Screen-Printing Technique

The image to be printed is first colour separated using specialised software and each colour is reproduced in black on a sheet of acetate using an ink-jet printer. Each sheet is then placed in turn over mesh screens which have been coated with a photo-reactive emulsion and exposed with ultraviolet light. The UV light passes through the clear areas and creates a polymerisation (hardening) of the emulsion. The screens are then washed off and the areas of emulsion that were not exposed to light dissolve and wash away, leaving a negative stencil image on each mesh.


After the screens are dry they are clamped in place on the printing press...

A manual M & R 'Chameleon' Screen-Printing press -  we use the same model in the work-shop for small to medium print runs

The screens are then lined up (registered) and in turn lowered over the garments to be printed. Squeegees are used to force the different coloured inks through the open areas of the mesh on to the desired area.


When the design has been printed the garment is placed in a 'tunnel' dryer that is set to a specific speed and temperature for the ink to cure so it will not wash off the garment.


Click here for our screen-printing prices

water based screen printing

We've been thinking about switching to water based inks in the workshop whenever we can for a while. The simple fact that the ink doesn't have a load of synthetic and polluting chemicals in it, compared to the standard plastisol inks commonly used, should be incentive enough. Added to the fact that water based prints are much softer to the touch with no profile and come in a full range of colours it stands out as the choice for anyone who is after an ethical T-shirt printer. 


The down side is that because the inks air dry you've got to keep moving! - wander away from the press for a while and you can return to an unuasable screen. The opacity of the white's on dark coloured garments isn't so great but a process known as discharge printing can help where basically the garment dye is first removed by bleaching before the ink is laid down. Ultimately the friendliest way for the environment is to choose a light coloured garment and to use water based inks and this is what we will be promoting as an ethical option with great results from now on.