Screen Printing for Dummies

Say goodbye to blurred prints and the frustration that follows. Follow these simple tips and techniques to ensure your image never bleeds again.

One of the most frustrating parts of screen printing is the exposure process. Now we can’t tell you what your exposure time would be due to a number of things (exposure unit, light source strength, emulsion being used, is your film dark enough, etc.). 

In screen printing there are two major players when it comes to inks, you have your water-based inks and your plastisol inks.

What is discharge printing? A lot of printers have herd the term but don’t really know what it is or understand what exactly it does.

When you are new to printing art placement and shirt alignment are everything. Now you are going to be able to place the shirt and alight the art almost perfectly every time but it will never be 100% in the same place do to variations in the shirt. The shirt being placed a hair off of where it was previously.

As things continue to progress the CDC is recommending people use some sort of cloth to cover their face to help reduce the spread of the Covid19 virus.

Disinfecting with bleach is something many may be curious of. Will it clean and disinfect like other popular chemicals such as isopropyl alcohol? We all want to know if it will disinfect all those common areas throughout our homes. Now...

Alcohol has always been a hot commodity and these days its become even more of the must have for keeping your homes clean as well as your personal items. We are going to cover a few things that you should know about Alcohol and why it is a good cleaner to have around  your home if you can get your hands on some.

Right now we have a huge issue taking place world wide and this is causing panic and chaos every where. People are rushing out to get their hands on anything and everything possible and some of those things that people are trying to get their hands on are

We are putting together a quarantine edition of screen printing for dummies to help everyone stay busy during this slow time.Our last blog post showed you how to make an exposure unit and after we posted that blog we thought hey you know what else printers could make pretty easily and can always be used in the garage or shop. How about an easy DIY workbench?

Below we have some free downloadable files ranging from simple one color prints that will help you get started, two color prints so you can practice registration and even three colors if you're feeling like a dare devil.

What’s up screen printers! Many of you may have some down time due to the current  pandemic we are all experiencing. So what better way to spend your extra time than with a helpful DIY project to keep you busy.

Here are a few things you can do to organize and keep your shop looking squeaky clean during your down time and make sure you are ready to go once things pick back up!

Finding your platens center mark is going to make a world of difference when it comes to loading your shirt on your platen and keeping your art work on your screen nice and straight.

One of our favorite shop activities is mixing some custom ink colors. It’s always fun seeing what happens when you mix a few colors together and a whole new color is made.

Lets go ahead and debunk some of the myths a lot of us printers have come across at some point or another. These all revolve around the well known plastisol inks, pay attention take some notes and you're welcome in advance.

Tips and tricks about using low temperature cure plastisol inks.

Most entry level screen printing kits come with your basic supplies right? The screen, ink, emulsion some sort of squeegee type thing and maybe some hinges for the screen if it’s a nice kit. Well what about the scoop coater? How are you going to apply the emulsion to the screen?

With so many white plastisol inks out on the market how do you know which one to select? Screen Print Direct dives into the different types of white ink and the functions of each to make choosing ink a no brainer.

When picking a press there is much more to consider then just how much it costs, what brand it is, tabletop or self-standing. When you are press shopping one of the most important thing to consider is what you are going to be printing most of the time.

Ok guys listen up, this one is a is a head scratcher. A lot of us get confused when these two products get brought up. So we are going to make it super short and simple so that you guys get the point and don’t get confused.