Registration marks are printed on the transparency along with any other helpful info (e.g. color notes). Place one above and one below the artwork in absolute center.
You need complete opacity in your printed transparency positive. There's something special in printers with black ink in each cartridge that allows you to get complete opacity.
RIP software translates illustrations for silkscreen prints. For example, a 50% opacity fill with #fff can be converted into half tone dots.
Aluminum frames are preferable to wood because it lives most of its life in water. Wood will warp.
Screen mesh is measured in threads per square inch. A higher mesh number means a higher detail print. Also means it will be physically harder to push the ink through, and takes a longer time. Standard sizes include 110, 230, and 305.
Before coating, you may need to decide where the transparency will be placed on the screen depending on the press being used. A press with a back clamp may have a finite range for the pallet to move. Size it up if so.
In the emulsion room, Rubylith masks the lightbulb. This light can hit unexposed screens and will not expose them.
Fill the scoop with a generous amount of emulsion. Coat the substrate side first, then the inkwell side. This ensures the inking side will have a smooth surface to work on.
Place the transparency positive on the substrate side. Center the placement with a t-square, and any vertical constraints necessary. Tape it down.
Place the screen on the vacuum light table surface, close to the center where vacuum pressure is best.
Place a piece of rope connecting between the inkwell side of the screen to the open table. This creates a channel for air to be sucked out in the inkwell space, pressing the mesh taut against the acetate. Otherwise just the frame sides would be taut, not the mesh. Turn on the vacuum seal.
Quality light tables take orders in lumens, not a set amount of time. Apply the right amount of lumens based on the mesh count. See the chart for the light table.
Wet the screen on both sides, then wait ten seconds for the breakdown process to start before washing the screen out completely. Do not use the power washing setting, basic water should do the trick.
Apply screen tape to all corners of the screen, making a continuous cover between the edge of the emulsion and the frame's inner walls. Tape registration marks from below so it doesn't get in the way of the smooth inking surface.
Side clamp presses are great because of the leeway in room forward and backward to clamp.
Back clamps are handy when you want to move the frame horizontally. e.g. for printing a neck hole stamp with different sizes (S M L), and moving it side to side.
Put the transparency of the print (probably the black one) and place it properly on the pallet, lining up registration marks to the axis, and vertically based on the desired placement of the print.
A high quality press has fine adjustment knobs for use after screwing down the screen, and a movable t-shirt pallet. These are helpful for multi-color prints because high accuracy is crucial in screen placement.
These controls should include left spin right spin height of the head over the pallet and pitch.
Place the screen in the side clamps first, without tightening. The screen should sit ~1/8-1/4" above the pallet. That way, when printing, there is a tension and a snapback that the mesh will make, which will pop the ink off the mesh and onto the substrate. This is also why a tighter is screen is always preferable.
Lay the screen in a general manner to your print and then go to fine tuning, comparing the edges of the negative space in the screen to the lines on the transparency for placement.
Apply a spritz of flash spray adhesive to ensure the shirt won't lift with the screen after inking.
Graphics typically sit 3 or 4" below the shirt collar.
A squeegee should be 1" wider on each side of a print.
Plasticol is an oil-based ink. It sits on top of the shirt. It never dries at room temperature, making it easy to work with.
Water-based ink soaks into the garment, and fades over time. It evaporates quickly, making it harder to work with.
There are inks specific to the substrate you're printing on. e.g. white polyester ink and cotton ink. This is just for creating an underbase (or something like that), and not necessary for strong colors. This is to avoid leakage (or some term like that).
Flood the screen above the shirt by loosely covering the print area with ink. This is most important when working with water-based inks to prevent the ink in the screen from drying.
Cure the shirt in a flash dryer at 350 degrees for 30 seconds.
Spray plastisol remover on the screen and rub it out with a brush. Then power wash.
Apply dehazer in the same fashion to removes the left-over ink.
Apply degreaser in the same fashion to remove grease?
Degreasing removes grease
Gasket - holes in between mesh strings
You need to lay out design for burning on side to side on side clamps bc you dont have left right wiggle room like u do for back clamps
Substrate = material to print on
You want a small anount of space bt mesh and shbstrace
Glitter and reflective
There are different plastisol inks depending on the substrate youre using. Eg white polyester vs white cotton
Leave a good amt of room below the print for room for your aqueegee and ink in beyeeen prints. Make sure to leave enough room above the screen to squeege
Water base is more soupy
Corase flash infrared flash
Flash va curing — what is the diference?
Pallets comes in different widths for different ahirts, eg baby shirts thin
This dude (what's his name?) washes with a power washer, substrate side first then inkwell side, about 3–4 feet away
He gets closer for fine deyail, maybe 1 foot away. He wipes it with his hands
That day i went running on a sunday to maura's house, what records did I listen to? What did I do there? Did I knock on her door?
This guy tapes the blank spaces from the sibstrate side too
This dude uses masking tape
The key print is the one that holds everything together in multi colored prints
Plalates need to be set up to be the same distance in the forward backward direction
Measure design top to bottom collar seam, and then let the neck tape fall off the edge of the palate
You can use the transparency against the palate and place it with reg marks against the palate
Place the screen against the palate and then dial the height up ~1/4-1/8"
Carousel locks the head in place
Trap on top of stuff with stronger colors than what is below
Layout the screeen tighten side give it some height and the. Microredhe
Dye migration
Victory Factory in Hollis, Queens
Grab shirt and bunch up the bottom with thumbs inside the shirt and run thumbs along side of the pallet.
Set up a tee on each pallet and then do one color at a time and set up the flash.
Flash heats up feel it out how its going check the wetnesd
Scoop coater
Want a sharp edge on your squeegee