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Screen printing is the most common form of shirt printing today.  In fact, chances are that most of the t-shirts you have in your closet right now is produced by this method.  Screen printing is a long and messy process but here is how it happens.

Screen printing uses a woven mesh screen stencil where ink is pushed through the screen and onto the garment.  The process first starts with the design.  A graphic design is brought edited by a designer.  After all the necessary graphic changes have been made then a process called color separations is started.  Each color of the design requires its own screen stencil for that color ink to be applied to the shirt.  Therefore, we need to separate each of the colors of the design so we can individually prepare it for its own screen.  Each separation is printed in black ink and on to a film transparency, much like the transparencies used in overhead projectors.  This will make more sense as we move along.

A screen is a wooden or aluminum frame where a finely threaded mesh is stretched over its front side.  This will eventually be the stencil for which ink will pass through and onto the shirt.  Each color of the design is stenciled onto its own screen and when all colors are applied to the garment it creates the full color image.

In order to create the stencil each screen is coated with emulsion, a liquid that once applied will dry within a few hours.  When the emulsion dries then the film is taped onto the mesh screen and ready for exposure.  The screens are placed over an exposure unit, a unit that contains very bright UV lights.  The design on the transparency is printed with UV blocking ink so when we expose the emulsion coated screen, the design behind the ink from the transparency will not hard.  The design can then be washed out with water using a pressure washer, leaving a stencil for us to push ink through the open mesh.

After each screen is stenciled they are mounted to a screen press where they will be used for final application.  Each screen must be carefully adjusted so each color is lined up perfectly to make the final design.  Ink is applied to the print side of the screens and the t-shirts are loaded onto the platen ready to be decorated.  Each screen is placed over the shirt then ink is pushed through the stencil mesh and onto the shirt using a squeegee.  After all the colors are applied then the inks are given a final cure so the ink bonds properly to the shirt.