Hello All!
Today’s blog we will be talking about the guide to silkscreen printing on t shirts!
Did anyone of you ever wonder how did we ‘transfer’ your digital design on PC onto the actual apparels?
What is Silkscreen Printing?
It is a very commonly used method not only in apparels but also corporate gifts printing such as printing on pens & umbrella!
One reason of why silkscreen printing is so commonly used is because with the setting up of just one mould, printers are able to replicate the same design multiple times. As silkscreen printing uses liquid ink, they are only allowed with solid colours but not full colour printing.
Step by Step Guide to Discover Silkscreen
Step 1:
Of course the first step to printing is to creating your design! With the ready design, we will print it out over onto a transparent film.
Step 2:
With the printed image on the transparent film, we will place it over a mesh film which is then coated with light reactive emulsion. The mesh is then placed under spot light.
The process of shining spot light to the mesh harden the exposed area leaving the covered area (which in this case is the design) as liquid form. Therefore, the unhardened emulsion is washed off leaving behind a design on the screen for printing. The stencil is now ready to be used!
Step 3:
The chosen apparels are then placed down over a flat surface ready to be printed. Skills and experience are required to have the designs printed straight and at the desired location of the apparels.
As the screen lied over the apparels, ink are placed above it, using a squeegee through and fore imprinting the design onto the apparels through the small pores on the screen. Once the apparel is done printing they are then dried under high heat and heat pressed! The apparel is then ready!
If the design have more than one colour printing, a separate film need to be set up and and repeat step 2-3.