Super Simple Screen Printing Tutorial

DIY- Super Simple Screen Printing Tutorial!

What You'll Need:

• A pre-made screen or silkscreen and an embroidery hoop
• Screen Filler or acrylic latex paint
• Inks made for printing on fabric
• Sponge brush and/or screen printing squeegee  
• Blank clothing to print on. The closer to 100% cotton it is, the better prints will turn out/take.

Step 1: Create the screen or Buy a Ready Made Screen

You can buy a ready-made screen at our store, or you can make your own screen.

For this, you can use a basic plastic embroidery hoop in whatever size you need for the design, and stretch some silkscreen material through it until it's taut like a drum. 

You can also buy rolls of actual screen printing fabric. I line the inside edge (where the hoop meets the screen) with blue painters tape, so that my filler paint and fabric inks don't get the hoop itself all messy.

Step 2: Create the design

You can draw the design by hand, or make it on the computer, then print it out. Then trace it onto the screen lightly in pencil with the screen laying flat on the paper.

Step 3: Fill the screen

Fill out the screen - in other words, block out all the negative space that won't be printed, leaving only the design unpainted. 

You can purchase items for this process at our store. This is by far the step that takes the most amount of time, particularly if it's a design with lots of small details. Do two coats, and check the screen by holding it up to the light to make sure there are no tiny holes missed. Let the screen dry overnight before doing any printing with it.

Step 4: Print!

Once you got the screen done, decide which piece of clothing I'm going to print on, mix up the color ink you want with different fabric inks, and print. 


The screen goes face-down on the area of the clothing you want to print,  use a layer of cardboard inside the piece of clothing so that if the ink leaks through it doesn't spread to the back of the shirt or whatnot. 


Also just use a sponge brush to apply the ink, pressing very firmly. If you have a small enough squeegee to fit into your hoop size, that is also a good method. But either way you need to make sure your pressure is mostly downwards, not sideways, so the ink gets pressed through the screen and not just moved around on top. Once ink is applied, lift the screen off the fabric, and immediately wash it and the brush fabric inks are water-soluble... until they dry. If the ink is left to dry in the screen, it becomes unusable again. 


If needed, you can touch up areas of the print with a small paintbrush. If you are going to do multiple colors/layers of prints on the same shirt, do all of one color at once, and let that dry (both the ink on the shirt, and the screen you washed out) before doing the next layer/color. Don't proceed to Step 5 until all printing on your shirt is done.

Step 5: Heat-set the ink

This might be the most important step. Once the design is on the shirt and looking great, and the ink has dried, grab an iron and a spare piece of cotton fabric for an interface, and iron BOTH sides of the design on medium-high heat. 


So, once with the shirt right side out, and once with the shirt inside out. Each side gets this treatment for 3-5 minutes. This binds the ink to the fabric, and makes it so it won't come out when you wash it (remember how they're water-soluble? Not so, after this step). It's important to use a cloth interface when ironing on the ink, because otherwise you will end up with a sticky mess of melted ink on your iron.

Step 6: Sport new duds proudly

The new piece of clothing with a custom design is ready to be worn!

-Thanks to Acute Designs for this great little tutorial!

- - -> Silkscreen, pre-made screens, screen printing inks, squeegees, and all other screen printing supplies can be purchased at CC Lowell.

CC Lowell

258 Park Ave

Worcester, MA

01609

508-757-7713