Screen printing is popular and widely used in design, garments, decoration, etc. To learn more about the technology of screen printing on t-shirts and shirts at Uniform Fashion, let’s learn more about it. As we provide service of silk screen printing in Dallas so we have explained the method. Please follow the article!

What is silk printing?

Silk printing is the name of a printing technique that uses a mesh screen made of silk. When the silk screen can be replaced with other materials such as cotton fabric, chemical fiber fabric, metal fabric, etc., this technique is more broadly called screen printing.

What is screen printing?

Silk printing is a printing technique with simple printing methods, beautiful and eye-catching colors, creating highly aesthetic products. Silk printing is a name given by workers and comes from the mesh of the printing frame made of silk. But later, this printing was also used with different materials such as cotton fabric, chemical fiber fabric, and metal fabric, so it was also called screen printing.

Screen printing is done according to the same principle as ink oil printing on stencils, which means that only a part of the ink is absorbed through the printing screen, printing on the material in the areas that need to be printed, while the areas that do not need to be printed will be covered. again with specialized chemicals that do not allow ink to penetrate. This t-shirt printing technology is applied on many different materials such as nylon, fabric, glass…

Classification of screen printing techniques

Regarding the classification of screen printing techniques, there are many different classifications. Depending on the criteria each classification is based on, there will be different printing techniques. Below are some classifications based on different criteria. 

2.1 Classification according to how printing molds are used

Based on how the printing mold is used, there are the following types:

• Silk screen printing on manual printing table
• Screen printing on a printing table has some operations mechanized
• Silk screen printing on automatic printer

2.2 Classification according to mold shape

Based on the mold shape, there are 2 types of printing techniques:

• Printing technique using flat mesh mold
• The printing technique uses a rotating drum-type circular mesh mold.

2.3 Classification by printing method

Based on printing method, there are the following types:

• Direct screen printing : is a type of printing on products where the background color is white or light color, the background color does not affect the print color.
• Unattached screen printing: is a type of printing on a product with a background color, the ink color must be able to destroy the background color and attach the color to be printed on the product.
• Backup screen printing: prints products in color but does not use debonding printing

What do you need to prepare for the T-shirt screen printing method?Current screen printing technology has many different classifications. But no matter what printing technique is used, it is necessary to prepare some necessary materials and supplies to ensure the printing process on the product can be carried out.

3.1 Materials to be printed

The material to be printed on is what you want to print on. Such as t-shirts, paper, glass, metal, wedding invitations, watch faces, ceramic tiles…

3.2 Printing mold

A printing mold is a frame used for printing, made of wood, rectangular or square depending on the material to be printed. The printing mold is used to position the printing mesh, which is where the ink is stored, allowing the ink to pass through and penetrate the material to be printed.

3.3 Printing Grid section

The printed mesh is made of silk or any material. It consists of 2 parts: The part that allows ink to pass through (printing element) and the part that does not allow ink to pass through (non-printing element).

3.4 Printing ink

As a printing material, it is viscous and not liquid like other inks to print on the material to be printed. Printing ink is produced according to each basic color and each color is separated separately. When printing, the artist will use these colors mixed together in certain proportions to create the color tone they desire.

3.5 Wiper bar

The wiper bar is an indispensable material when using screen printing techniques. This bar is made of wood and has different lengths depending on the printing mold. The use of this bar is to spread the ink evenly so that it penetrates through the printing mesh layer, penetrating through the material to be printed.

3.6 Print table

The printing table is a place to place and fix the material to be printed. To prevent the material to be printed from moving, causing difficulties during the screen printing process, a layer of glue will be applied to the table top to fix the table top to the material to be printed.

Why should you choose silk printing when printing uniform T-shirts?

Use silk printing method when printing uniform shirts because they have the following advantages:

• Outstanding, eye-catching colors, creating beautiful finished products : with this printing technique, beautiful, clear images are created, appealing to the viewer’s vision. This is one of the advantages of screen printing that many customers choose to print t-shirts.
• Creating products with high durability and longer usage time : T-shirts are easy to use, easy to coordinate in many situations such as wearing to school, going out, at home or as a company uniform. With such high frequency of use, using silk screen printing will help the shirt be more durable, less likely to peel or fade, and prolong the life of the shirt.
• Save printing costs : although this printing technique is done manually, printing time is faster and printing in large quantities so it will be cheaper than other printing methods.

Silk printing process on uniform T-shirts

Whenever we do any work, we must follow a certain process to produce the best results. In printing, following the process is even more important, the steps are closely related to each other and so is the screen printing technique . Below is the process of screen printing on uniform T-shirts you need to know.

5.1 Step 1: Analyze design files

• This is the first step in the process of screen printing on shirts. 
• To get the best printed product, you should design in monochrome
• For each printing color, we should output each film in a way that distinguishes the colors from each other
• Use Corel Draw or Ai software to design. 

5.2 Step 2: Prepare the printing mold (Stretch the frame + Take the plate)

• Prepare a wooden mesh frame, wash it, and dry it to make a printing mold
• Use specialized darkroom glue to coat the surface of the mesh frame. The commonly used glue is oil-water amphoteric photographic glue or water-resistant glue. Then let it dry.
• After drying, use the exported transparent printed panels to take films. Films can be taken under lights or under sunlight
• Wait about 2-3 minutes, we take the printing mold and spray the printing mold with water. The parts that are obscured by the film board will not be absorbed by the glue and can be easily removed with water. These areas allow the ink to penetrate and print onto the surface of the material.
• In areas that are not obscured by the film board, the glue will stick to it and seal it to prevent ink from passing through.

5.3 Step 3: Mix ink

Colorists or printers will use basic colors to mix together, creating an arbitrary color tone suitable for printing.

5.4 Step 4: Print on printing material

• Spread the material to be printed flat and fix it with glue on the printing table
• Place the mold in the position to be printed
• Pulling ink: we will use the squeegee to scrape off the ink so that the ink penetrates evenly through the mesh
• Dry the first layer of ink and continue to draw ink
• Repeat the same with other colors 

5.5 Step 5: Dry and expose the material to be printed

• Dry and expose to the sun for 12-48 hours to ensure the ink adheres firmly to the printing material and does not peel off when exposed to water.
• Can be dried in the following ways: hand drying, automatic drying, or drying in a shaded room