So, you just started screen printing but need a few tips on how to improve the quality of your prints. Screen printing is a great way for the DIY’er, Mom Entrepreneur, and screen printer enthusiast to create unique and personalized t-shirts, bags, banners, kids’ clothes, and other promotional products. This article is designed to help beginners improve their screen printing process to produce high-quality prints.
Quality Graphics Results in a Quality Print
Many novice decorators will start by grabbing a low-resolution image from the internet and vectorizing it in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. This low-quality image will result in a blurry image, transferring imperfections onto your screen making your final print seem fuzzy. Starting off with a high-resolution image; 300 PPI or a clean vector format file; will result in a professional screen print.
Proper Color Separation
If your artwork has more than one color, properly separating the colors will be vital to the final screen printing process as each color will need its own screen. This process can be tedious but with practice, anyone can do it. There are three common screen printing separations; spot color, four-color process, simulated-process color, and index color. Photoshop, Corel Draw, Illustrator are a few of the programs used to separate colors from your artwork.
Choosing the Right Screen Mesh Count
A screen mesh count ranges from 25-280. The range might seem like a lot to choose from, but there are general guidelines that will help find the best mesh count for your project.
25-40 Mesh Count: Ideal for glitter or shimmer inks
60 Mesh Count: Best used for heavy ink, often used on athletic jerseys for block letters/number
80-86 Mesh Count: Used when printing a heavy under base or specialty inks such as puff ink.
110-160 Mesh Count: This is the most commonly used mesh count in screen printing as they are perfect for more detailed print while maintaining a decent ink deposit. These screens are also ideal for printing on dar fabrics.
180 – 200 Mesh Count: This count is perfect when using light inks on dark fabrics. These screens will produce a somewhat detailed print.
230 – 280 Mesh Count: For a print that is soft on the hand, these are perfect. But due to the lighter ink deposits, the final print will not be as bright or vivid.
Squeegee Angle, Direction, and Pressure Matter
The angle, direction and pressure ink is applied with a squeegee will determine how much ink is deposited onto a garment. There are two directions of applying ink; pushing or pulling.
When pushing; moving the squeegee away from you on the screen; the squeegee must be held at a 45-degree angle.
When pulling; moving the squeegee towards you on the screen; the squeegee must be held between a 45-80 degree angle.
Whatever direction you are applying the ink make sure the amount of pressure is distributed evenly across the screen. Too much pressure can result in much ink being pushed through the screen and not enough pressure can lead to little ink being pushed through the screen resulting in a partial print.
Properly Curing Ink
Allowing ink to properly cure will produce a professional print. Most inks need to be heated above 320 degrees to fully cure, but each ink manufacturer will include their recommended curring temperature on their containers. A temperature gun can be used to check the internal temperature of your ink as it comes out of the dryer. We recommend testing the curing process before starting on a sample garment.
Adjust the Off-Contact Distance
Off-contact is the distance between the bottom of your screen and the top of the printing pallet where your garment sits. The purpose of off-contact is to allow the screen to snap off the garment after applying ink. This allows for a clean deposit of ink on a shirt, prevents the screen from touching the garment prematurely causing unwanted ink stains, and reduces ink build. The recommended off-contact distance is between 1/6″ and 1/8″.
Type of Ink
There are three types of ink for screen printing; Plastisol Ink, Water-Based Ink, and Discharge Ink. Each type has its benefits and produces different results.
Plastisol ink is typically used for its thick, durable, and versatile application. Prints made with plastisol ink produce clear details, are easier to mix, and can stay on a screen for longer periods of time without drying out.
Water-based ink, unlike plastisol ink, allows the ink to be absorbed by the fibers of the fabric producing a softer print to the touch.
Discharge ink works by removing the color off of the area where the ink has been applied, replacing it with pigment. This ink option is popular with decorators working on 100% cotton. This ink requires a little more expertise as it requires a heat source while screen printing.
Don’t Print Over Seams, Pockets or Zippers
For anyone starting off, we highly recommend not trying to print over a seam, pocket or zipper. These areas have thicker fabric build up creating a gap between your ink and the fabric resulting in inconsistencies in ink deposits.
Printing on Ribbed Garments
Thanks to ribbed garments, we have form-fitting clothes such as t-shirts, dresses, and baby onesies. As great as this may sound, this fabric presents a problem for screen printers. When printing on a t-shirt with ribbed fabric, the ribbed garment is not stretched out only allowing us to apply ink to the top of the rib. Once the shirt is put on we can see areas where the ink was not applied to. As a screen printer, we can apply more pressure to force ink through the gaps but this technique limits the amount of detail that is actually transferred over. Because of this issue, we high-recommend new screen printers to stay away from printing on ribbed garments.
Test Runs Are Important
The most important tip on our list on improving your screen printing process is Test Before Every Run. No matter how accurate you are at following the first 9 tips, not testing before a run can lead to wasted material, inventory and time. Testing allows you, the screen printer, to easily make adjustments before each run.
Following these 10 simple tips will improve your screen printing process and boost the quality of your work. If you found this article helpful, please share it with your friends. And for experienced screen printers, comment below to share other tips, common problems, and techniques new screen printers should be following.