Ryans web log

Now that you have a general idea of what it takes to make any kind of custom print of your liking, (if you don’t, you can read “an overview of screen printing”) now you might be wondering where you go to improve on your prints. Though you don’t have to buy new equipment to make nice prints, if you ever plan on doing small jobs for people or even playing around with multi-color work then it is recommended that you invest in some new equipment.  I will be mentioning things considered when using the photo emulsion technique but if you are sticking to the basics of screen filler or cut and paste then focusing on the info about the actual printing process will be most beneficial to you.

There are lots of variables to consider when you are going to try to invest in equipment. You might want to ask yourself “what am i really doing here?”. There are many things you can do with minimal equipment costs, but determining your future plans will really show what equipment is best for you. Are you just getting into this for fun? Do you just want to make some nice custom shirts for yourself and close friends? Do you plan on selling your shirts? Would you like to make clothing for bands and sports teams or any other kind of business? How about starting your own clothing line? These are all things you have to consider when looking into setting up your printing area.

For those of you who are the less serious, more curious group who just wants to have fun and maybe make shirts as gifts or just having your own clothing style then there are only a few things you will need to worry about. Basically you will do just fine with your homemade exposure unit and a small cupboard or closet as a darkroom for letting your screens dry. Using a tub with minimal water pressure and just sticking with your basic water based ink from Speedball will do just fine. As mentioned in the previous blog, a fan can cut 30 min. off your time of production over all. This is when you are considering drying the emulsion in screens, drying the screens after washout, and drying the shirts after your prints are made. Any fan will do fine, but you can get the best results out of larger industrial fans that run as low as $20. And believe me, saving time without sacrificing too much money will make you a much happier person in the end.

Now, considering you aren’t too worried about your exposure unit, or your darkroom, or your washout area… that basically just leaves the actual artwork and the printing process. There are a few variables that go into your quality of prints other then the artwork. Squeegees, Screen size/mesh count, and inks. If you are thinking that you will be printing on black or similar dark clothing then you must understand that your water based inks will not do too much in this category. Almost all the colors will come out with a faded look because of the lack of pigment in water based ink.  If you have to print on dark garments then you have a few options. You can print a white under base of the same image before you print the color of your choice (print, wash out screen while shirt dries, then print over the same exact spot with another color) which can be a difficult task without keeping your shirt from moving, and with out properly aligning your screen. You can do this by keeping tabs on the shirt that correspond to tabs on the screen frame (mentioned in “an overview of screen printing”)  which will help you get your screen into the relative same position it was in when you printed the white under base. Another, but significantly more expensive way of saving time is to invest in plastisol ink. This would be for those of you who are a bit more serious about your work as you would need to spend roughly $400 to get the equipment needed to handle the ink. You can purchase high opacity inks which do not require an under base on dark garments because they are loaded with pigments and they are thicker then tooth paste. If you are planning on going in this direction then it would be necessary to upgrade your squeegee as the ink is so thick that the squeegee provided in your starter kit would be pretty rough to deal with.  I will explain later the process by which this ink works and the equipment needed, as well as where the equipment is provided.

If you aren’t too worried about printing on dark garments, or you are fine with aligning your screens the tough way, then the only problem with ink you will have is choosing the right color. In most Art Media’s where the kits are provided, they also have a small section dedicated to screen printing. This section has cheap squeegees and inks of many colors that are provided by Speedball and Versatex (at least in the store i go to) but be forewarned: The Versatex water based ink series requires an additive that is sold separately that makes it so the ink won’t wash out. I learned this the hard way. The ink can also be cured using a standard flash dryer, something i will explain later as well.

The final thing you will need to worry about is the screen you will be using. Screens are also provided at Art Media and start at about $20 for a small screen to about $40 for a larger one. I definitely recommend getting at least one new screen because the one in the Speedball kit is a joke. These screens are generally 110 mesh which is a little low when using water based ink but works fine if you are just having fun. Keep in mind that if you are purchasing a screen that is larger then the one you might be used to, then the time it takes for the screen to expose is increased because there is more emulsion on the screen. Accordingly, if the screen is smaller then the time is decreased. You might also be wondering what the differences are in screen mesh. It’s actually quite simple, just think about it like pixels in a picture. The higher the mesh count, the more detail the screen can pick up. A good standard mesh size for water based is around 200, though you probably won’t find those in just any store. When printing with plastisol inks then 156 or 110 is okay, but any higher then that is rough because the ink is so thick it gets harder for the ink to pass through the screen without reducers added in. Lastly, you might want to purchase a few cheap plastic squeegees just so you can use a clean one if another is dirty. You can purchase these in different sizes, so keep in mind the size of your image when purchasing new ones. There are also more expensive wooden squeegees that have a more crisp edge on them that makes cleaner prints but they aren’t necessary if you don’t feel they are. So that’s about it for beginners. After you get a new screen and some squeegees and ink you are pretty much set. The only other expenses will be purchasing more ink, emulsion and maybe a new screen if the old one becomes warped and unusable.

Not including the starter kit the price over all should be about:

-$5 for a couple plastic squeegees

-$25 for a new screen

-$10 for some new ink colors

total: roughly $45

Now i will explain a more serious set-up and show you my own personal equipment that i have gotten over the past couple years. I will explain each section of the process and necessary equipment for those who are going for professional prints, and then show my semi-pro equipment.

The first section i will focus on is the dark room. As i explained earlier, because you are dealing with a light sensitive photo emulsion it is important that you don’t expose your emulsion prematurely by letting any sunlight or artificial light hit it. Think of it the same way you would when exposing film in a dark room except emulsion is less sensitive then that. About a minute in direct sunlight could ruin a screen if you let it expose before you have the image ready. So dedicating a room as your dark room is a great idea. This darkroom should be completely light safe and generally includes a few select pieces of equipment that are all required in the screen making process. To make a room light safe you can replace all the bulbs with yellow flood bulbs (rather then red because its easier to see) and just make sure that all windows are completely blocked out either by painting them with yellow paint or hanging opaque shades or something similar. My Printing room is capable of being relatively light safe. For those who are more serious about this then you can paint the walls a light rose red instead of going straight to black. This will help minimize reflective light from hitting the screens. Most dark rooms have screen drying racks, exposure units and washout booths in different areas inside the room. A screen drying rack is a helpful piece of equipment when you need to dry multiple screens at once. To make your own you can build them in the corner of your wall by nailing pieces of wood about 1/4in. in width and height and roughly 18 to 24 inches in length. It would look something like taking a square frame made from wood with the dimensions described and then cutting the frame in half diagonally and nailing the corner of each half into the corner of the wall. These would be spaced out in sections of about 2 inches for the screens to fit into. I have done something similar to this but without using the wood, just the nails. It looks like this: Nailed screen rack. If you want to make this you need to put 3 nails for each section. Two on one wall (one a foot or two from the corner, and one close to the corner) and one on the other wall (a foot or two from the corner as well). Make sure you level all of these as the screen must dry in a level horizontal position. Also, if you are going to make one of these for just one screen, you will have to put a fourth nail above the nail that is close to the corner or the screen will tip and fall.

The next thing is the exposure unit. Most professional exposure units contain a vacuum that allows for the most crisp burned images possible. These can get the best images and very fine detail and halftones, but can set you back thousands of dollars. There is an alternative offered by those at silkscreeningsupplies.com that works the same way for a fraction of the price. Here is a picture of the exposure unit i have:Exposure unit on. It can burn a typical 20×24 in. screen in less then 10 min. It works similar to vacuum units in that you expose from the bottom rather then the top. This unit comes with a thick piece of glass and a piece of foam that you place on the squeegee side of the screen. Then with the foam in place, you get a piece of wood and about 50 pounds of weight and put the wood down on the foam with the weight on top of that (Make sure the weight is evenly distributed). This ensures that the transparency is pushed securely against the emulsion to create a crisp image and is capable of exposing half tone dots as well. These run from $350 for a 24×20 in. like mine. These also have a timer installed in them with automated shut-off so you don’t have to worry about over-exposing your screens, which is really nice. The other good thing about this unit is that you don’t have to worry about burning yourself from the heat because there is very little time for it to heat up. Other exposure units that are good for beginners but cost only around $50 are like this PVC exposure unit. This is what I started out with before i upgraded to the unit you saw earlier. They both work great but again, it really is a matter of what your future plans are when determining the best equipment for you.

The last part of the dark room is the wash out area. Here you can buy many different chemicals and pieces of equipment to make this process more efficient and bring better results. The most common thing is some sort of tub or sink, but what is most common is what’s called a washout booth. This is basically a sink that is about three feet off the ground and has a back and walls and a ceiling to reduce back spray from getting all over the place. This is where you would keep your hose, chemicals and pressure washer as well as maybe a dip tank and other similar instruments. Some of these even come with a special holster for your pressure washer, a stand for your screen and a back light that will help you see what needs to be washed out, like this washout booth. The chemicals around here would include things like emulsion remover, degreaser, haze remover, ink cleaner (for plastisol inks) and any other cleaning chemicals. A hose and a pressure washer will definitely be recommended if you are reclaiming your screens often (washing out the emulsion) as these both will reduce the time you have to scrub the ink or emulsion away. And one of the most important things you will need are scrub brushes. One or two rough ones for removing emulsion or rubbing in degreaser, and a set of softer ones for removing your ink with.

You also might be curious as to what a dip tank is, well its actually quite ingenious. For some it is easier to use a spray bottle and brush before you pressure wash your screen to remove the emulsion, but for those who don’t have the time or energy then a dip tank does the same thing. Basically you just drop your screen into a tank full of fluid that removes the emulsion. After it sits for about 10 min. you can pull it out and pressure wash it to get all the emulsion out.

My set-up is in my bathroom. When i need to wash out an image, i bring a lamp with a yellow flood bulb in there and turn off the regular light, then i shut the door to make it relatively light safe. I have a pressure washer that i picked up for $100 from home depot that is electric. Its about 1500 psi which is plenty. I have made adaptations to the sink so it can be hooked up with a garden hose. The hose, hose pressure nozzle, and the sink adapter cost about $20 altogether and was all purchased at home depot. It has reduced my wash out time immensely and has also helped reduce the back pains i get from kneeling and scrubbing for hours. I highly advise you to get this set-up if you don’t have a ton of money but want to start screen printing. To get the adapter just remove the faucet filter thing that is screwed in on the end and bring it with you to home depot. Here is a picture of the adapter. You will need to make sure you have the proper hose adapters as well which the employees at home depot can help with I’m sure. Next here is my washout stand that i made from 1 in. PVC that i cut with a plastic saw. Again i got this stuff at HD.  This will also make your work easier on the back… Mine’s a little short but it works just fine. Here is my chemical cupboard. You can see the hose is shoved in there too. So that is about it for washout and dark room.

Stay tuned for more info on the latter half: printing equipment and organization.

For more info you can ask me or go to www.silkscreeningsupplies.com and check out the equipment they have.

Thanks for reading

RB