# Photo Emulsion Screen Printing How Hard Is It?



## Shirts99 (Dec 10, 2008)

Hey Everyone, 

I was wondering if anyone could direct me on how to start doing photo emulsion screen printing on tshirt. I dont have any real expierence with screen printing. It would just be a hobby... I have a heat press which I use to use to press heat transfers on tshirts in the past.
Would it be of any use for photo emulsion screen printing??

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.


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## CastandBlast (Mar 28, 2009)

"Would it be of any use for photo emulsion screen printing??"

Well heck ya! It's not that hard at all, buy emulsion ,screen, coater ,exposure unit, make or buy positive, bam burn the screen . Buy press, ink, squegee, and a flash and presto you have an easy to do and super cool
hobby. An expensive one though. Buy used whenever possible and have fun!


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## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

Get a simple set up to do custom printing and you can start adding tag lines to your transfers. Custom work, great art, cost effective. I spent a number of years buying a shop 1 piece at a time. if I had it to do over i would definitely go heat transfer (start establishing a distribution network), and then a small table top rig to add logos as a second print or tag lines under the transfers. The big and steep learning curve imho is not the craft (although you could spend a lifetime on that alone) but design and marketing.


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## Wuhtzu (Apr 18, 2008)

To get started:

#1: Get some screens
a) Fabricate some frames and have someone put mesh on them. The frames could be fabricated from either alu or wood depending on what tools or friends you have at your service  In either case the tubes of the frame should be around 3cm x 3cm - hollow if it's alu and massive if it's wood.

b) Buy the frames and have someone put mesh on them or buy them with mesh on.

#2: Buy an emulsion. I could recommend Ulano QTX for plasticol ink or Ulano QLT for waterbased.

#3: Buy scoop coater for applying the emulsion to the screen ([media]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3130/3118266112_ae816c5d94.jpg[/media])

#4: Buy a 500W halogen work light for exposing your screens.

#5: Buy some paint

#6: Buy a squeegee for dragging the paint over your screen

That's all the materials...

- - - - - - - - -

The process:

#1: Degrease your screens so they are free from oil, fats and so on. Use water and dish washing soap. Rinse of all the soap and let the screen dry.

#2: Fill your scoop coater with emulsion and coat your screen with emulsion. For example one coat on either side or to coats on either side. Start with the back side which will touch the fabric and finish with the inside which will hold the paint. This should be done in an environment with low intensity light. Not yellow safelight like some people say, just dampen your lights so you can see enough to do the job 

#3: Let the screen (now coated with emulsion) dry for 30min - 2 hours depending on whether you use a fan or not, hot/cold environment, very humid and so on.

#4: Print something on a transparency (your art)

#5: Flip your now dried (meaning the emulsion is no longer tacky) over so the backside (which will eventually touch the fabric) is upwards.

#6: Place the transparency on top of the mesh (mirrored so it will look right when you flip the screen around) and turn on your work lamp suspended over the frame.

#7: Expose it for around 10 minutes or so.

#8: Turn off the light and take your screen to the bathtub

#9: Rinse the screen with water and maybe a sponge until all the emulsion which has been located under dark areas of the transparency has been washed out.

#10: Dry your screen again

#11: Put it on top of a t-shirt, fill in some ink and use your squeegee to pull the ink across your screen and down onto the t-shirt.

#12: Cure the ink according to the manufactures specifications. For example in an oven 

All words I've mentioned can be imaged by searching for a particular word on google. I could also recommend that you go to youtube watch this guy's videos:

YouTube - YouTees's Channel

Wuhtzu


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## Shirts99 (Dec 10, 2008)

Thanks for the direction everyone, I am going to try photo emulsion screen printing for sure. Hopefully it doesn't turn out to be a complete mess.


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## ShirlandDesign (Nov 29, 2009)

Even if it does, figure out why, adjust, and try again. It isn't magic. Every single person on this forum has made messes and wasted materials. Everyone.


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## RichardGreaves (Nov 7, 2006)

Homework Videos


"Classic Exposure Step Test Video 4Mb 4 minutes
"How Does Capillary Film Work" video - 95 Mb 17 minutes
"How Does Direct Emulsion Work" video - 105 Mb 19 minutes


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## caperkyle (Jan 5, 2011)

I am hoping to start learning how to screen print soon everyone on this forum is so helpful!


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## Wobske (Feb 6, 2012)

Hi everyone. I'm new to the photo emulsion method of screen printing and having a bit of trouble... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have watched and read many tutorials on the photo emulsion method but I cannot seem to get it right 

This is what I do:
1. I coat the flat underside of the screen with photo emulsion (thin layer with scoop coater) though I can't seem to do it lite enough so the emulsion doesn't go through to the other side... I have read a couple tutorials that say this is ok and even "You should coat both sides of the screen". So I proceed to coat the otherside and smooth out what has seeped through.
(And yes I did this in a dark environment under the house)

2. I dry the screen in a dark place infront of a fan.

3. I set the design transparency on the top of the screen with glass over the top to keep in place. (I have tried burning the design to either side of the screen both did not work)

4. The screen is raised off the ground on 4 plastic lids, with a 150watt clear incondescent flood light. The light is approx. 12 inches away from the screen. I burn the image for 45 minutes as instructed (though the image doesnt to appear burnt onto the screen with only very faint ghost of the stencil... more of a yellow outline rather than a lighter green stencil compared to the tutorials. I try to wash the image out but does not work.

I also tried to burn the image for 1 hour AND 1h 15minutes, both these times did not wash out but the stencil was clearer as a lighter green ghost as recommended.

Also the screen was raised off the carpet (which i read may of been reflective) so I put some black non reflective fabric underneath underneath the screen when burning the stencil...and STILL DOESNT WORK.

I will aslo add, My trasparency is printed on my laserjet printer at home. I have printed the image twice to make sure it is opaque enough to burn and I use a aluminium pie tin around my 150 watt clear incondescent flood light.

Please anyone that could help steer me in the right direction?
Thankyou


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## RichardGreaves (Nov 7, 2006)

*Answers to photo emulsion questions*



Wobske said:


> I have watched and read many tutorials on the photo emulsion method but I cannot seem to get it right


I'm interested in the videos that confused you. Could you be more specific especially if they were from Post 7?



Wobske said:


> 1. I coat the flat underside of the screen with photo emulsion (thin layer with scoop coater) though I can't seem to do it lite enough so the emulsion doesn't go through to the other side... I have read a couple tutorials that say this is ok and even "You should coat both sides of the screen". So I proceed to coat the otherside and smooth out what has seeped through.
> (And yes I did this in a dark environment under the house)


Screen makers don't really coat - we scrape. Mesh has holes in it, so emulsion ends up on the other side! Start coating on the bottom of the screen, until you see the emulsion fill the holes and link up on the other side making shiny gloss coating. It's important to fill the holes or you may get air bubbles in the holes.









Finish coating on the inside of the screen so the emulsion film will finish on the bottom of the screen where it needs to control your ink.



Wobske said:


> 2. I dry the screen in a dark place infront of a fan.


Fans will blow dust and air [from under the house and in the carpet], around the surface of you stencil, but dry air will suck moisture out of the inside of the coating.

Working in 'safe light' (light with little or no UV energy) is easier than the dark. Yellow or gold fluorescent lamps are the most popular. Start with 'bug' lights until you can afford fluorescents. DRY AIR is more important than blowing air. 

*Homework*
help: Safe-Light for Applying Emulsion (http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t23724.html#post140633)

Coating emusion under an 11 watt energy saving bulb (http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t82942.html#post489879)

coated screens exposure to the yellow light (http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t25983.html#post153633)

Red Light for emulsion (http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t59472.html#post353417)

*Shrinkage*
30 to 40% of the emulsion you coated is water - the water you need to remove before you expose with UV energy. As it dries, the stencil SHRINKS and takes on the texture of the mesh.












Wobske said:


> 3. I set the design transparency on the top of the screen with glass over the top to keep in place. (I have tried burning the design to either side of the screen both did not work)


ALWAYS, put your positive on the bottom of the screen with the toner or ink in contact with the stencil for the best image. Make sure the glass is cut smaller than the frame or the glass can't press down on the stencil.



Wobske said:


> 4. The screen is raised off the ground on 4 plastic lids, with a 150watt clear incondescent flood light. The light is approx. 12 inches away from the screen. I burn the image for 45 minutes as instructed (though the image doesnt to appear burnt onto the screen with only very faint ghost of the stencil... more of a yellow outline rather than a lighter green stencil compared to the tutorials. I try to wash the image out but does not work.


Incandescent lamps produce *very little UV energy*. 300 watt quartz halogen work a little better but generate vast amounts of infra-red energy - which is a waste. 40 watt Black Light fluorescent lamps are very cool AND are designed to emit UV. They are weak, so you need to create a bank of lamps to evenly cove your image. 



Wobske said:


> I also tried to burn the image for 1 hour AND 1h 15minutes, both these times did not wash out but the stencil was clearer as a lighter green ghost as recommended.


*Stencils are easy.*

_*Stencil doesn't stay in the mesh*_
If the stencil washes out - it wasn't exposed with enough UV-A energy, so it dissolves with water and rinses down the drain; just like it's supposed to.

_*Image area doesn't wash out*_
If the *image area* doesn't wash out, it was somehow cross-linked with heat or UV-A energy. This usually means *your positive failed* to stop UV energy from reaching the stencil.

*Dime Complete Opacity Test*To judge if your positive completely stops UV energy, tape a dime (the thinnest USA coin), or a piece of aluminum foil to the stencil to see if the dark areas of your positive are failing you and letting UV-A energy through to the stencil. If the area covered by the dime doesn't wash out, you have exposed the stencil to UV energy or heat energy when you dried & stored it and the stencil resists dissolving with water and going down the drain.

It should rinse out like a dream!











Wobske said:


> I will aslo add, My trasparency is printed on my laserjet printer at home. I have printed the image twice to make sure it is opaque enough to burn and I use a aluminium pie tin around my 150 watt clear incondescent flood light.


The common Hewlett Packard series of lasers printers have always been *poor light stoppers* and don't work very well for making screens. They are the office standard, but you should resist the desire to use them in the art room.

*Problems with Toner Positives*
One of the chief drawbacks to computer-generated positives is that they are not always dark enough to stop UV energy. Hold a vellum or laser positive up to a strong light source and you will probably be able to see through even the darkest areas. UV energy can go right through the 'particles of the solid areas, causing those parts of the stencil to cure as they are supposed to.

With only a little practice, you can teach yourself to feed your 'vellum FINISH' transparent paper or film through the manual feed of your printer twice, to increase the light stopping power.

Make a test with a dollar bill sized solid image in the center of a positive, then flip the sheet around and the second printing won't cover up the entire first image. Do a test exposure (including a dime) and I expect you will see a difference.


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## Wobske (Feb 6, 2012)

Thanks for your reply.
I have watched many video's on youtube explaining the process and a couple written descriptions on other websites.

Yesterday I had a bit of an improvement, I left the screen under the flood light for 1hour 30minutes which worked in some parts of the stencil and others didnt?

I will try today to turn the pie tin "Landscape" as apposed to portrait like it is now because the oven dish i have is an oval shape and not circle.

Also I have noticed on my screen there seems to be a couple blemishes, which I can only assume are burns from the flood light.

If I had the floodlight set too close.... say 20cms opposed to the recommended 30cms. Could this be my problem?

Thanks


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## RichardGreaves (Nov 7, 2006)

*Pie plates and oven dish?*



Wobske said:


> I will try today to turn the pie tin "Landscape" as apposed to portrait like it is now because the oven dish i have is an oval shape and not circle.


How are you using pie plates & oven dish?

Even distribution of light over the entire design is critical to balanced exposure. 

Farther away, increases the amount of exposure required. Energy is not linear. Doubling the lamp distance will require 4X the exposure.

I didn't finish writing until 8:20. I'm sure I wrote more after you read.


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## TYGERON (Apr 26, 2009)

Richard,

What do you do to make this a "Featured Thread"?


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## RichardGreaves (Nov 7, 2006)

*Featured Thread?*



TYGERON said:


> Richard,
> 
> What do you do to make this a "Featured Thread"?


I never knew there was a "Featured Thread" section but I did find it. This has to be a question for Rodney.
T-Shirt Forums - Contact T-ShirtForums.com


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## Wobske (Feb 6, 2012)

Thankyou for your help Richard


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