5 Essential Tools and Materials for Screen Printing

 Is screen printing a highly traditional fine art process, or instead it a moderately recent printing development? From a specific perspective, it is both. Above all, stenciled handprints were one of the first known prints in history. However, screen printing began to be utilized for fine art printing by experts on paper only in the 1930s.s.  

Velonis established the screen-printing workshop with assistance from the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which helped to usher in the epoch of screen printing as an extensively accepted fine-art process. Furthermore, the 1960s Pop Art movement intensified its respectability; screen printing has been used by legendary creatives like Andy Warhol, Eduardo Paolozzi, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Hamilton, and Joe Tilson.  

But if you really want to get into the screen-printing process in the 2022s, what essential materials and tools do you need to be sourcing first? 

Your Screen-Printing Essential Checklist  

Unlike other printing processes, screen printing does not require highly specialized tools and materials that can only be used in a comparably technological environment. Quite the opposite – you will need comparatively simple and can be structured nearly anywhere. Those staple tools and materials for screen printing primarily include: 

1. Film Positives 

2. Mesh Screens 

3. Squeegee 

4. Flash Cure Unit 

5. Belt Dryer 

1. Film Positives 

After the artwork gets finalized, the printing design is essential to separate it into multiple layers, and each layer should contain a design color. Every layer is transformed to black to produce a film positive (black design on clear film). These film positives are placed over the mesh screens to form the stencil for every screen or layer. 

2. Mesh Screens 

Mesh Screens are among the most vital screen printing tools, and people also call it screen printing. You need to place the film positive over the mesh screen, condense it, then cover it with emulsion. The emulsion is extremely light-sensitive. Thus, it forms the stencil after being revealed to Ultra Violet light. 

3. Squeegee 

You have got your press, screens, and ink—what next? Firstly, every ink layer is pressed onto the screen with the help of a squeegee. Then, the squeegee is paddled across the screen to make sure that the ink is equally distributed. While automated machines are capable of doing this, several companies still like to use manual ink presses as it is sprightly quick for smaller batches and supports control quality. 

4. Flash Cure Unit 

Flash Cure Unit is among the best tools and materials for screen printing. Generally speaking, screen-printed designs are flash-dried among every layer of ink. The flash cure units are an infrared heater under which your t-shirt is placed for several minutes before the next ink layer is finally pressed over the garment. This fends off bleeding within the printing design and is specifically crucial when operating with dark garments. 

5. Belt Dryer 

The closing stop in the screen-printing process is a belt dryer. They come in several sizes, but they require you to use similar temperature meters for every tee. After the tee is flash healed, it rolls on with a conveyer belt warmed up to 380 degrees Celsius to give a final cure to the tee and will make sure the design’s quality. 

Closing Down 

So, you are now perfectly armed with the proper screen printing tools and materials that will allow you to transit into screen printing. You will be well-positioned to follow the guide of this blog post for the fine-art screen-printing process as the planning of basic stencils and an image. For the moment, what holds your experiences been with achieving these screen-printing necessities, and is there particular advice you would give? Do not get behind and share your thoughts right now.