DIY Screen Printing: Easy, Detailed & Inexpensive!

Step 7 Screenprint!

Print on a t-shirt, tote bag, pillow case, cardstock..anywhere! Have fun with different ink colors, too! You can print for around 15-20 minutes at a time, making sure the ink doesn't dry in the screen by "flooding" the screen between prints. To flood the screen, drag ink across screen using your squeegie WITHOUT applying pressure. This will distribute ink into the screen holes so the ink doesn't dry up too quickly.To clean up, simply scrape excess ink off screen with squeegie and rinse screen. Let screen dry and reuse later! You may have to stretch and tighten screen across embroidery hoop before your next printing session. 

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.  If you'd like to check out my etsy store or blog, please do... I love visitors!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/anotherwaydesigns
http://anotherwaydesigns.blogspot.com/

Comments

[ahughes16]

Very helpful! and easy to understand, thanks a lot ! :)

[HazelMcL]

I want to screen print a pair of tights. Is this possible with this method?

[rubberducky47]

Indeed it is! They just need to be stretched out to the full extent while you're printing.

[BATKENYAN]

wow this is probably the most helpful one ive seen thanks alot :D

[farmer moss]

thanks for this really simple, easy to understand and low-budget oriented tutorial :) i am organizing a community art & diversity event and it just got a lot simpler!

[odie reyes]

basic. nice. educational.excellent result. and can be profitable. two thumbs up for the instructional guidelines and a big kiss for the model.

[dkynha]

 Thank you Thank you!
Congratz for the awesome tutorial.
love it  ^^

[GraduallyGreener]

 I have tried normal screen printing before and . . .

A. had a hard time getting the drawing ink to wash out
B. was suposed to keep the liquid used to fill the screen under a light for several hours

Do you ever have issues with this?

[Thoth]

Like banansaur said you used an emulsion system.

Unfortunately you probably over exposed the screen or the image negative was not as opaque as you thought. Which would at best washing out the screen difficult at worst the screen its ruined and you either need to strip the emulsion and restart from the beginning or if really bad toss out the the screen (though keep the frame).

Usually using a soft tooth brush or scrub brush will help clear out those stubborn areas.

[Bananasaur]

The type of screen printing method you were using was probably emulsion based, which involves dark room preparation and usually a trasparency or darkened image for burning. The drawing fluid method doesn't need to be exposed. With either, if you're having trouble removing all of the non-filled areas, try using a high pressure spray of cold water and then follow it with warm water. 

[anotherway]

Thanks everyone!

GraduallyGreener:
A. When applying the screen filler, how many times did you drag the squeegie across the screen? I try to do it as little as possible so that the screen filler doesn't start to fill in where the drawing fluid is, maybe 2-3 times across the design. You also may want to draw thicker lines with your drawing fluid, sometimes fine lines get filled in with the screen filler. Also, if you have trouble washing the drawing fluid out, I like to take a toothbrush and scrub the areas that aren't washing out (gently at first, then gradually applying more pressure as necessary). This always helps me..
B. I'm not sure what kind of screen filler you used. With Speedball screen filler, you don't have to expose to light...

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have more questions!

[marcintosh]

 BRILLIANT !  just the kind of screen printing I've been looking for 

Thanks lots

[landru]

Thank you for this well done, clear instructable. I hope to try it soon.

[jessifromdenver]

 Thank you, thank you, thank you!  What a great idea!  I will be using this right away to make T-Shirts for my business!

[hogtowner]

I like this economical idea!  I dislike having to use iron on designs printed with my printer due to cost, plus having to wash the items without softener.  Makes for wasted money washing a few items in a washer.

You are the queen of this topic!  Very helpful for making T-shirts for my meetup.com groups at an economical price.  Thanks bunches.

[paintphone]

 I like how you showed what products you were useing ! very hepfull when your going to the store to buy it depending on where you are .