The Screen Printer's A-Z Glossary (Updated for 2026)

Screen Printing 101 | Industry Knowledge | Beginner Resources

Every industry has its own language, and screen printing is no different. Walk into a print shop and you'll hear terms like "off-contact," "underbase," "halftones," and "fibrillation" thrown around like they're everyday words.

If you're new to screen printing or even if you've been at it for a while knowing the lingo helps you communicate with other printers, troubleshoot problems faster, and feel more confident when ordering supplies or watching tutorials.

Here's your A-to-Z glossary of the screen printing terms you need to know.

A

Adhesive Powder - Powder applied to the printed film after printing. During heat pressing, it melts and bonds the transfer to the fabric. Essential in DTF printing.

AI (Adobe Illustrator) - A vector-based design program used by graphic artists to create and scale artwork without losing detail. The industry standard for screen printing art prep.

All Heads Down - A press setup that can print in registration in any order or position. Most common on automatic presses.

Artwork - The text, design, or image that will be printed on your garment.

Automatic Press - A motorized screen printing press that handles ink loading and printing automatically. Found in mid-to-large production shops.

B

Bitmap - An image format made up of tiny pixels. Used to create halftones for screen printing.

Block Out - A liquid or tape product used to cover pinholes, scratches, or open areas of a screen to prevent ink from passing through.

Bulk Printing - Printing large quantities of the same or different designs in a single production run. Often uses the gang technique to maximize efficiency and reduce per-unit costs.

Burn - The process of exposing emulsion-coated screens to UV light to create a stencil. Also called "exposing."

C

Cold Peel - A DTF peel method where you allow the transfer to cool completely before removing the film. Recommended for heat-sensitive fabrics like nylon and polyester to prevent distortion.

Color Separation - The process of breaking a multi-color design into individual layers, one per ink color, so each can be printed on its own screen.

Curing - The process of applying heat to fully dry and bond the ink to the substrate. Required for washfastness and durability.

D

Degreaser - A chemical used to clean screens before coating with emulsion. Removes oils and contaminants that could prevent emulsion from adhering properly.

Dehazer - A stronger chemical used to remove ghost images or emulsion haze left on screens after reclaiming. Different from a standard haze remover in concentration and strength.

DTF (Direct-to-Film) - A printing method where designs are printed onto a special PET film, coated with adhesive powder, cured, then transferred to garments via heat and pressure. Works on virtually any fabric type.

DTG (Direct-to-Garment) - A printing method that uses a modified inkjet printer to print directly onto fabric. Best for low-quantity, full-color designs on cotton.

Durometer - A measurement of a squeegee blade's hardness. Lower numbers are softer and deposit more ink; higher numbers are harder and produce sharper detail.

E

Emulsion - A light-sensitive liquid coating applied to screens before exposure. When exposed to UV light, it hardens and forms the stencil that controls where ink passes through.

EOM (Emulsion Over Mesh) - The thickness of emulsion that sits above the mesh surface. A higher EOM deposits more ink and produces a thicker print.

Exposure - The amount of UV light used to harden the emulsion during screen burning. Under-exposure leaves soft, washable stencils; over-exposure can block fine details.

F

Fibrillation - When fabric fibers poke through a print, causing a faded or worn appearance. Common on ringspun cotton. Prevented with a proper underbase.

Film Positive - A printed transparency used to expose a screen. Black areas block UV light and create the open areas of your stencil.

Flash Cure / Flash Dryer - A heat source positioned over the press used to partially cure ink between color passes. Prevents colors from mixing when printing wet-on-wet.

Flood Stroke - The motion of pushing ink across the screen to fill the mesh before the print stroke. Keeps ink from drying in the screen during a run.

Frequency - The number of halftone dots per inch (LPI — lines per inch). Higher frequency = finer, more detailed halftones. Must be matched to your mesh count.

G

Gang / Ganging - The process of fitting multiple designs onto a single film or print run to make the most efficient use of available space. Reduces cost per print and speeds up production.

Ghost Image - A faint, shadowy outline of a previous design left on a reclaimed screen. Caused by ink or emulsion residue that wasn't fully cleaned. Use a dehazer to remove it.

H

Halftone - A pattern of dots used to simulate shading and gradients in screen printing. Larger dots create darker areas; smaller dots create lighter tones.

Hand Feel - The texture or softness of a print when touched. Water-based inks typically have a softer hand feel than plastisol.

Haze Remover - A chemical used during screen reclaiming to remove light ink staining or emulsion residue. For heavier ghost images, use a dehazer.

Hot Peel - A DTF peel method where you remove the film immediately after pressing, while it's still warm — before the adhesive powder has fully cured. Produces a slightly glossy finish.

I

Ink Viscosity - The thickness or flow of ink. Ink that's too thick won't push through the mesh cleanly; too thin and it bleeds. Viscosity is adjusted with modifiers or reducers.

M

Manual Press - A screen printing press operated by hand. Common in starter and small-volume shops. Requires the printer to manually pull the squeegee and rotate the press.

Mesh Count - The number of threads per inch in a screen. Lower mesh counts (e.g., 110) deposit more ink and work well for bold designs. Higher counts (e.g., 230+) are used for fine detail and halftones.

Moiré - An unintended pattern that appears when halftone screens are printed at incorrect angles. Avoided by setting proper screen angles during color separation.

N

Newton Meter (N/cm) - The unit used to measure screen mesh tension. Properly tensioned screens are critical for sharp registration and consistent prints.

Nozzle Check - A maintenance step in DTF printing where you print a test pattern to inspect the printhead's nozzles for clogs or misalignment. Should be run before every print session.

O

Off-Contact - The small gap between the screen and the substrate during printing. Allows the screen to snap off cleanly after each stroke, producing a sharper print edge.

Opacity - How well an ink color covers the substrate beneath it. White inks need high opacity to show up on dark garments.

P

Pallet Adhesive - A spray or liquid adhesive applied to press pallets to hold garments in place during printing. Prevents shifting between colors.

PET Film - Polyethylene terephthalate film. The special clear film used in DTF printing that holds the ink until it's transferred to the garment via heat press.

Pinhole - A tiny hole in the emulsion caused by dust, debris, or underexposure. Pinholes let ink through in unwanted areas and must be blocked out before printing.

Plastisol - The most common screen printing ink. A PVC-based ink that sits on top of the fabric rather than soaking in. Vibrant, durable, and requires heat to cure.

Powder Shaker - A machine used in DTF printing to evenly apply adhesive powder to the freshly printed film before it goes into the curing oven.

Press Wash - A solvent used to clean ink from screens, squeegees, and press components during and after production runs.

Process Color (CMYK) - A four-color printing method using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black to reproduce photographic or full-color images. Requires higher mesh counts and precise color separation.

R

Reclaim - The process of removing emulsion and ink from a used screen so it can be recoated and reused.

Registration - The accurate alignment of multiple screens so that each color prints in its correct position relative to the others.

S

Spot Color - A single, specific ink color mixed to an exact formula (often Pantone). Each spot color requires its own screen.

Squeegee - The tool used to push ink through the screen mesh onto the substrate. Available in different durometers for different applications.

Stencil - The hardened emulsion on a screen that defines where ink can and cannot pass through. Created during the burn/exposure process.

Substrate - The material being printed on — whether it's a t-shirt, poster, tote bag, box, or any other surface.

T

Test Print - A print made before the full production run to check registration, ink coverage, and color accuracy. Always run one before committing to a full job.

Transfer - In DTF printing, the process of moving the printed design from the film to the garment using heat and pressure from a heat press.

Tri-blend - A fabric made from three fibers (typically cotton, polyester, and rayon). Soft and popular for retail-style shirts, but can cause dye migration issues with plastisol inks.

U

Underbase - A layer of white ink printed first on dark garments to make subsequent colors appear vibrant. Without it, colors printed directly on dark fabric look dull or washed out.

W

Water-Based Ink - An ink that uses water as its carrier instead of PVC. Soaks into the fabric for a soft hand feel. Eco-friendly and increasingly popular for retail-quality prints. Produces a softer hand feel than plastisol.

Wet-on-Wet - Printing one color directly over another without flashing in between. Used to speed up production with compatible ink colors.

 

Bookmark this page and come back any time you hear a term that throws you off. And if you spot something we missed, let us know and we'll add it to the list.