Love screen printing and want to turn a fun hobby into a lucrative business venture? The first step isn’t to come up with a business plan. It’s to hone relevant skills and find ways to produce consistent, high-quality designs.
No artist is just born an exceptional screen-printer. It takes a lot of time and effort to master this delicate art. Read on to find some tips that can help screen printers improve their designs and ensure that each one comes out looking great.
Buy the Right Equipment
While those cheap, DIY screen printing kits available at craft stores may be fine for kids’ projects or homemade t-shirts, they’re not ideal for creating vibrant, well-defined prints. Artists who want to take their screen printing to the next level need to buy professional-quality equipment. They can read about screen printing equipment and how to use it online to make sure they’re buying the right products and using them as intended.
Get a Grip on Squeegee Angles and Pressure
Manual screen printers use squeegees to apply ink. It’s important that users hold their squeegees at the right angle and exert the right amount of pressure while pushing or pulling to get consistent results. When pushing ink, the squeegee should be held at a 45-degree angle to penetrate the screen. When pulling ink, it should be held at a 45- to 80-degree angle. A higher angle will lead to less ink deposition.
Whether they choose to push ink or pull it, screen printers need to exert consistent pressure to make sure they’re applying the ink to the substrate in even layers. Too much pressure can detrimentally affect the clarity of the design or even bend the screen. Too little will cause faint or partial prints.
Cure Ink Properly
Don’t just run the finished product through a dryer. That isn’t enough to ensure proper curing of the ink, as most plastisol inks must be heated to at least 320 degrees to cure fully. Some inks can also be cured using alternative methods like air drying, infrared heating, or ultra-violet light drying. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations regarding curing temperature and keep in mind that thicker prints will require longer dry times.
Always Do a Test Run
Already producing batches of t-shirts or other screen printed products? That’s great, but don’t get overconfident. Even seasoned screen printers with professional-grade supplies need to do a test run before printing large batches of clothing or other products.
The time and materials invested in performing a test run are always well spent. This essential QA process allows screen printers to ensure that all their equipment has been set up properly, the screens are tight, and the dryers are fully curing their inks. It’s much more affordable and takes less time to make adjustments after a test run than it is to toss an entire printing run in the garbage and start from scratch.
The Bottom Line
Whether artists are creating unique, specialty products using manual screen printing techniques or they’re creating large batches of t-shirts using professional machinery, they should always focus on ensuring high-quality prints. Keep in mind that everyone makes mistakes, including experienced and professional screen printers, and focus on learning from them instead of getting frustrated. Following the tips above will help artists of all skill and experience levels avoid common issues.
