In this Print Life Tutorial I’m going to show you how to make a reusable professional screen for as cheap as possible!
before we get started on how to burn a silkscreen printing frame. Here is a list of Supplies you will need.
Blue Photopolymer Emulsion – Quart
12″ Squeegee
Dehazer and Degreaser – Quart
Empty Spray Bottle
Aluminum Screen with 110 mesh- 20x24in
CCI Blue Cleaning Brush
t-square
Spray Nozzle
to burn a silkscreen printing frame we need to take a few steps first. The screen is dry so it’s time to coat it. Lay the screen on a table and drip some emulsion onto the mesh. Use your squeegee to spread the liquid evenly. Flip to screen over and scrape away any existing emulsion from inside the screen. Set the frame in a dark room flat side down to dry for at least two hours.
Now that it’s dry we will use our film positive to burn our graphic into the hardened emulsion. Emulsion is essentially elmer’s glue with a uv sensitive hardener. When the dried emulsion is hit with uv light it becomes waterproof, any areas of the screen that weren’t hit with light remain water soluble.
Lay your film onto the flat side of the screen with the image reading backward. Center your film to 10 inches. Then level the graphic using the t square. Now grab some scotch tape and tape the four corners of the film to the mesh.
Now its time to burn the screen. Cover the screen with you garbage bage and head outside. Remove the screen from the bag then lay the screen on top of the bag in direct sunlight for 30 seconds. Quickly cover the screen with the bag. then head to the garden hose. Keep the screen in the bag and remove the film. When you are ready remove the bag from the screen and spray both side with water. Continue to spray the flat side of the screen with water until you see the image start to form. A little more water and the unhardened emulsion will wash away.
Set the screen back in the sun to dry for 2 min or so and you have a screen thats ready to Print with.
In my next video I will show you how to screen print a t-shirt as cheap as possible.
