Your Ultimate Guide to Tshirt Screen Printing

Screen printing is defined as a technique of incorporating a stenciled design into a flat surface using an ink, squeegee, and a mesh screen. Paper and fabric are the most popular screen-printed surfaces, but specialized inks have made it possible to print onto plastic, metal, wood and even glass. The basic technique of tshirt printing Melbourne entails the creation of a stencil on a fine mesh screen before you push the ink (or paint, in the case of posters and artwork) through to create a representation of your design on the surface beneath.

The process is often termed as ‘silk screening’ or ‘silk screen printing’ and although the actual printing process seems similar, the way of creating the stencil can vary, depending on the kind of materials. Several stenciling techniques include:

• Using vinyl or masking tape to cover the specific areas of the screen.
• Using screen blockers such as lacquer or glue to paint the stencil onto the mesh.
• The use of a light-sensitive emulsion to build a stencil, which is then designed in a similar way to a photograph.

Designs made with screen printing technique may use a single shade of ink or several. When it comes to multicolored items, the color must be incorporated individually, using separate stencils for a single ink.

Why is screen printing used?

There are numerous reasons why the screen printing technique is so popular and one of the reasons is because it delivers vivid colors, even when placed on darker fabrics. The paint or ink is positioned in layers on the surface of the paper or fabric, which makes the print to exhibit a pleasingly tactile quality.

The technique is also preferred because it enables the printer to easily reproduce a print multiple times. The fact is that the same stencil can be used to reproduce a design numerous times, therefore, it is valuable for the creation of accessory or several copies of the same garment thereby making screen printing a very efficient method for creating numerous varieties of custom clothing for work uniforms or sports teams.

When carried out using quality equipment by a high-grade printer, there is every chance of creating intricate multicolored designs. Although the complexity of the process implies that there is a limit to the color variations the printer can use, it allows for more excessive coloring compared to what is achievable with digital printing alone.

Screen Printing Press

Although there is a high chance of screen printing with a squeegee and mesh screen, most printers opt for a press, as it gives them the chance to print several items more efficiently. This is because the press secures the screen in position between prints. With this, the user can easily swap out the clothing or paper being printed.

There are three varieties of the press: Automatic, semi-automatic, and manual. Manual presses come with hand operation, which implies that they are they’re quite labor intensive. For semi-automatic presses, they are partially mechanized but still need human effort to swap over the materials being pressed, while automatic presses require no human input are completely automated.