SCREENPRINTING
INTRO Screen-printing is the equivalent of using a stencil. A wooden or aluminium frame is covered with a delicate, fine nylon mesh that ink is squeezed through. The stencil can be made by placing paper under the screen or with digital, hand drawn imagery that is exposed onto the screen with light sensitive emulsion. For each colour in the image, a separate screen and stencil is required. Screenprinting is good for printing onto a variety of materials and allows you to create multiple prints for cheap.
Tools
-Screen -Squeegee -Trough -Palette knife -U.V. exposer unit
Materials
-Acrylic Ink -Binder -Emulsion -Brown tape -Material you want to print onto
Before you can start the screen-printing process you must prepare your artwork. Most artwork is created in Illustrator. If your artwork has more than one colour it will need to be separated into layers. The colour layers need to be printed on separate pages but both printed with black ink to create the positive images. Black ink is used to prevent light seeping through when you come to expose the image.
SCREEN
Before you can prepare the stencil, you must make sure the screen has no ink, grease or old emulsion on it. If it does, apply stencil remover to the screen with a sponge and wash off with the pressure washer to remove some of the tougher stains; this is also known as degreasing. Place the screen in a warm room to dry. The screen must be completely dry before the emulsion is applied. 
Once the screen is dry you can apply the light sensitive emulsion. To apply the emulsion, fill the trough about half way. Place the trough with the emulsion in at the bottom of the screen at an angle and pull the troth up in a smooth motion whilst keeping contact with the screen until you reach the top. Its best to apply a thin layer of emulsion to the screen, this helps the image to expose properly. Once the emulsion has been applied, place the screen in a dark area and allow to dry. Make sure you clean the
trough afterwards. When the emulsion is dry, you are now ready to expose your image in the UV exposure unit. Place the positive image face up on the glass bed and align the screen, emulsion side down on top of the image. Close the lid and switch on the vacuum pump. This stops light escaping from behind the positive areas of the image. Expose the image for:
170 L.U. The emulsion becomes hardened when the UV light comes into contact. The dark areas of the image don’t allow the light to harden the emulsion. Rinse of the screen gently with water to remove the soft emulsion, the hardened emulsion remains to form the stencil. Once the screen is clear, place it in a warm room and allow the screen to dry.
PRINTING G N I T N I R P
T 
 o prepare the screen you need to tape the inside edges with brown tape to protect the screen. The screen is now ready to be clamped onto the screen bed. Before you start printing you will need to secure a clear, hinged sheet of paper with registration marks on to allow you to print the artwork in the correct place. Once you have done this turn on the screen bed vacuum. To prepare the ink you need to mix 1/3 acrylic paint with 2/3 binder. Mix the ink and binder together and spread the ink evenly in a line at the top of the screen with a palette knife. Place the squeegee behind the ink at a 45% angle and apply pressure, pull the ink across the image. Lift the screen up slightly, this will turn off the vacuum. Push the ink back to the top of the image ready for the next print. Lift the
screen fully and position the paper you are printing onto under the registration marks, masking tape one corner of the paper to mark the positioning for future prints. Remove the clear sheet of paper and lower the screen. You can now repeat the process to produce multiple prints. Keep in mind the ink will dry out after while. If you have any left over ink once you have finished printing, scrape it up with a palette knife and put it in a sealed container to use next time. Remove the screen from the bed and scrub the screen with stencil remover with a sponge, use the pressure washer to make sure you remove any remaining ink and emulsion. Once the screen is clean, place it in a warm room to dry ready for the time you want to print.
PULL-OUT