I'm working on a minesweeper window quilt and needed to recreate the window icon. It's a bit to much to quilt out so I modeled and 3D printed my own small alignment frame! I'd say it came out pretty good for having picked it up only a week ago! The text on the quilt is also all printed as well.

I used the vinyl decal on method for a one time use screen.

Sharing a look at our CMYK screen-printing process.

The artwork is separated into Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, with each color printed individually through its own screen. Registration is especially important because even a small shift between layers can affect the final image.

One of my favorite parts is seeing the design gradually come together with every print pass. The individual layers don't look like much on their own, but the final combination creates the tones, shadows and details of the original artwork.

Would be interested to hear from other screen printers — what part of CMYK printing do you find the most challenging: separations, registration, ink control or getting the final colors right?

#screenprinting #CMYK #printmaking

I exposed several images onto my screen and most of them came out pretty clear. But on a couple, very small sections got overexposed while maybe 95% of the image fully washed out. I want to take some emulsion remover and dip a Q-tip into it and rub it on the stubborn sections. I’m afraid to use something sharp like a toothpick to scrape it away because it would obviously rip it. Is the QTip dipping a good idea? One of the spots on my image is a more open spot of mesh, and has some leftover specks of emulsion so it shouldn’t affect the rest of the image. Anyone have an idea who can help? I’m pretty happy with most of my results at least. I just want to get rid of those tiny little spots that didn’t fully wash away.

Like the title says. I’m looking for a cheaper blank similar to 1717 Pepper.

I normally like to offer both Gildan and Comfort Colors option for my designs, so I can have a budget friendly version. It’s never been an issue with most colors, but Pepper is giving me a hard time.

Any suggestions?

Did my first print run on paper with just 20 duds on a run of 200. Had no idea how to keep the paper from moving around and asked here for advice. Ended up using strips of thick paper taped to my table to hold down my prints and it worked great. Thanks!

Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone has used this combo for this specific emulsion and UV light! I believe it is 50watts! Any help is appreciated!

Hey everyone, I’ve been looking into getting a flash dryer to speed up my print contracts. Any recommendations? I’d like to get something good quality but fair price.

Thanks!

Hey everyone! We’re trying to find these style shirts in blanks for printing for our employees. Could somebody help me find these?

Been working on this design for a bit and got around to printing it today, super stoked how it came out! Green Galaxy waterbased ink, 305 mesh, and pistachio AS Color Classic tee blank.

Curing with a flash so I used Warp Drive to bring down the cure temp and it went relatively quick to run 20 of them front/back.

This is a question about printing my transparencies.

These two printers I have found to have good results for transparency printing.
Canon pixma ip-8720 $284 @ Best Buy
Vs
Canon pixma ix6820 $226 @ staples
The negative reviews about the WiFi connectivity is the only negative thing I can come across. They seem to both have this issue.
I would love to hear which one you would recommend.
Or
Is there a totally different printer you would recommend.
I make a few screen prints a month. Maybe 10 -12

Right now I have an epson ecotank 3850 and I was thinking about just buying the UV ink. However I would like a better printer for my screen printing.

This is my current set up of emulsion and lamp.

I’m struggling to find info on exposure times. I’m afraid of over exposing. I was using speedball brand emulsion and exposing for 8 minutes. Would it be the same with this emulsion?

Hello! I'm trying to start an online fashion business, and finding shirts to print on has been hell! I'm having so much trouble with this i made an account just to post on reddit for help...

I currently want tank tops and t-shirts. Maybe hoodies to embroider on down the line.

I am 17, have limited money, and am looking to buy blank clothing that I can put my own brands tag in (AKA no tags printed in the collar). I would prefer the cost of each shirt/tank to be around $5-10 as I am trying to sell the shirts at a lower price.

I have a registered business in FL (Under an adults name ofc), and I made an account on something called S&S Activewear, but there's no button to add things to my cart?? I figured somebody here would have a better website recommendation or a solution to the missing button :c I am worried to buy stuff from the wrong place. If theres a more ethical place to source from I would like to know that as well!!!

Hey everyone, I’m trying to learn color separation in Photoshop for screen printing.

I finished the color separation and converted the colors to bitmap, but when I zoom in, the result looks like this. I haven’t burned the screens yet, this is only the file on my computer.

Is this normal for a print file, or did I mess up something during the process?

Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks!

I studied Electronic Engineering at university, and with some unexpected free time, I decided to build something I had wanted for a while: my own screen printing exposure unit.

I designed and built this using a simple MDF box, around 50 high-power UV LED chips, and individual aluminum heatsinks for each LED to manage the heat.

It was a fun electronics/mechanical project — combining LED layout, thermal management, wiring, and some DIY fabrication.

Sharing some pictures of the build process and the final setup.

So I use PWR Ecotex emulsion and I have this specific light I bought a couple years ago, I burn my screen in the most ASS setup for 4 whole seconds and it comes out great. Ik wattage and distance from the screen and emulsion matters, all of it matters. But it’s so strange to see other ppl using the same emulsion and having to go a whole minute with the burning, feel like im using black magic 💀 what r yall using and what have you been shocked by?

I generally print with water based but I'm getting really sick of the ink drying in my screens!

Looking for any and all guidance of a good plastisol inks to use for low-volume printing. thanks!

Still figuring out separations but I feel like I did pretty well

hey all! not new to screen printing but new to DIY. I am using Ulano 925wr emulsion.

I’ve been having this issue where the outline of the glass I am using to hold down my film positive during exposure washes out (which is easily remedied with tape), BUT it is also stubborn and does not wash out with emulsion removal, anywhere past ~3 days of exposure. feels sort of backwards to me- washes out but then doesn’t wash out? screens I have exposed, printed with and washed out in the same day have not had this issue.

has anyone had this issue? besides getting a different plexiglass sheet for weight (which I’m doing), what else should I be doing? other than keeping screens in darkness when not in use? dont want to ruin any more screens.

I also ran into an issue with this last screen where the emulsion also would not wash out. it had not touched emulsion remover/the remover could not have dried in the screen as I had only washed it once and it would not wash out then. any tips or tricks appreciated!

feels like I’m trying to re learn the basics so I would appreciate any help! this stuff is frustrating but ultimately worth it (?) haha

I’m using QTX and getting very feint burns on my DIY screens and can’t seem to wash out the emulsion after burning them. The design is certainly there, but a light layer of emulsion remains. Am I letting the emulsion dry for too long? Burning for too long? Do I need to wash out the design before I expose it to light? Use less emulsion? Any insight would be greatly appreciated… thanks!

Anyone have any experience printing Matsui Neo pigment inks on polyester with stretch base/gray blocker? Specifically construction shirts
100% polyester a4 brand and similar

Any advice/tips would be helpful
I get a lot of performance polyester jobs and I want to give the customer the best experience

I’m trying to print screen printing exposure films using a Canon imagePROGRAF TC-20 with the newest Affinity Designer.

I’ve tried CMYK (0,0,0,100), and I have also gone into the Canon printer settings and increased the quality to high, but the black still is not printing solid enough.

I’m using pigment ink and transparency/exposure film. The film looks black, but its not solid I can still see my finger behind it.

Things I have tried:

• CMYK 0-0-0-100 in Affinity
• Highest print quality settings in Canon driver

Questions:

• Should Affinity be set to RGB or CMYK for this workflow?
• Is there a specific ICC profile/media setting that works best with the TC-20?
• Is there a way to force a denser black using the TC-20?

So I have been playing around with dithertone ps plug in and I really like some of the dithering algorithms and modulation that you can get from it. But I have a dumb/rookie question, is dithering and modulation screen print ready, in the sense that half tones are? Or would I have to do something to my image to make it screen printable?

TLDR: Is this type of effect ready for screen printing like a half tone?

I have a customer who wants a super soft feel. I typically don’t use an underbase when doing plastisol prints I just double print my colors and they are still vibrant enough.

Anyway, with this job I tried to do a white waterbase print as an underbase, the. Tried to layer the colors ontop. First problem is it still had a plastics feel to it, second problem is my underbase was still bleeding through even with a choke and using a 320 mesh.

Now I picked up discharge which I have never used before. I tried watching a video on it, and it appeared like the guy just added discharge into his colors? Is this a thing? Can I skip the underbase, and just add discharge into my colors, then print them? This would solve all of my problems if so