Screen Printing for Dummies

Did you know that drying your screen once it’s been coated with emulsion is critical to the printing process? It’s a step that’s often overlooked but is so important for a successful print. Here we dive into why it’s important, how to do it properly, and how long it takes for screen printing emulsion to dry.

So here’s a quick one to think about. Low temperature cure inks, ok big deal why would I need a low temperature ink, my inks work fine. Ok, that may be true for what you are currently printing on which is most likely a run of the mill cotton shirt. So, Mr. Know it all, what do you do when you are printing on poly or tri-blends? Or performance activewear? These types of materials are normally not the best when it comes to dye stability. In this blog, we dive into low temperature inks.

So this one definitely goes out to all the noobs and so-called screen printing know it all’s. When printing plastisol ink it’s obvious you are going to get a thicker deposit of ink on the shirt. That should be expected when printing plastisol compared to water based inks.

We receive so many questions regarding emulsion and how long to expose emulsion. Have you found yourself asking something like, “What is my exposure time with this emulsion and this light? How long should I expose this emulsion? Why won’t my light work for exposing? If this sounds like you, don’t worry, you aren’t alone. There are a lot of factors that go into exposing a screen, and the time to expose emulsion varies depending on the project. Here are some variables that will factor into your emulsion exposure time whether you are using dual cure emulsion or pre-sensitized emulsion, our blog will help you with your questions. Let's dive in.