down and dirty screenprinting for under 10$

Step 9 Clean up.

Clean the screen and putty knife with dish soap and water.
Peel off all the vinyl if you want to use the screen again.
Be sure the ink is out of the mesh, because once it dries hard there, it will never come out.

Let the finished prints dry overnight.

Make more.
Feel satisfied that you are creating something beautiful out of what was already considered refuse.

Comments

[LeechTaMere]

interesting method you developed her, yet I feel like it defies the very idea of screen-printing, where the screen allows you to have a stencil with shapes not attached to anything around. Like with a hole cut-out all around. See what I mean? The problem would be the way you transfer the vinyl to the screen. I can't seem to see anyway to get it transfered with shapes completely cut around, without the good ol' "right way".

[Arano]

after cutting, put masking tape on the vinyl before you transfer it...

[LeechTaMere]

Yeah, I should have thought of this. I made a vinyl stencil with text for my bike frame once. What was I thinking ?

[jpolicky]

Very excellent, I have long wondered about the mysteries of screen printing, and you may have just saved me an entire semester learning it. I in no way want to be a professional screen printer, but i've often wanted to make my own t-shirts and junk, and with this i now can...thanks!

[sneakyparasol]

really good clear instructable with lots of helpful photos. nice job! thanks heaps.

[Buy U A Bev]

can you use the same stencil (like by washing the screen and not peeling off the vinyl) im making shirts for my band if you kinda need a feel for whats happening

[User1]

Fan freakin tastic!  Nice job on putting your tutorial together too. 

I'm wondering how durable is the ink going to be?  How many washing you think your example will take?  I'm assuming washing in cold water and crappy detergent.  Any tips on durability?

Thanks!

[crazyg]

artists acrilic in toothpaste style tubes, use one really heavy pass with squeegee to push paint into(not onto) cloth

[woodenshoespress]

housepaint is relatively durable. it will fade, and maybe flake after some washing, but i have shirts printed with it that are years old and still strong.

[snowboardchamp]

 Hmmm... I wonder if this would work on a skateboard... Anybody tried that or have have an opinion on it?

[inlikeflint]

It will work... it is a flat surface.  Silkscreen is usually how they put images on a brand new board.

[sk8er6]

a skateboard is not a flat surface. the concave/convex makes it difficult to screen with this method. http://jbdskateboards.com/pages/images/concaveL.jpg
unless you just want to do the nose or tail. and i dont get why you had to make the screen, when you ended up cutting the stencil anyways. I mean, you could have cut this out of a cereal box and dabbed the paint on with a rag or sponge and saved time and money. i get the vibe that your instructable is about a quick process, but i guess stencilling isn't screenprinting... also, im glad you atleast made your stencil by hand instead of photoshopping it, even though im not really diggin it.

[snowboardchamp]

 are you sure because the edges of the board curve up a bit (to form the "concave" of the board that gives you that locked in feeling

[inlikeflint]

Yeah, I am real sure... Have you ever seen the Powell & Peralta move called, Bones Brigade-Future Primitive? It shows skateboards being designed by pro boarders (Caballero) with the silk screening process.

If you are not sure about your design or if it will work on your deck, you might consider using scrap wood to test it first.

[snowboardchamp]

 yeah i'll try that, it sounds good, i am intrigued by the process and if i can figure out how to do it easily, i'll post my results.

[mcflyalright]

you can actually make a convex frame but its a pain. the other way is to roll the surface as you print it (also a pain). that is how they print oil drums (with machines). the screen will probably have enough give to it that it will get decent coverage, just squeege from side to side instead of top to bottom.

just making a stencil out of paper/acetate etc and using spray adhesive would probably be easiest.

[d.n.milne]

If it is just the one board, then you could attach the vinyl directly to the deck...

[snowboardchamp]

That sounds like a good idea, i've been experimenting with painters tape made stuck together to make a sheet, but the vinyl one-piece sheet idea sounds good. Will it stick to the wood though?

[SNiPERSeyes]

good name... inlikeflint....

[inlikeflint]

Thanks...

[A_squared]

Could you use vinyl electrical tape as a substitute for the sign material?

[woodenshoespress]

i wouldn't. it isn't sticky enough, and it would be a huge pain to cut into any design. if you can't find sign vinyl, contact paper is probably a better choice.

[jjmcjared]

 great inst. i do whats called silk screen in school some times and this is preety much how we do it except we use frames that are ment for it and insted of the vinel your using we use this stuff that is almost the same and then you put it on your screen and u use this chemical to make them stick and then we use the write kind of ink too

[SNiPERSeyes]

this is the same its just made for a quick print that doesnt waste materials and money.... by the way whats the name of this school
i go to A.W.Dreyfoos high school of the arts....

[jjmcjared]

 where is that? i go to Lehman alternative community school in ithaca ny.

[BankyEdwards]

I love it! I've been wanting to make custom screens for a long time, but have never learned... I have learned some techniques for stenciling though, so I may try to modify this slightly for a multiple color screen. One question, you do need to put something inside of the shirt to keep the color from bleeding into the back, don't you?

I'll post and link here if I create the multi-color process instructable.

[woodenshoespress]

depending on how thick your fabric is, it might be a good idea to have a peice of cardboard or something on the other side of the screen.

[BankyEdwards]

That was my thought... one last thing, on another instructable, I was reading about something called 'the snap'. Basically, the gap between screen and substrate. Is there something in this design that provides for this, or should I be considering taping 5mm washers in the corners of the frame?

[johnny3h]

Way  back over 40 years ago I worked in a pro silkscreen shop and 90% of our work was printed on poster boards, using standard posterboard.  Naturally, we had a lot of errors, allowed the paint to dry, and then SAVED the board.

We used one inch wide strips cut out of that boared to tape along the edges of the printing area on the edges of the screen frame [anything used to raise the screen above the printing plane has to be OUTSIDE the area of the flexible screen].

The washers, or coins, or any spacing material should work IF the screen is held above the printing plane.

[tyrons]

good one thanks

[capecodjewel]

 LOL... when I first looked at your stencil, I thought it was Obama taking a hit off a crack pipe. 

Great tutorial! :)

[WILL62]

Very nice instructable,I totally dug it.......

[heidifromthefl]

Too cool! I've wanted to do this. Thanks so much for the info :)!

[yoyoman3333]

OBAMA!!!

[laqueenie01]

Thanks this was awesome!

[carrotflower]

Ahh, this is awesome. Thank you.

[28.martine]

great idea I want to make a jeans for my daughter and want to put something on her back pocket to make it less home sewed. goldcolord paint yes thanks

[pd820]

i don't get what this does

[jpatano]

it's a device for screen printing... think of practically any t-shirt you own with any graphic or logo on it. this is just a simple version of that, for single color print only. though if you wanted to get creative you could probably layer multiple passes with different colors. would probably be rather difficult for a DIY project though.

[javajunkie]

totally awesome! and a project I'm going to try with our Scouts to make camp shirts! thanks for the tutorial!!!