# Screen Printing on Traditional Canvas



## WesB (Oct 17, 2008)

What is the best way to screen print on Canvas?

I just tried using my 110 mesh screen on a generic Traditional Canvas, 100% cotton, I picked up at Micheal's with a water based ink.

The results were not great. The texture of the Canvas seemed to just fill up with ink.

Am I just using a wrong combination of ink and mesh?
Are there specific types of canvas I should use?

Any advice would be appreciated.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Does it specifically need to be canvas? I haven't tried printing on canvas myself (yet), but I know several people who have. In pretty much every case they ended up printing on fabric and stretching it over a frame instead. I'm positive screenprinting on canvas can be done, I think people just ultimately found it _easier_ not to.


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## midwaste (Apr 8, 2008)

You could try printing with regular acrylic paint, which should be a little thicker than WB and not run into the grooves of the canvas (maybe). Otherwise, yes, a tighter mesh might get you closer to what you want.


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## WesB (Oct 17, 2008)

Thanks,

I just tried canvas because it was pre-framed and convenient to buy. 

I'm not a canvas fanatic, just wanted an easy way to make cool prints I can put up. 

So I'm open to hear other cool materials to print on.


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## dkprint (Feb 24, 2009)

weve done canvas with basic water based inks but it wasn't framed. It was just a large stretch of canvas hemmed all round and used for a large sign. No major concern about slight movement or ink bleeding as it was to be strung up high.


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## Brantgoose (Sep 7, 2008)

When i tried it with plastisol it was with a 196 mesh and primed canvas. Didn't get the best results either. Too low of a mesh count with black ink. It makes a difference if the canvas is pre-coated "primed" or not. I'd have to say you'd need a 305 mesh at least. If it's not primed 196 might work.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Brantgoose said:


> When i tried it with plastisol


Oh, ouch. Plastisol is not an all purpose ink. I don't know why some printers insist on using it for _everything_.

Yes, your mesh count was way too low. But the ink was the bigger problem.


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## ino (Jan 23, 2007)

So, how do they print these large cafe umbrellas, or large sails on racing yachts.


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## moe_szys1ak (Jun 16, 2008)

I do a lot of my own art prints on canvas and I find that the best method is to gesso the canvas twice (once in each direction) and then sand it smooth. Wet the gessoed canvas slightly before sanding - you get better results and it's faster than sanding dry.


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## moe_szys1ak (Jun 16, 2008)

Also, if you're printing on canvas that's already mounted on a frame, you need to put something beneath the canvas to fill the gap so there's no give when you press down on it. A piece of cardboard or wood cut to fit, supported by some books usually works for me.


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## Brantgoose (Sep 7, 2008)

naw, you can use plastisol...I didn't think it was that big of a deal about that aspect. The ink was fine... The canvas doesn't get hurt by the heat at all.


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## Brantgoose (Sep 7, 2008)

moe_szys1ak said:


> I do a lot of my own art prints on canvas and I find that the best method is to gesso the canvas twice (once in each direction) and then sand it smooth. Wet the gessoed canvas slightly before sanding - you get better results and it's faster than sanding dry.


Do you put the gesso on a blank screen and squeegee it across the canvas?
What type of ink do you use?


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## moe_szys1ak (Jun 16, 2008)

Brantgoose said:


> Do you put the gesso on a blank screen and squeegee it across the canvas?
> What type of ink do you use?


I paint the gesso directly on the canvas with a wide brush. I do it twice - once brushing only horizontally, letting it dry, and then a second coat applied with vertical strokes. After that dries, I spray a light mist of water on it and sand it down smooth with a semi-fine grain sandpaper. This gives a nice, smooth surface to print on that usually results in little to no ink bleed.

When printing I usually use Speedball's acrylic screen printing ink, though I have used waterbased textile ink before.


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## ino (Jan 23, 2007)

would one be able to roll the canvas after you apply ther gesso?


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## moe_szys1ak (Jun 16, 2008)

ino said:


> would one be able to roll the canvas after you apply ther gesso?


That depends on the brand or quality of the gesso. I know that Golden brand and Liquitex brand gesso can be rolled without cracking, but certain cheaper brands or the kind that's specifically made for sanding (sometimes called "sandable hard gesso") can crack.

Also, excessive stretching and flexing may cause cracking with any brand. Generally, the container will say something about this.


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## Madrod (Jun 27, 2007)

how big do you want the print, you can buy inkjet canvas and run it through your printer.


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## jgabby (Mar 29, 2007)

WesB said:


> What is the best way to screen print on Canvas?
> 
> I just tried using my 110 mesh screen on a generic Traditional Canvas, 100% cotton, I picked up at Micheal's with a water based ink.
> 
> ...



HI,

I print a lot canvas bag on automatic. I don't like 110, prefer 135.

FOR NATURALL/white color canvas
I use 203 mesh count with water based when mat finished is an issue.

With plastisol, I add some fashion based (chino base or fashion soft base) to cut and thin my regular plastisol. For the mesh count I use from 225 to 300.

Sometime I use 203 mesh with regular plastisol mixed with plascharge base and no activator to simulate water based.

ON DARK
I underbase with plascharge and print the top plastisol color with mesh count from 203 to 300.

Hope it helps.


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## edwardo_machino (Jul 27, 2008)

Thought I'd revive this thread to share my experience with printing on non-gessoed canvas.

I am using Michael Phipps' 4-color tshirt press.

These days I mostly print flatstock. Trying to accumulate a number of prints to sell eventually. Recently I finished using screens for a 3-color paper print and was going to reclaim them, but decided to give canvas printing a try on the press before I did. I initially decided against using these screens for canvas because from what I gathered online they were too high a mesh (230 and 280) to print comfortably on canvas. But I figured, what the hell.

So I cut up a bunch of canvas squares, of three different weights (bought three rolls) and set them aside. I then started to print.

I used Nazdar 9500 for red and black, and for a transparent grey overprint I used what I did for the posters, a mix of Speedball transparent base, black Blick brand textile ink (similar to Union Aerotex) and white Nazdar 9500, to make transparent grey.

The canvas was placed on the platen on which I applied a liberal coating of TexTac water based adhesive. I used push strokes for every pass, as I wasn't able to get enough force with a pull stoke to get enough ink on the canvas (this would result in the "faded" look I hear people complain about when trying to print on canvas).

Even with the push, one pass was never enough. Sometimes I hit two or three times, to really get the ink smashed on there (note that the ink did not seep through the underside of the canvas at all). Between colors I would hit with the heat gun.

As I was printing I realized that one can take advantage of the light pass-through of the ink - at least on these higher screens - and create interesting overprints even when the canvas appeared done. Also if you experiment with the order in which you print the colors weird, totally sweet stuff can come out which you never thought of, independent of the original intention of the design. Very interesting.

If your press has good registration the multiple strokes shouldn't matter. I was working with some pretty fine stochastic dots on these prints and I never got any blurring, but this of course will depend on your equipment. But yes - multiple passes are essential for good coverage on the canvas I used, at least with 230 and 280 mesh screens. I would like to try building up the stencil with more emulsion coats to see if a one-stroke action can fully saturate.

The fabric I used was duck cloth and two weights of standard canvas (one light, one heavy, can't recall exact weight). All three types printed similarly. Photos!






































Testing registration with some paper:




















The following are one/two/three pull stoke results, not too good:




















Then I switched to pushing and things went ok. Two or three pushes per color, sometimes more. Stopped when I was satisfied with ink lay-down.





























This is the lighter cloth:











The heavier:











Finished on heavy:




















Then let them dry. Next day I stretched one onto a frame, and painted edges with black Nazdar 9500:











I am not yet skilled with stretching canvas, as you can plainly see. This is actually the second canvas I've stretched ever:


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