DIY Screen Printing: Easy, Detailed & Inexpensive!

Step 2 Assemble Your Screen

Take your mesh material and place inside embroidery hoop. Tighten hoop. Stretch material evenly across hoop and tighten hoop again. Should be tight or your material will shift and you won't have a clear print.

Comments

[SpiderSpartan]

Any recommendations on where to get  this mesh material or what to use?  Could you use another T-shirt?

[simplebeep]

 @anotherway is right.

The screen needs to have some important properties:
- It must have holes that are big enough to allow ink to pass through easily,
   but small enough to allow the stencil to properly adhere.
- It needs to be rather stiff with only a small amount of give, so that it returns
   to its original position instantly.
- It shouldn't be made of an overly-fibrous organic material (cotton, wool, etc),
   as the fibers tend to soak up and hold in the ink,
   and can degrade the quality of the print.
   Silk or nylon ought to work, as those materials don't "shed" fibers.

The right screen material is key. The reason professional ones are called "silk screens" is because silk is the best material to use (it's fine, strong, doesn't shed, and keeps a good amount of elasticity, as well as re-use longevity). My advice is to try something out; start cheap, give it your best guess, and you'll quickly learn what makes a good fabric while not wasting money!

[anotherway]

Hi Spider!

The mesh material I used is nylon from Jo-Ann fabrics. I looked for a material with tiny holes that looked like fine mesh. I'm not sure another t-shirt would work too well b/c the fabric may be woven too tight, and the cotton may absorb the ink instead of letting it pass through.  You can also look for polyester or silk fabric with small holes. If you have an art store near you, stop in and check out the screen printing frames that they have, so you have an idea of what the mesh material looks like.  Also, make sure the material isn't too stretchy (ie nylon stockings) b/c the material will move around during printing.

[rogeromc]

I went to look around in the city near by where I live, and look for any fabric store, and I asked for silk, they told me silk is very pricy, so I looked around and they have a grat variaty of the fabric that can work for screenprinting. If any body needs some I can ship it for you, its lite so I dont think it will be expensive to mail.
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