your stencil, then iron on the freezer paper to a T-shirt (plastic side down), you can put the ink down, and when slightly dry, peel the paper off, and you have a single-use "silkscreen-type" shirt. There has got to be an instructable somewhere.

bhon2x says: Feb 3, 2012. 5:12 AM

how can i know the procedure of using the emulsion on the screen?

xBOOx says: Nov 28, 2010. 5:48 PM

I love akimbo!!!
such an awesome band..how did the shirt come out?

Sandisk1duo says: Jan 28, 2010. 5:52 PM

How many shirts can you print with one screen(when it has emulation on it)?

yumie says: Feb 25, 2007. 8:38 AM

does anyone know where I can order this emulsion online in europe? I'm from Germany and I'd like to save the shipping costs. ulano seems to be sold only in US

kn03i in reply to yumieNov 13, 2009. 5:22 AM

From what I've heard the emulsion that macodirect.de supplies should suffice.

eversionclothing says: Mar 3, 2009. 12:16 PM

another way to save some time is by cutting your motions down... many printers 'flood' the screen (cover it lightly with ink) then move the squeegee all the way to the top, pull the ink down and then put the squeegee back to the top which is 4 movements... however, what i do and it works just the same is.: 'flood' the screen, then when all the ink is at the bottom of the screen you 'push' the ink to the top of the screen with the squeegee at about 45 degrees. then for your next print the squeegee is already at the top ready to flood again... only 2 movements per print. so you are cutting your movments in half, and in bulk orders of, lets say, 400 that will save you 800 movements...lol, that is A LOT of time and more importantly A LOT of muscle strain.

baken411 says: Sep 10, 2008. 5:22 PM

quick question... where can i get screens from? preferably a store not online

mdreinitz says: Dec 13, 2006. 5:03 PM

I must be doing something wrong because I can't get my image to burn on screen. I put a black sheet of paper on bottom, then screen, then image, then glass. Do I need to put the printed side towards screen. If I do that, then i need to reverse the image.. Help

osh-kosh says: Aug 10, 2006. 5:34 PM

What's the common name of the emulsion? Can I make it? Do I buy it?

manolo in reply to osh-koshDec 10, 2006. 4:53 AM

Ulan QTX mclogan.com

Continuum says: Jul 8, 2006. 11:26 AM

http://community.livejournal.com/craftgrrl/3674467.html

That is the easiest (possibly not the best) method of silk screening I have seen. It was on Make a long time ago.

Wonderground in reply to ContinuumSep 27, 2006. 4:26 PM

That is way harder then the above method.

erfonz in reply to WondergroundNov 2, 2006. 10:45 PM

harder, but way cheaper and a good start if you don't really want to buy all the chemicals right away

tracy_the_astonishing in reply to ContinuumJul 28, 2006. 11:09 PM

That is cool. But waaaaay too much work for a lazy-Daisy like myself.

jaggtmolina says: Oct 23, 2006. 8:24 PM

nice instructable. but how do you make multi-color screens? what mesh do you use?

Von Klaus says: Jul 5, 2006. 2:01 PM

you can also put the screen in the sun, for people who don't have those fancy tools.

sharkilepsy in reply to Von KlausOct 17, 2006. 6:05 PM

if you had read the instructions, you might have noticed that it already says that.

bitterfame says: Jul 5, 2006. 6:31 PM

this would be easy if we all had a silk screening studio like you do...but some of us just aren't that cool...

Wonderground in reply to bitterfameSep 27, 2006. 4:24 PM

It is a nice set up but if you look at the text it clearly says how to do it without the facilities at her disposal. Besides silkscreening is really easy, studio is only needed if you are constantly doing it.

osh-kosh in reply to bitterfameAug 10, 2006. 5:42 PM

Yah this is kinda ridiculous. It's not so much a 'how to' as much as a 'wouldn't you like to be like me'.

mabufo in reply to bitterfameJul 5, 2006. 7:50 PM

reminds me of the one instructable about fixing your porsche's headrest.

Dimitrios says: Aug 14, 2006. 12:07 AM

Really Cool! Thanks for sharing

tracy_the_astonishing says: Jul 28, 2006. 11:08 PM

I just made one for printing on the cheap and at home:
http://www.instructables.com/id/EFAN6S16FTEQ2W3MOV/?ALLSTEPS

MD_Willington says: Jul 7, 2006. 5:44 PM

Cool, I remember doing this in "Art" classes from 10th-12th grades... fun stuff.

saites2001 says: Jul 5, 2006. 8:28 PM

It seems pretty intresting, but I find your tutorial rather difficult to understand. Maybe I'm just stupid today . . . Nice pictures.

105

trebuchet03 says: Jul 5, 2006. 6:51 PM

wow... I did not realize that the screen was literally burned... but I guess that makes sense... cutting with a knife would take a lot of time and would probably not come out as nice...