Trying to fit your feet in the world of screen printing? There are some essentials to have the necessary grasp of, and you need to have your hands on integral tools and equipment which take you a step forward into a business. Screen printing businesses are one of the most profitable businesses out there and to help you sweep these endeavors with ease, we have got all the checklists you need to make the most out of it. Screen printing in Houston is the podium you need to kick-start your screen printing business. So, let’s dig in deeper and gain insights into the basics!
Artwork Is The Agony
Screen printing is the new fashion and art is its integral part. In other words, you need to develop art to start with screen printing because it is essential to understand what type of art sits well on the fabric or not. Most of the art is developed by graphic designers, and they use Photoshop, Illustrator, and Corel. However, vector art is the new technique as it empowers the graphic designers to make designs that won’t blur out.
For instance, you need to outline the differences in the color wheel and create differentiated layers for screen printing. But let us tell you it will take time and effort because you might need to invest in a laser film or the inkjet printer.
Film Positives Are Flowing
Once you have developed the art and know what to screen print, you need to convert it in black and white gradient (the film positives that make you look ghosts, fancy, eh!) The films foster the opaque and transparent image of the person or the object in art. But keep in mind that you need to create a separate film for each color in the artwork and after that, film separations are developed in the film. Again, you will need to invest in a laser or inkjet film with the computer and printer setup.
Screen Making Is The Next Step
To print the ink and let it absorb in the shirt, you need to create a stencil and the screen. Once you develop the screen, degrease it, and add the layer of emulsion. Once you apply the emulsion on the mesh, let it dry and expose it to the film positives, which leads to the development of a stencil. However, beginners are hardly able to hone this step and equipment prerequisite is widespread inclusive of garden hose and an exposure unit.
The Rage of Plastisol Inks
When screen printing is concerned, plastisol inks are extensively used to transform simple tees into the pieces of art. However, you need to get your hands on the essential equipment list which we have developed in the section below;
- A top-notch graphic designing software installed and running in the computer
- Garden hose and washout space for washing out the stencil from the screen
- Exposure unit for making UV-Light infused stencils
- Darkroom for the drying of screens coated with emulsion and store the screens
- Drying rack to store and dry the screens that are coated with emulsion
- The printing press for t-shirt printing without letting go of the convenience
- Belt dryer for heat curing the t-shirts
- A pressure washer that helps cleaning the screens and use them repeatedly
- Cure unit for curing the colors or stick to one monochrome color
- Scoop coater for the emulsion coating
- Red safelight for adding essential lights to the darkroom
- Scrub brushes for degreasing and cleaning of the screens
- Spot cleaning gun for the removal of spots from the personalized printed shirts
- Spatulas for scoop ink from the bucket to spread on the screen
- Squeegees that spreads ink on the screen and eventually on the shirt
- T-square and ruler for marking the pallets and develop the accurate aligning of the screens
- Temperature meter to check the plastisol ink temperature on the shirts
- Chemical resistant spray bottles to keep and store the chemicals
On top of the equipment list, some essential chemicals are required to screen print the t-shirts such as;
- Emulsion which is used to coat the screens
- Ink solvents to clean the ink and screen
- Mesh prep for degreasing the screens
- Plastisol inks for t-shirt printing
- Laser film for the development of film positives
- Scotch tape for sticking the positives to the screen during the exposure process
- Spot cleaner for clearing out the unwanted spots on the t-shirt
