how do i screenprint at home?

Question

can anyone tell me (or is there a website to demonstrate) how to make a simple t-shirt screenprinting device and what paint/inks to use etc? for example like the one in the shins video for new slang. i have some cool graphic designs but they don't always look great transfer printed.

Answer 1

It takes a pretty specialized, and therefore expensive, printer to do that. If you're going to make thousands of these shirts, it may be worth it. Anything less, and it's probably better for now if you can work out deals with a local shop to do it for you. Establish a relationship with them and see if you can't negotiate a rate low enough that you can sell the shirts for a few bucks more than you paid. The other benefit of this, is if there's a misprint on a run they'll eat the cost instead of you!

Answer 2

You need the right net and inks to screenprint and I found that with multiple colours I started with half a dozen copies on the first colour and only one good one after finishing. Might have got better at it with practice.

I like Epson transfer sheets best for computer printing but find both light and dark have a yucky texture. Remember to reverse your picture before printing otherwise it comes out mirror image with any wording backwards. There's some stuff called decal-it which does a similar job without a printer from a photocopy but I don't think it would stand up to much washing.

You could try Berol transfer paint which you can paint on to paper and then iron the T-shirt. Better than painting direct as if you make a mistake you haven't ruined the T. Disadvantage is that the colours look dull and muddy until you iron so you can't tell how it is going to look.

Answer 3

one color is easy.. get a streched silkscreen at your local art store and some silkscreening plastic, you use a xacto to cut out the image that you want printed... transfer it with some harmfull chemical you can pick up at the art store.. get some ink and a squigee type device and you are set..
There is also a photo process you can do with a lighrt sensative paper, a 60 watt and computer printouts of your cymk seperations on acitate.. this allows for more colors,,, but you need a screen for each color and more supplies = more $. at this point unless you really like the handmade arty silkscreen look you may be better off sending in a dightal image to be printed to some t shirt printer or cafepress

Answer 4

If you are just going to make a few shirts you can buy the screen printing sheets from walmart or kmart and use your computer printer to print the sheets, then you just have to iorn them on. If you buy the sheets for dark shirts the screen print is hard and kind of cruchy and youll have to cut all of the white out you do not want showing. The sheets for light shirts are way better and easier to work with

Answer 5

Gt your print on screens. You will need many screens for multicolored prints. (A screen is a net which has been coated with a chemical and exposed, so that only the portion of the design is permeable. Then place your screen over the material to be screen printed and move the layer of paint in one smooth motion

Answer 6

check these tutorials out....

http://community.livejournal.com/craftgrrl/3674467.html

or

http://www.stencilrevolution.com/tutorials/tutorialsview.php?id=2

both are pretty good, the first will show you a cheap home made way for screenprinting, the second one works really well - I made my first tee 2 yrs ago with this tutorial and I still wear it to this day! If you want the design to last longer, use a bit more fabric medium, easy.

good luck and have fun.

Answer 7

Speedball makes a starter kit for screenprintin - all you need to begin for well under $100. Check out the instructional pdf at the Speedball website

http://www.speedballart.com/pdf/Screen_Printing_Instructions.pdf