Hayabusa Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 So as many of you may or may not know, I have been on the screen printing tip for a while. Ive done a bunch of research online and bought all the stuff I needed, but never got around to hooking it up and doing it, until recently. Its a bit of trial and error, but I think I will get it on my next run... All together, I spent probably about 80$ on EVERYTHING (Shirts not included) I bought emulsion, emulsion remover, a large screen, a 500 watt work light (found it on sale for $10!), and some fabric paint. The squeegies I made myself out of some plastic tennis ball container I had laying around. The big piece of glass was also I had laying around the house for some reason (Lucky) Anyways, I know theres a lot out there online about this with pics and instruction, so I will keep mine short ----------------- This was my image (drawn by hand on two pieces of paper taped together...text is a font) I scanned it, then printed it out on clear plastic paper you use in school for overhead projectors. MS PAINT has a dope setup that automatically adjusts the image to print out on however many papers you want. The 'grey' is ziptone from photoshop This is my equipment. Most notable, the work light came with a cage and a clear glass cover. The cage I removed and tossed so it doesnt cast a shadow, and the clear glass was also removed. The light at high wattage produces the desired UV rays (Stuff that activates the emulsion) and the glass cover is designed to filter the UV rays, hence, it was not needed. NEEDLESS TO SAY: DONT LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE LIGHT NOR TOUCH IT WHEN ITS ON This is the photo emulsion: shelf life of 8 months while in fridge. When exposed to UV Rays for the right amount of time, it turns hard. The thing makes a stencil for you without you having to really do anything This is one of the squeegies for the emulsion. It needs to be spread on the screen evenly. You pour the shit into the curved bit, and then apply. Youtube it. The best video is the one with the guys making wolf shirts, FYI Screen is coated with emulsion, and left to DRY IN A DARK PLACE so it doesnt react to the UV Rays from sunlight dark place: I think I coated it too much, because my print got slightly fucked, AND it took almost 2 hours to dry. In the mean time, I played video games. Yes, I parked the chopper infront of my safe house. When dry, I placed the clear plastic print out of the design (backwards) onto the screen. The glass was placed over top to press it down and ensure contact with the screen. THe black shirt underneith is to prevent light bouncing back off the ground and exposing parts I didnt want exposed. Basically, the black bits are bits that will be black on your final print since the light wont get through, allowing you to wash it off thus creating a stencil. The light is on, and exposures going down. I hung it between a hockey stick and a workout bar G-H-E-T-T-O I had a fan going cuz the light gets REALLY hot. When finished, you should see a ghost image on the screen Take it to a shower or outside, and wash off the shit thats been blocked out In this situation, I OVEREXPOSED THE SCREEN, so I couldnt wash out everything I wanted. MEANING: THe light still managed to somehow get through the black portions. ANyways, dont over expose it shits mega messy but you get the idea This is another squeegie I made for the paint. Now all youze do is place some thick cardboard into a shirt so the paint doesnt go through. Place some paint on the top part of the screen, and with the squeegie just drag it across the image Ta-da! You can see the 'distressed' look in it, which isnt supposed to be there. I wasnt able to wash out all the emulsion that I intended to. Lesson learned. The little dots were actually the one thing that I thought Id fuck up but they turned out the best. Go figure 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 Now for the clean-up Now back to the tub to wash out the paint before it dries on the screen (Important) Use this shit, and brush it all over the screen once the paint is off. It came with the emulsion itself, but you can also buy it seperatly... Screen good as new and ready for another round.. The process itself is a LOT EASIER than cutting out a stencil. You can get much better and cleaner designs. Its a lot less of a hassle, and its a lot more reusable then reusing stencils. The only down side is, cleaning is a bit of a bitch, but if you can stand that, its worth doing. Plus, there was a class at a local art school charging people about $70 for a one day 'lesson' in how to print, and you get to have your own 8.5" by 11" image printed on a shirt by the end of the day. Woooopty! I spent just as much maybe a bit more, and I can do as many shirts as big as I want for as long as I feel like! SUCKERS! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Port-A-John Enthusiest Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I've been thinking about trying out somthing like this so this was a really good tutorial..thanks a ton, but i dont fully understand what the screen is. So do you put the Emulsion formula on the glass? or i dunno...im confused about that part and exactly how this all works..maybe im dumb bajaja, let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 I've been thinking about trying out somthing like this so this was a really good tutorial..thanks a ton, but i dont fully understand what the screen is. So do you put the Emulsion formula on the glass? or i dunno...im confused about that part and exactly how this all works..maybe im dumb bajaja, let me know. this should clear everything up... this video helped me a ton when learning you put the emulsion on the screen which is made of 'silk'/fabric. When you expose the emulsion to light/uv rays, it hardens (not allowing any paint through the fabric). If parts of the emulsion are covered, they dont harden, allowing you to wash them off. So its basically like making a stencil with light, emulsion, and your image thats printed on a transperency. The glass just weighs things down and ensures the image/transperency is right on the screen blocking out the necessary parts of the emulsion, and ensuring you get a nice image burnt into the screen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picky P. Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 nice...i used to fuck with that some when i was younger. the timing of the exposure is definitely critical to getting clean prints. once you get into a flow you start to really think about your print images differently too...you can get really creative. especially with multiple layers. good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 nice...i used to fuck with that some when i was younger. the timing of the exposure is definitely critical to getting clean prints. once you get into a flow you start to really think about your print images differently too...you can get really creative. especially with multiple layers. good work! yeh the level of detail you can get is what really surprised me. Its definately a lot better than I thought it would be. And way easier for making shirts than cutting out stencils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosingMyMind Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Nice one man. I've been interested in doing this as well lately. Post up your next attempt too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisDayAllGodsDie Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Way to do it dude. there's actually a good screen printing place that i use. I just set up a screen printing studio in a new office that i got. I used to do it out of my living room but that get REAAAALLY messy really quickly. hit me up on pm i'll give you some info on some cheap but very good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn1_fuckos Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 dope i always wondered how they did those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 yeh, this shit is REALLY messy! Especially cleaning the screen. I have to wash my bathtub every time Im done cleaning the screen off. Its ridiculous but at least my bathtub is now spottless all the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Screw Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 i ilike this. try one with all zip tone imo, different size dots that make up an image, like little circular pixels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Dose Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 nice stuff haya, i've been doing this for a while now myself, i have a pretty cool set up, with revolving press that can hold 6 screens, for fast making of multi layered shirts. also, whats really nice is a lightbox. you can put your screen in there, and turn it on, get your image burned within 2 minutes. and when you're squeegeeing the paint onto your shirt. pass over it maybe a couple of times, but don't press too hard, its all practise makes perfect. nice stuff though. give me a shout if you have any questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 thanks for all the replies one thing ive noticed is the paint tended to bleed on the shirt if the lines were too thin/detialed, but i might have been pressing too hard ill look to do another print next week on my day off and see how it goes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feed Yer Ego Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 thanks for this thread! been wanting to get into this thought it'd be much more costly and complicated now i can hopefully i can get on it with minimal cashflow and bothering friends for advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Dose Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 post some flics of your next project to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 question for u guys with some experience in this .... my paint is kind of glossy... i wants it to look flatter... whats a good paint to use or the method to get a more washed out and faded look? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiendish Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 That's awesome... Props! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Dose Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 right now you're using speedball water based fabric ink? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 right now you're using speedball water based fabric ink? yeh its fabric screen printing ink from speedball, water based Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bufme1 Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 thats how me and some of my boys started out 5 yrs ago...now we have a store on Ashland Ave in Chicago called The Novem Store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watson Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 damn haya that was a dope post. awesome process you used. how much more complicated does it get when going more then one color?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 damn haya that was a dope post. awesome process you used. how much more complicated does it get when going more then one color?? stencil revolution website has a tutorial on that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Dose Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 im not sure how much you can really do with changing the way the water based stuff turns out, check the speedball website. i am mostly more familiar with the never dry screenprinting paint, however, i have used the water based for street art shit. ill check on friday at work for maybe some products that we have kicking around for the speedball stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 actually, after it dried it didnt look too bad... im working on some more new designs these days, but havent had enough days off work to really make an impact Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortFuse Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 See I never use photo emulsion. I do it the pain painstakingly process of drawing fluid and then screen filler. Ive always done things differently than stated. I use regular acrylics that I mix with textile medium to allow flex. And I never wipe clean and hard with my squeegee.... do a quick wipe over and make sure all paint has made contact, then wipe hard, then wipe a 3rd time making sure all the pain has a some what not too thick level and then lift the screen. Ive found in the past that if you wipe too clean that certain whites will soak into the shirts and the color wont be bold enough. So with that extra it allows it to soak and also be bold enough with any fade. :edit: I have used photo emulsion but I can never get a clear print out that blocks the sun or light good enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted June 26, 2009 Author Share Posted June 26, 2009 hey shortfuse i have that exact paint + textile medium you talk about, but i am very reluctant to give it a go through the silk screen for fear it will damage the silk.... the paint I use now is nice black... it never fades or nothing so its always a bold print. I think once i start messing more with different colors things will become more fun and challenging... Im still experimenting. I got cheap dollar store acrylics and the paint medium stuff, and that paint seems VERY thin, and also washes off like you're pealing skin off of something, so I dont know how well it would work with the screen and on fabric... but I may give it a go 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 new prints done today figured out a better exposure time finally messed around a bit with grey tones to see how detailed of a print I can get also messed with how hard/soft I push when spreading paint design will probably get re-worked...this was 2 seperate prints on one shirt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Jefe Uno Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 This is pretty dope.. Gotta give this a shot sometime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllYourOilAreBelongToUS Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I give you a lot of respect for doing this Haya. It makes me feel spoiled for using my school's screen printing facility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 Print #3 got some new awesome paint got all the exposure times down, etc, just now figuring out the best way to spread the paint :) more new designs coming 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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