What is Screen Printing?

Screen printing has been around in one form or another for centuries and is used to imprint everything from paper and fabric to glass and plastic.

Professional apparel screen printers of today use computer software to create and prepare transparent or translucent film separations for each color. These separations are used to create stencils from polyester screens coated with a light sensitive emulsion.

Placed in an exposure unit, light is blocked from the screen by the opaque design in the separation. By not being exposed to light, the unexposed emulsion remains fragile enough to wash away from the impermeable exposed emulsion, thus recreating the design on the screen to create the stencil.

When screens are ready for production, they are placed on the press and locked into place once lined up correctly. The press operator uses a squeegee to push the ink through the stencil onto the material for each color until the entire design is complete.

After printing, the garments are heated to properly cure the ink and the screens are either saved for the future or are reclaimed to use again for a different design.

Home printers may use simplified techniques for various reasons, but the basic framework remains the same.

This very briefly explains HOW screen printing works. But, what IS screen printing?

Screen printing is an art form. For many people in the business, it is also a lifestyle that they wouldn't trade for anything else.

A mixture of artistry, production, business, and marketing, apparel screen printing can bring the printer joy or frustration, money or bankruptcy, friends or lack-thereof.