Screenprinting Store

Good morning Mr Stuart and thank you for writing.

You are correct: this is a service which we provide to many customers. All you need to do is to send your artwork as an attachment to an email and we will produce a frame ready to print.

What we need to know is:

- What material are you printing onto (paper, t-shirt, wood, etc)

- Is the material you are printing onto white, a light colour, or a dark colour

- what colour ink will you be using

With this information from you we can choose the most suitable fabric for your screen.

Now it becomes a little more technical: if you print on fabric you need a water based ink and we can provide the correct ink. However, if you print on paper or wood or plastic you need a solvent based ink which is inflamable and consequently you must buy this kind of ink locally. However we can recommend the correct ink for you.

In summary: we  can provide you with the ready made screen, water based ink, spatulas, squeegee and of course  a simple screen printing machine, if you like to work in more comfort. I would recommend you have a look at few videos which you can find on our website.

 

Your question is very short, but the answer is very complicated. In fact there are books dedicated to this subject.

I'll try to take you through the main points.

- First you must remember: you have to produce a positive print of your image, on a standard ink jet printer, using a specific transparent film (e.g. Ulano - made in N.Y. City), in black ink.

- You must then spread emulsion over the complete screen and wait for it to dry (20 minutes with a drier, 6 hours without). Very important: the screen must dry in a dark room.

- then place your film (ink side down) onto the print side of the screen, so that the ink of the image is in contact with the emulsion.

- You put a UV light (or even the sun) directly over the sandwich (film and screen) film side up in order to photo engrave your image onto the screen.

-  The exposure time is a few minutes. However the exact time dipends on many important factors: such as the distance between the UV light and the screen, the quality of the emulsion and the thickness of the screen. You must do some tests to determine the right exposure time for you.

-  Then remove the film and wash the screen with water. After two minutes  the image should appear on the screen.

- Allow the screen to dry well and you are ready to print.

I'll reply just as soon as possible by a personal e-mail. Thank you for writing.

The wood frame is lighter compared to a metal one, but in time it tends to warp if subjected to various washes in water, which are used to be able to engrave it. The metal frame lasts a lot longer and tends to flex less on the greater dimensions; however it weighs more. The costs, at least according to our rate manual, are the same if the dimensions are equal.

The yellow or orange mesh tends to eliminate the parasite lights which can reduce the engraving resolution. It is particularly useful on fabrics with a high count mesh (from 120 threads/cm and up), when engraving screened back images o for very fine lines.
It improves the performance of the neon light exposure units, as a source of indirect light, like neon, tends to produce a lot of parasite light.
According to our experience, the yellow mesh does not make much difference on a 100/cm threads canvas. It is worth mentioning the fact that with a yellow mesh one needs to proportionally increase the exposure time, as this mesh absorbs the light.

"25x25 mm" indicates the square profile of the frame, measuring 25 x25 mm.
It consists of a light and handy frame, suitable for frames measuring no more than 50x70 cm.
- The profile called SC1, or TL/0 by other manufacturers is traditionally the most used by the Italian screen printers, and it looks like an isosceles trapezium with matching sides slightly convex, the ones where the mash is glued.
Its volume is about 30x35 mm.
It is made of iron, and it is varnished with blue powders enamel.
The wood frame is lighter compared to a metal one, but in time it tends to warp if subjected to various washes in water, which are needed in order to be able to engrave it. The metal frame lasts a lot longer and tends to flex less on the greater dimensions; however it weighs more. The costs, at least according to our rates manual, are the same if the dimensions are equal.

The stretched frame consists of the frame with the mesh in tension and attached on top of the frame. The emulsion frame is a stretched frame on which the photosensitive gelatin has also been spread and left to dry; in this way the frame is already sensitized, ready to be engraved. The A3 format measures 30x42 cm; the A3 format measures 21x30 cm.

What happens is that the excess of light obstructs the finer lines of the engraving, and it is no longer possible to remove the gelatin. If one increases the exposure even further, it becomes impossible to remove the gelatin from everywhere. We sell an "exposure calculator": it consists of a suitable calibrated film, which is able to determine with just one try the right time of exposure for a certain gelatin, and for a certain canvas.