# Can I remove a tiny bit of emulsion? to fix an imperfection?



## Harold Boss (Aug 8, 2017)

Hi I'm screenprinting from my backyard with a very DIY approach.

I had a search around and couldn't find any answers to this question although it seems like an obvious one.

Is it possible to fix an imperfection in a screen by removing just some of the emulsion?

For example can I put some bleach on a paintbrush etc and just dab a section of the screen, then blast with hose to get it off?

From an industry perspective this is probably not something you would do a lot. But for backyard screenprinters this would save a lot of time.

Or what about maybe using a fine needle? to physically poke out some of the stuff?

What do you think?


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## Oli6220 (May 2, 2016)

Hello,

I don't understand why you would like to remove emulsion? A small bit too much emulsion will not create an imperfection...of course if it's not a the printing zone.
To be honest i will not approach the silk with a needles.


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## Harold Boss (Aug 8, 2017)

I'm doing this in my backyard, exposing screens in the daylight, so there's a lot of variables and **** does happen.

In this case I had to stick two transparencies together and inadvertently left a tiny crack which has left a very fine line of emulsion in one or two places.

In a previous example I got a part of the image that was conspicuously too thin on the screen (sunlight bleeding under transparency probably).


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## Oli6220 (May 2, 2016)

Harold Boss said:


> I'm doing this in my backyard, exposing screens in the daylight, so there's a lot of variables and **** does happen.
> 
> In this case I had to stick two transparencies together and inadvertently left a tiny crack which has left a very fine line of emulsion in one or two places.
> 
> In a previous example I got a part of the image that was conspicuously too thin on the screen (sunlight bleeding under transparency probably).



Maybe you could try to remove the bad part with a Cotton Buds and Emulsion remover carefully.. it should work.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

Here's a link to one of my e-lessons that will show you several ways to fix screen problems: http://endangerous.com/fix.pdf


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## Harold Boss (Aug 8, 2017)

Hey thanks for the useful link.

I was able to scratch the emulsion from the screen using a needle, I'm surprised I didn't try it before, was easy. This didn't tear the mesh but it did get distressed somewhat, obviously not for big errors but seems ok for dots, lines, small imperfections.


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## seventhirteen (May 29, 2014)

glad it worked, I use a spot remover gun now and then to blast out emulsion spots


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