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Posted by A. B. Dada on January 24th, 2006
For those finding themselves a bit irresponsible, forgetful and not the person voted most likely to follow through (that was me for 25 years!), I started a separate site called Responsibility and Accountability that will help me stay focused on things that are easy to put off but also easy to do if reminded to do them. Check it out if you fall into the irresponsible category.
I’ve had a few people ask me to get more information on silk screening T-shirts, and I’ve been e-mailing a few of you with tips that I probably should have just posted here.
My favorite “demonstration” photos are at a website that sells great silk screen equipment. They’re quite a bit more expensive than the basic cheapie home screen studio, but worth it if you really want to get into it. Check their how-to photos out!
The absolute hardest part of running your own silk screen studio is making the actual image on the screen — it requires chemicals, a dark room (I used my closet), a hella bright light (photo flood) and time. It also takes trial and error. My first 10 screens came out terrible! My next 10 screens were better but not the best quality.
This tells me that there is a huge market for you guys to tap — I have seen almost NO websites dedicated not to making T-shirts but to making the silk screens! If anyone is interested in started a business making silk screens for others to make T-shirts with, I might be interested in helping out with the development capital.
This is a job best suited for the youth — it is time consuming and can be frustrating if you are not patient while you learn the ins and outs of the situation. The basic steps in screen making are:
1. Prepare the artwork. You can print it from a computer, hand draw it, or even photocopy it. The artwork MUST be vector or line based — this means no photographs or gradients or any of the above. You CAN do photographs but you have to take additional difficult steps that are NOT for the beginner.
2. Photocopy the artwork with high contrast (darks get darker, lights get whiter) to a piece of vellum or transparency using a photocopier or laser printer. Inkjets don’t work — you need a DARK DARK DARK image on the vellum/transparency.
3. Lay the screen down and degrease it using a spray degreaser. Wipe it off!
4. Go to a very low-light room and pour the chemical called the emulsion into the screen. You want it thin, not thick, and you’ll want to put it on both sides. Emulsion is light sensitive and can get ruined if you have too much light!
5. The emulsion needs to dry in a dark room. I use fans to help speed the drying process, about 60-90 minutes.
6. You will now place your vellum/transparency artwork on the screen, and then lay down a clean piece of glass over it. If the artwork is not touching the emulsion properly, it will look like junk.
7. You will use your photo flood light (called the exposing light) about a foot above the screen. You want dark non-reflective fabric (felt usually) under the screen to absorb the stray light.
8. Burn the screen for 10 minutes. You might find longer or shorter times are needed depending on your emulsion.
9. Turn off the exposing lamp — it is VERY VERY VERY hot.
10. Take out the emulsified screen and remove the glass and the artwork. You can now wash out the unburned emulsion off the screen (this part goes away and just leaves the bare screen in the shape of the artwork).
You can now use your screen or ship it to your customer.
If you are good at making screens, I know dozens of people in my area alone (not to mention people on this website) who would pay $30 for the work. If you’re really good, you can do this job in 10-15 minutes. If you’re bad, you’ll spin your wheels and wish you could pay someone $30 for a screen.
A well made screen that is handled properly can be reused thousands and thousands of times. Once you are done with the screen you can store it or you can remove the emulsion and make a new screen!
There are many websites dedicated to selling silk screen kits — I’d check out various ones and see which ones meet your budget. If you have questions about a particular website, drop me an e-mail or a comment and I’ll be happy to follow up.