This will be covered in more detail in the steps below.įilms & Positives For Screen Printing Exposure This is to make sure the artwork does not move when you expose your screen, otherwise, this may cause ghosting. Place a sheet of glass on top of the screen roughly the same size as the outer edge of the screen frame where you put your film positive to create a seal.Īn example of this is a sheet of wood with black foam stuck to it, bare in mind the heat produced from the light may warp the foam.Place a blacked-out material that sits under the screen and fits the inner edges of the screen frame and pushed very tightly on the underside of the screen mesh.Two other key points when exposing your screens before printing: Please refer to the table below which has a rough idea of different heights and lights.

A safe bet for exposure time of your screens is around about 4 minutes, this can vary dependent on your setup so you will need to experiment. The units I have built with 1000wat halogen flood lights have been made with the light at about 15 inches away from the screen. You must be very careful with self-built exposure lights as there is always a fire risk when using these, please don’t leave them unattended. You can either purchase a UV exposure kit/unit which can be quite expensive or you can buy a cheap 1000wat halogen light on eBay and build your own which I have pictures of below. However, with the right lights, you can expose your screens, as an alternative you can expose your screens under natural sunlight. Please refer to the table below for an idea of what materials are best suited for the screens, paper and card.Įxposure lights are one of the key tools for screen printing, without them you cannot expose your screens and all your efforts would be in vein.

On the other hand, when screen printing on paper you’ll have to use a higher mesh count. A safe bet is to use a minimum of 90T screen but I would advise a 120T mesh from personal experience, as it allows you to get higher detailed artwork or image. For this guide, we don’t have to worry, be happy, we’re a little bit more chilled-out around here and WE will be using 43T mesh. You may also find that you need a higher or lower mesh count dependent on the material that your printing onto or the inks you print with. I would advise using a 43T mesh if you are screen printing on T-shirts, this mesh count is a standard with most T-shirt screen printers. When screen printing on textiles you need to use a lower mesh count, as this is to allow more ink to print onto the garment.

So ask yourself, will you wear this t-shirt? Or is it just for fun? Because if it’s just for fun, leave, leave now … this isn’t for you. If you’re screen printing on textiles you will probably be printing t-shirts.

Screen printing emulsion sheets