What is Screen Printing ? Different types of screen printing on fabric

Screen printing is one of the most cost-effective ways to print clothes in bulk. It is used around the world by a lot of people to print on t-shirts, banners, etc. This post details what screen printing is all about.

I have this friend who has a small screen printing business, and she has built a whole life around this business, building it from scratch to making it a small success in the local area. I admire her for her grit and hard work, as well as for her knowledge of something as complicated as screen printing. Well, so I thought.

Screen printing sounded pretty complicated, till I talked to her.

What is Screen Printing?

This fabric printing technique is a lot like the stencil painting we do at home. It involves using specially-made screens to apply ink to the fabric.

The screen is made by stretching a mesh on a wooden or aluminum frame. This screen will have the ink-blocking stencil with the pattern or the design. The ink is applied with a squeegee and the stencil will ensure the ink passes through the mesh and make the correct image in the fabric.

What is special about screen printing?

The advantages of screen printing are many. You get very sharp-edged high quality long lasting printed images; The cost of printing is so much less than any other large-scale printing.

This is the best printing technique when you want a single design to be printed on lots of clothes – think of those racy slogans you read and enjoy on t-shirts on the streets. They are most probably mass printed this way.

You can print on garment fronts, backs,  sleeves, pockets, hoodies, hats. Even vinyl, wood etc  are printed with the screen printing technique.

Materials  used for screen printing

The screen printing technique primarily uses a woven mesh screen to print the desired design onto fabric. The screen used is a porous mesh fabric made of synthetic fibers like nylon or stainless steel stretched on a frame (I have seen wooden frames, but aluminum frames are also used). Areas of the screen are then blocked off to create a design printing template. 

For each color in a design, a separate screen has to be made. These screens are used one screen per location per color.

An ink-blocking stencil, which will define your design. This stencil forms open areas on the mesh through which ink seeps into the fabric. This stencil is made on the screen either manually or photochemically.

Squeegee or roller to ensure the ink is spread

Ink – you need a special pigmented screen printing ink that is durable and long-lasting and gives out clear graphic details, and has a good texture. The most important thing, other than selecting the best ink, is to choose the correct color.

What kind of designs are best for screen printing ?

Best Screen printing designs are ones with solid colors on them. Any color can be used, including black and white. Any design can be used if it fits the area of the garment you want the print on.

If the area is small choose a broad design, not a fine design with details.

How is screen printing done?

A stencil is made of the design first – it could be anything even letters, logos, silhouettes, or solid pictures – on a woven mesh of synthetic fibers stretched tightly on a frame. This stencil will block ink, forming open areas in it – blank areas coated with an impermeable material.

Fabric is stretched on a flat surface. The screen is lowered onto fabric.

The ink is then allowed to come through the mesh to print the image clearly and sharply on the fabric.

A squeegee or similar tool is used to press the screen stencil against the mesh, making the impression clear and sharp-edged. The squeegee moves across the screen, pushing the ink through the open areas of the screen.

The process is repeated for other colors with other screens. If you want multiple colors, you will have to create different mesh screens for it.

The disadvantage of screen printing

Screen printing is the easiest and most inexpensive way to print on fabric for making a lot of prints of a single design. But this cost-effectiveness is relative. The expense increases with the use of multiple colors.

Small orders with many ink colors and print locations will make your screen printing costly, as screens have to be made for individual designs, separate colors, and different locations..

Most screen printing concerns will have a minimum order quantity – some say 10 , some 50 depending on their capability. Most often 50 and 10 will cost the same in printing, which is why it is advisable to print large orders.

One limitation of screen printing is that you cannot print continuous designs that go all the way around clothes or parts of the garment. for eg a design that goes around the sleeve.

You are also limited to the width of the screen you can make with regard to the design. If you have a large budget, you can make screens to make large prints on even bedsheets. 

Another limitation is that with screen printing, you cannot get sample prints. This is again because of the overhead cost of making screens.

How to ensure that screen printing is cost effective?

There are workarounds to make screen printing  cost effective
1. Use of fewer colors
2. Limiting printing location to one place
3. Using the color of the fabric as part of the design so that You only have to print the rest of the colors
4. Printing as many as you want in one go
5. Not changing /resizing designs midway

How to take care of your screen printed clothes

Everything that you do for washing and caring for dark colored clothes applies here. Some guidelines are –

1. Turn the clothing inside out
2. Hand wash for better color retention
3. If machine washing use a delicate cycle
4. Do not use bleach or other harsh detergents

Screen printing methods in the textile industry

Screen printing in the textile industry is done through two methods depending on the machinery used – Flatbed screen printing and Rotary screen printing.

Flatbed screen printing is the automated version of hand-operated silk screen printing. It has all the tools of the trade incorporated in it – the flatbed print table, a squeegee, an infeed device feeding the fabric. But it is not the fastest process; you cannot print continuous patterns with it, just like hand screen printing. Another disadvantage is that design size is dependent on the flat-screen size. 

The next method is called rotary garment screen printing. It uses a specialized machine that rotates in a fixed position.

Some questions on screenprinting

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