SCREEN

PRINTING
FUNDAMENTALS
SCREEN PRINTING:
START TO FINISH

STEP 1: PREPA RE YOUR SCREEN

Screen printing relies on a completely clean and well cared for screen. You must
first remove all previous photo-emulsion, ink, and unwanted build-up, referred to
as haze, from the screen. Emulsion remover and the pressure washer, followed
with a degreaser, will usually do the job. If your screen is not completely clean
after this, you can repeat the steps, or use a de-hazer, which is a stronger cleaning
solution that requires approximately 20 minutes to work on the screen.

Warning: Use of the pressure washer requires ear and face protection.
Emulsion remover and de-hazer requires the use of gloves.

STEP 2: COAT SCREEN W ITH PHOTO EMULSION

A thin, even coating of photo emulsion, that is worked well into the mesh, is
essential to the screen printing process. It is best to first coat the back side of
the screen, and then the squeegee side of the screen, so that the emulsion has
completely coated the screen.

Start by checking that you have the correct width of scoop coater for the screen
you are using, and that its sharp edge is clean and dent free. It should be 2 inches
narrower than the screen frame. Take out the small container of emulsion, and
a paper towel for clean up. Fill the scoop coater with emulsion and let sit for a
minute so any bubbles have a chance to float to the surface to be popped. Set
the emulsion container on the paper towel to avoid drips on the counter. Carefully
coat both sides of the screen, and place it in the drying cabinet to dry for at least
45 minutes. Scrape the excess emulsion from the scoop coater back into the
container and return it to the fridge. Put on your gloves, and clean the scoop
coater thoroughly with warm water, and a sponge. Be sure to clean up any spills
or drips.

Warning: Wear protective gloves when cleaning emulsion.

STEP 3: EXPOSE A ND DEV ELOP

Check your films for opacity, accuracy, and dust before exposing to your screen.
If you are exposing multiple images to your screen, carefully plan where you
will place them so they are at least 3 inches from the frame, and are at least 2
inches apart from each other. Also consider how you are setting up your screen
for printing, the direction your squeegee will travel across the screen, to avoid any
difficulties while printing.
To expose images to your screen, place your film, rubylith, or drawing, face up on
the glass of the exposure unit, and arrange as needed. Place your screen, back
side down, over the films and centered on the glass. Select the correct exposure
time and press start on the exposure unit. The vacuum will turn on first, and a
minute later, the light, and both will turn off when the exposure is complete.

Warning: Wear protective gloves when developing emulsion.

Develop your screen by first rinsing the front and back with water. Once the
emulsion has begun to soften, gently rub the image with a clean developing
sponge, while wearing gloves to avoid skin contact. Rinse the front and back
again, and turn on the back-light to inspect your image. Check fine details and
light areas to be sure they have opened up, using the hose as needed. Be sure to
give the entire screen a thorough rinsing to remove all unexposed emulsion, and
to assure your screen stays clean through repeated use. When you are finished,
collect your films, turn off the exposure unit, shut off the water, and dry your
screen in front of a fan.

STEP 4: PREPA RE PA PER

While your screen is drying after developing, cut your paper to the size determined
for your artwork and margins, and punch your paper for punch registration if
needed. You will also want to collect some newsprint with your paper for proofing
and dealing with printing problems.

STEP 5: PREPA RE INK

You can mix all of your inks at once if you have sealable containers to store them
in. Otherwise, mix as you go.

There are three important aspects to color that will help you determine how to
mix your ink. Hue defines which color you will use, such as red, blue, orange,
ocher, etc. Saturation determines how intense the color is – whether it is a
retina burning yellow, or the pale yellow glow of sunlight on the snow. Finally,
the value, or relative lightness or darkness, helps identify where the color exists
along the spectrum from white, through the grays, to black. Another aspect
that is important to consider for screen printing, is whether your ink needs to
be transparent, allowing other previously printed colors to show through and
combine with the new ink, or if the ink should be opaque, covering over other
colors to not be affected by them.
Cole Rogers, Artistic Director & Master Printer at Highpoint Center for Printmaking in
Minneapolis, and Senior Printer Zac Adams-Bliss, using a large one-arm screen printing
vacuum table.

Identifying each of these characteristics for the ink you wish to mix, will help you
determine how to go about mixing your ink. Is your color to be a pale, transparent
turquoise that will layer over an orange to produce a third darker and richer color?
Then start with extender base, and add in small amounts of color to gradually
achieve the saturation you are looking for. Or, is it meant to be a dark opaque gray
that will cover that orange? Start with white, and mix in black to reach the value
you are seeking.

The last factor to consider is the volume of ink you need to mix, and any additional
additives you will need to add.

STEP 6: PRIN T
Proper organization and setup are necessary to trouble-free printing. Start by
gathering your screen, paper, newsprint, ink, blue tape, registration tabs or pins,
appropriate sized squeegee, spatula, and a spray bottle filled with water. Be sure
your screen is tightly locked into the hinges when it is laying flat and lifted up.
Tape foam board squares to the table under the corners of the screen opposite
the hinges to assure proper off-contact printing. Using your blue tape, block off the
open areas between the frame and where the emulsion begins on your screen, as
well as any images that are close to the area you will be printing.

To register your print to the screen, first accurately align your film on your print
and tape it in place with small pieces of tape. Slide them under the screen and
align the film to the screen, pressing the screen down in a number of spots to
assure that it accurately aligned. Turn on the vacuum to hold the paper down, and
then securely tape your registration tabs or pins in place. You can now remove
your film from your printing paper.

Lift your screen and pour your ink along the edge of the image that is closest
to you. Pushing your squeegee away from you at a 45 degree angle, flood your
screen. Lay your screen down, bear down on your squeegee, and swiftly print
the image while holding the squeegee at a slight angle. Immediately lift and flood
your screen. Check your print for accurate registration, making any adjustments
needed, and marking the print to note that the registration is off. You only have a
very short window of time before the ink will begin to dry on the screen, so you
must make adjustments and decisions quickly. Printing to a sheet of newsprint,
and flooding the screen again, will help prevent the ink from drying, if you need
more time. Otherwise, continue printing and flooding, quickly checking the prints
for consistency as you go.

STEP 7: CLEA N-UP

Once you have finished printing, gently scrape up the excess ink from your screen,
and squeegee, and return it to its container. Spritz your screen with water, and
loosen the hinge clamps. Take your screen to the ink rinsing booth and remove
any tape from the screen. Wash your screen with water, soap, and a scrub pad
until it is completely free of ink, and then place it in the drying rack. Wash off the
squeegee, and spatula, and return the squeegee to the rack. Remove all tape and
ink from the printing table and put away all of your materials, leaving the area
ready for the next person.
 Keep your image(s) at least 3 inches away from the frame.

SCREEN A NATOMY
The two sides of the screen are the squeegee side, that has the frame, and the
back side or paper side, where the mesh is laminated to the frame. The frames
are made of either aluminum or wood, and both are reusable should the fabric
mesh become damaged or unusable. You can reapply mesh to wood screens by
hand, but it won't be nearly as taut if it were done professionally. The aluminum
frames are far more durable, and can be professionally re-meshed, and will last
many years if they are taken care of, and handled carefully.

The polyester mesh fabric is measured in threads per inch, and comes in either
white or yellow, with the yellow being used when working with photo emulsion.
The mesh you will use is determined by what you are printing onto. For paper,
like we are using, #230 is standard, but it can go a high as #305. For T-shirts and
similar fabrics, #110-#156 is used since the larger openings between the fewer
threads allows for more ink to pass through the screen, and fill the fabric of the
T-shirt. Paper needs much less ink in comparison, and the higher mesh counts
will also translate into more image detail.

Although a screen may seem fairly large, the amount of space you have to use
is deceptive. It is not possible to print images close to the screen frame because
the mesh cannot flex enough to contact the printing substrate – in our case, paper.

Always leave 3 inches between the frame and the images.

 A window print, and a bleed print.

PRIN T FOR M ATS

There are two standard formats for prints. A print with margins, also referred to
as a window print, is most the common for screen printing because it is extremely
difficult to print all the way to the edge of the paper. A 1/2 - 1 inch margin is
standard, but larger margins can be used for more dramatic effect. Typically, the
bottom margin will be slightly larger than other 3 edges.

If you want to produce a bleed print, with the image running off the edge of the
paper, you will still need to print with margins, and then trim your edges off when
all printing is finished. Screen prints often have cut edges, but you may prefer a
deckled edge typical of fine art papers. To do this you will need to have 1 inch
margins on all sides, and tear your paper while it is face down. This will prevent
paper fibers from tearing up around the image and leaving a white edge – the
opposite of what you are trying to do. To know where to tear your paper from the
back, pierce a thumbtack through the paper in each corner of the image. Flip your
paper face down and tear off your margins.
 70° printing stroke 90°

45°
foamboard

PRINTING STROKE

45° flood stroke

FLOOD STROKE

SQUEEGEE HA NDLING
There are two different ways you will use the squeegee. The printing stroke is
pulled towards you, and requires a steady and swift motion, while bearing down
on the squeegee to assure full contact with the substrate. For the flood stroke,
you will push the squeegee away from you. This will fill the stencil with ink to
prepare it again for printing, and to prevent ink from drying in the stencil. The flood
stroke must be done with the screen lifted off the printing table.

REGISTR ATION
Registration is a critical aspect of screen printing, and although it can present
some challenges, it can easily be perfected with patience. There are two forms
of registration and which you use is often a matter of preference. Tab registration
uses paper, or cut up plastic strips (such as used credit/gift cards) taped to the
printing table as guides to butt the paper against. Two guides are taped down at
TAB REGISTRATION

Double stick tape works best!

PUNCH REGISTRATION

Squeegee direction and placement to avoid pins

Cut off the punch registration when you

have finished printing.
Methane Studios: Sketching, creating and checking films, determining inks for the color separations, and
the final print (opposite): “Banjo Man”. 4 Color screen print. 18x24 inches.
opposite corners along the edge closest to you, and a third goes along one of the
adjoining edges. Your paper and tabs must be cut straight for this to work, and the
tabs must be taped down securely so your printing paper doesn't slip under them.

Punch registration is a very reliable form of registration that requires just a little
more preparation. You must first punch holes into your printing paper that will
then attach onto registration pins that are taped to the printing table in a strip. We
have a special hole-punch for doing this, but you must center your paper to the
hole punch by putting a small pencil line on the back of your paper, opposite the
edge you will be punching. This mark will line up on the hole-punch, and assure
that your paper and image will be correctly positioned on each sheet.
CURATING AND SIGNING
YOUR PRINTS

1/10 Title Signature or Initials, Year

Sign your prints in pencil.

An edition of prints is usually two or more prints or multiples that are essentially
alike in appearance and the materials used. Although slight variations occur from
print to print, the goal is that, throughout an edition, the prints are consistently
similar with no noticeable differences. Before signing your prints, carefully
examine them for consistency and correct any minor flaws if possible. A white
eraser and a clean x-acto knife are the best tools for corrections. Prints are
signed in pencil to note the size of the edition, the title of the print, the year it was
created, and authorship through initials or signature. You can put this information
where you like on the print, but usually artists follow the order seen in the diagram
above. If you do not want all of this distracting information on the front, just put
it on the back. Prints should be stored between acid-free glassine or interleaving.
In museums or galleries you may notice some prints that have small embossed
symbols in one of the lower corners. These ‘chop-marks’ note the studio where
the print was produced and sometimes the person who printed the edition.

There are quite a few different designations you might find on prints. These are
ones you might use depending upon what you print:

Edition Number: 1/10, 2/10, 3/10, 4/10, etc.

Artist’s Proof: AP x/x

A maximum of 5-10% of the edition size, retained by the artist for personal use.

Printer’s Proof: PP x/x

Prints reserved for the printer and assistants who helped produce the prints at a
professional print publishing studio.

Variable Edition: x/x VE

A designation reserved for prints that use the same matrices but the inking, color
or other aspect (such as using watercolor), varies from print to print.

Bon a Tirer or Approval to Print: ATP, BAT, RTP

A print signed by the artist authorizing the printer to produce an edition of prints.
This print serves as a guide for the printer to maintain the quality the artist
intended for the edition.

Trial Proof: TP
If your image is unique or there is only one of them, you can label it as a trial proof.
This designation is also used for various tests prints created that are different
from the final edition.
BITMAP FILES FOR
SCREEN PRINTING
Screen printing requires high contrast images that will create either printing or
non-printing areas on the screen when exposed to ultraviolet light. Digital images
that have been converted to black and white using the bitmap mode in Photoshop
are ideal for screen printing. There are three different methods you can choose
from for converting your images to black and white, and which one you choose
depends on the type of image you have and the qualities you are seeking in your
final print.

The Bitmap dialogue box: Image > Mode > BItmap...

50% Threshold: For line art, images created with technical pens and India ink, or
high-contrast graphic images, Most commonly used for screen printing. Set the
output resolution to 720 Pixels/Inch.

Diffusion Dither: For tonal drawings, or photographic images where a less

mechanical dot pattern is desirable. Also used for 'index color separations'. The
output resolution will effect the size of the square dithered dots. If the resolution is
too high, the dots will be too fine to print. To determine an appropriate resolution,
divide the mesh by 1.6, 2.3, or 2.6 , to find a dot size you are happy with, that will
not create a moire pattern with the screen. For example: A 225 mesh screen ÷ 1.6
equals an output resolution of 135.

Halftone Screen: Best for photographic images. Set the output resolution to
720 Pixels/Inch, and then set the lines per inch, the angle and the shape. The
frequency, or how many lines of dots there are in a given inch, should be the
screen mesh ÷ 5. The default angle used for screen printing is 22.5°, but if you
are printing color separations, each bitmap will need a specific angle. Finally, the
shape of dots preferred for screen printing, is ellipse.
GR AYSCA LE FILE
Although the smooth gray tones look
good, they will not work with screen
printing.

50% THRESHOLD

Pixels are converted to either black

or white. For line art, and other black
and white images, it is best to have
a resolution of 600 dpi or higher, to
assure sharp images and smooth
curves.

DIFF USION DITHER

Square dots describe values through

their frequency, or how the are
grouped together.

HA LF TONE SCREEN

Varying sized dots in a grid describe

value. The overall size, shape, and
angle of the dots are important to
avoid moire patterns with screen
printing.
 Moiré patterns occur when two regular patterns overlap and create a third
wavy, or rippling pattern. They occur with halftone and dither images that
conflict with the screen mesh, and are typically very undesirable.

GENER A L FOR MUL A S, N UMBERS A ND DEFINITIONS

Remember that these are not fixed rules.

ppi = pixels per inch (the resolution of your file)

300 ppi = typical file resolution for photographs

600-1200 ppi = file resolution for line art, black & white logos, etc.

dpi = dots per inch (pertains to printers)

lpi = lines per inch (lines of halftone dots)

Halftone lpi = screen mesh ÷ 5

Halftone lpi × 16 = ppi of bitmap file

Dither ppi = screen mesh ÷ 1.6, 2.3, or 2.6

Halftone Screen Angles:

Black = 22.5°, Cyan = 112.5°, Magenta = 52.5°, Yellow = 82.5°

GET TING MORE FROM THRESHOLD

The Threshold setting in Photoshop is an easy way to create a high contrast
black and white image to use for screenprinting. But you will often loose more
information than you would like with this option. To pull more out of images with
Threshold, create a Threshold adjustment layer, and then use the dodge and burn
tools on the image layer to bring back more information. The dodge tool will help
bring back details in the black areas, and the burn tool will help add details in the
blasted out white areas.
 32 bits
CMYK
4 Channels

24 bits
RGB
3 Channels

8 bits
Grayscale
256 Grays

1 bit / 0 or 1
Bitmap
Black or White

Although RGB is the default digital color space, printing relies on several other color spaces
and image modes.

The image on the left was converted from Grayscale to a 50% Threshold Bitmap. The image on
the right had a Threshold Adjustment Layer applied, and then the image was adjusted using the
Dodge and Burn tools before converting to a bitmap, to bring out more information and detail by
dodging dark areas and burning some light areas.