Everything You Need to Know About Screen Printing| Vector Conversion

Screen printing is a versatile, high-quality printing technique that can be used to create a wide range of designs on apparel products. Follow each step in this guide from Eagle Digitizing to learn more about the screen printing process and how it can benefit your business.

What is the screen printing process?

Screen printing refers to the process of transferring a stencil design onto a garment using mesh mesh. Silkscreen presses embed ink deeply into the fabric to create a vibrant imprint on your design.

Silkscreen Silk screen printing uses a variety of stencil techniques, including:

Use vinyl to cover the desired area of the screen

Draw the template onto the grid using the screen blocker

Create a template using photosensitive emulsion and then develop it onto the fabric (similar to an old photo)

When printing multicolor designs, use a separate template for each ink layer

Benefits of screen printing

Screen printing is widely used for a variety of reasons. One of the great advantages of using a screen printer is its ability to produce vibrant colors, even on darker fabrics.

Screen printing also allows the printer to quickly replicate designs on clothing. Because the same mold can be used multiple times, you can quickly create multiple projects. This makes the screen printing process one of the most effective techniques for producing large quantities of clothing.

What is involved in the screen printing process?

Although there are several different screen printing methods to choose from, they all use the same basic technique. We will walk you through the screen printing process step by step so that you have a better understanding of how proper screen printing works.

Design and creation

The first step in the screen printing process is to design the image to be printed. Once you have the outline, your printing company will transfer the image onto a clear acetate film to create the template.

Prepare the screen

After you design the template, you will select a mesh screen that can handle design complexity and fabric textures. The mesh screen is then coated with emulsion to form an image under bright light.

Exposed emulsion

Next, the acetate sheet with your design is laid on the emulsion coated screen and exposed to bright light. This hardens the emulsion so that the part of the screen covered by the design remains liquid. If your costume contains multiple colors, use separate screens to apply each layer of ink. Each layer is stacked on top of the other to create a colorful design.

Create the mold

Any areas not covered by the design will harden after the screen has been exposed for a period of time. The lotion is then carefully rinsed off, leaving a clear imprint of the image through which the ink can pass.

Printing process

After creating the template, your garment will be placed on a printing board with the template on top. The screen drops to the print plate and the ink is pushed through the template to print the design onto your costume. If you are creating multiple items, the screen is raised and a new piece of clothing is placed on the board to repeat the process. After printing everything, remove the emulsion to clean the mesh so that it can be reused for future stencils.

Inspection of quality

To complete the screen printing process, the product is dry. This "solidifies" the ink and produces a smooth, colorproof finish. Your final product will then undergo a quality check to confirm that there are no problems.