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How to Silk Screen

last photo ←

Courtesy of Megan Overman

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

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Step 1Coat 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.

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28 comments

Feb 3, 2012. 5:12 AMbhon2x says:

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

Nov 28, 2010. 5:48 PMxBOOx says:

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

Jan 28, 2010. 5:52 PMalex-sharetskiy says:

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

Feb 25, 2007. 8:38 AMyumie says:

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

Nov 13, 2009. 5:22 AMkn03i says:

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

Jul 5, 2006. 2:04 PM

Von Klaus says:

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.

Jul 3, 2009. 2:14 AMsharpstems says:

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.

Mar 3, 2009. 12:16 PMeversionclothing says:

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.

Sep 10, 2008. 5:22 PMbaken411 says:

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

Dec 13, 2006. 5:03 PMmdreinitz says:

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

Aug 10, 2006. 5:34 PMosh-kosh says:

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

Dec 10, 2006. 4:53 AMmanolo says:

Ulan QTX mclogan.com

Jul 8, 2006. 11:26 AMContinuum says:

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.

Sep 27, 2006. 4:26 PMWonderground says:

That is way harder then the above method.

Nov 2, 2006. 10:45 PMerfonz says:

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

Jul 28, 2006. 11:09 PM

tracy_the_astonishing says:

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

Oct 23, 2006. 8:24 PMjaggtmolina says:

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

Jul 5, 2006. 2:01 PM

Von Klaus says:

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

Oct 17, 2006. 6:05 PMsharkilepsy says:

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

Jul 5, 2006. 6:31 PMbitterfame says:

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

Sep 27, 2006. 4:24 PMWonderground says:

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.

Aug 10, 2006. 5:42 PMosh-kosh says:

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'.

Jul 5, 2006. 7:50 PMmabufo says:

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

Aug 14, 2006. 12:07 AMDimitrios says:

Really Cool! Thanks for sharing

Jul 28, 2006. 11:08 PM

tracy_the_astonishing says:

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

Jul 7, 2006. 5:44 PMMD_Willington says:

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

Jul 5, 2006. 8:28 PMsaites2001 says:

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

105

Jul 5, 2006. 6:51 PMtrebuchet03 says:

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...